As I understand, this is the chronology. The Civil Rights marches were a purely southern thing in its infancy.
At that time, northern Black newspapers like the Chicago Defender were trying to tell southern blacks to sell everything and move up north. Southern blacks had gotten their land in blood. Yes, many moved up north (The Great Migration) but most stayed because they were part of the soil so to speak.
In the mid 1950s its was southern Blacks. Then northern Blacks. THEN whites , in the '60s mainly, when it was already on TV and when they marched they weren't going to get the same treatment as the first marchers did. Selma was 1965. Whites weren't around in '55, '56 like that. Blacks were taking the heaviest beatings alone.
And those white varied. Catholic priests were very prominent,
54 miles to freedom: Catholics were prominent in 1965 Selma march so were protestant clergy and basic white liberals. Many Jews did march. We have to understand that the Holocaust was very fresh. 1960 is only 15 years after 1945. There were 1000s of Jewish immigrants who still had tattoos from the death camps with their camp ID number on it. By this time, though, the movement was already well underway.
Anyway, what this narrative leaves out was how it was a wide cornucopia of whites. They came SEVERAL YEARS in, when the heavy lifting was already done.
A lof of the rappers that came out in the '80s and prior were Caribbean and you didn't know. They didn't push it. They pushed their hood. Dougie Fresh, Phife, Special Ed, Slick Rick (who was British and Caribbean) and a long list of others with non FBA background, were all about their hood or crew.. No mention of their background because it didn't matter too much to them, they were Black first. They were from Brooklyn, or the Bronx or where ever.
The US government realized this and in the last 20, 30 years or so screened for complacent, coons from the Caribbean and the continent. That's my guess. The process changed. They asked you about your political affiliations both on paper and in interviews. You got the notion that you had to seem non threatening.
I did some volunteer work years ago for those going for their green card/citizenship and I got to see the process. If you showed any indication you were 'political' it could deny you. Pre Civil Rights, you could come to the US from the Caribbean fairly easy. A lot of people came up to cut sugar in Florida and never left, or to school or whatever and just stayed. Same with citizenship. They ask for any associations, clubs. Either where you came from or in America. Could be a frat, could be anything. While I don't think they would deny you for being in the Urban League or NAACP per se, if you are part of BLM, Nation of Islam, you gotta list it. Not listing it and they find out later, technically you can have citizenship revoked. The Trump administration was combing through 1000s of back citizenship papers and tryna retroactively revoke citizenships, even from decades ago.
I have both FBA and non FBA in my family, extended family, and I have pretty much left some of them alone because they are about looking at being better than this other black group.
At this point in my life if you aren't tryna build with whomever is tryna build. I put all others who ain't B1 or trippin' on petty ish, on ignore. Shyt is too important for BS.