Donavin Goode
10/28/2013
CES 300
Critical Response Essay #3

Former Governor of Alabama Bob Riley once said, "For too long, we have focused on our differences – in our politics and backgrounds, in our race and beliefs – rather than cherishing the unity and pride that binds us together.” In today’s America, indifferences and separatism still linger from the times of racism and inequalities amongst different races, but it is nowhere near as prominent. Though in the times of the civil rights and black power movements the only focus people had was on their differences, no matter your background or beliefs, people just stayed separated and stuck with their own kind. However, this is not the case in the book Hillbilly Nationalists, Urban Race Rebels, and Black Power by Amy Sonnie and James Tracy. Different white and African-American groups, such as the Black Panthers and Young Patriots Organization, chose to iron out their differences and fight together for the higher cause. The story told by the authors about these organizations help to illuminate powerful issues at the time like unity, racial segregation and class differences. The book Hillbilly Nationalists is a captivating book that uses powerful imagery and description to get the realities of the issues at hand to the reader. It is a story about a fight for societal freedom and equality for different groups and their ability to come together and overcome any obstacle. Peggy Terry was an activist at this time, and though at a young age her family tried to put her down the path of racism and segregation, she emerged to be a prominent voice in the fight for equality. Her presence at the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) was essential for her rise to a lead voice in this organization. She was not the only one fighting for those rights however. Minority groups such as the Black Panthers, the Young Lords, and