Everpresent, always lurking in the shadow of current events, is the real possibility that an unexpected coincidence of events at some point in the future — like those that occurred in the past — will persuade whites to reach a consensus that a major benefit to the nation justifies an ultimate sacrifice of black rights — or lives. Chapter 9 portrays one such fictional coincidence in "The Space Traders." By concluding the book on this dire note, I hope to emphasize the necessity of moving beyond the comforting belief that time and the generosity of its people will eventually solve America's racial problem. 

I realize that even with the challenge to rethinking these stories pose, many people will find it difficult to embrace my assumption that racism is a permanent component of American life. Mesmerized by the racial equality syndrome, they are too easily reassured by simple admonitions to "stay on course," which come far too easily from those — black and white — who are not on the deprived end of the economic chasm between blacks and whites.  

The goal of racial equality is, while comforting to many whites, more illusory than real for blacks. For too long, we have worked for substantive reform, then settied for weakly worded and poorly enforced legislation, indeterminate judicial decisions, token government positions, even holidays. I repeat. If we are to seek new goals for our struggles, we must first reassess the worth of the racial assumptions on which, without careful thought, we have presumed too much and relied on too long.