Whitney Young's Open Society

Abstract

Whitney Young was a man who transcended the boundaries of race, nationality, and ideology. He was fond of saying that there are no moderates in the civil rights move ment, that all are militants in the fight for justice. But his measure of militancy was not rhetoric but results; not prom ises but performance. He was probably the most influential private citizen in the field of human resources in the past century. He had a dream, a faith in the fundamental decency of people, a belief that people would act justly, if not out of altruism then out of self-interest. He tried to show this society that it was in its own self-interest to bring about equal life results for black people. His "domestic Marshall Plan" called for establishment of national priorities that would bring these results. His ultimate goal was an open society. The immediate task facing black people is to forge a unified program behind which all spectrums of black opinion may unite. A second key task facing black people is to construct meaningful coalitions with those elements of white society that can help us to bring about change. The role of govern ment in this key decade will be to provide the leadership and the programmatic restructuring of the torn social fabric of the nation.