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Somebody on the inside said once that politics is the art of the possible. But for the black outsider in American, politics in America has been the art of the impossible.

It has been the art of the impossible, because it has been the art of trying to make a fundamental change in a political system by using the structures and instruments that were designed to perpetuate that system.

It has been the art of the impossible because it has been the art of trying to make a social revolution with moderate tools that were invented to prevent social revolutions.

It has been the art of impossible because of the nature of politics, which is the art of making some things impossible for outsiders, and because of the extremity of the black man's situation, which cannot be changed unless all things are made possible.

Because of the black man's situation, which is radical by any definition, and because of the nature of American politics, which is moderate to conservative by any definition, the black man in America has been condemned to seek radical ends within a political framework which was designed to prevent sudden and radical social and economic changes.

For almost 100 years now, the black outsiders of America have been squirming within the halters of this maddening dilemna. During this period, the representatives of the outsiders in the councils of the insiders have made striking gainsas individuals. But black people as a group have not been able to change their status and their social and economic conditions with political instruments. And the question we must grapple with now is whether it will ever be possible to achieve fundamental socail and economic change by the practice of politics as defined by the insiders.