It’s 1967 all over again: The roots of our current divide go back 50 years
By Ted Morgan, Salon

A Black man gestures with his thumb down to an armed National Guardman, during a protest in the Newark race riots, Newark, New Jersey, July 14, 1967. (Photo by Neal Boenzi/New York Times Co./Getty Images)

Yes, 1967 brought us the Summer of Love and “Sgt. Pepper.” But it also kickstarted contemporary politics

As a college student in 1967, “fifty years ago” meant 1917 and World War I, a time and event far from any direct connection with me. To young people today, 1967 must seem as distant and largely irrelevant.

Yet both years were profoundly important turning points in the life of this nation. 1917 marked the entry of the United States into World War I — perhaps the bloodiest, most pointless war in human history — and into a far more significant, militaristic global role.

While 1968 gets more attention from historians, 1967 saw important shifts in the nation’s politics that have shaped the world we live in today.