This paper provides an analysis by three black leaders of how the law, the nation, and the church agencies have responded to liberation issues in recent years. Victor M. Goode analyzes the role and status of blacks under the law from the Scott v. Sandford decision in 1857 through the dismantling of the formal structures of slavery and the modern era of civil rights legislation to the Allan Bakke decision, reverse discrimination and the decline in affirmative action. Charles E. Cobb argues that, because of the social and political systems in the nation, minority interests are of little concern and minorities are prevented from mobilizing to combat the prevailing storm of racism. M. William Howard discusses the current degree of attention given to civil rights by the church. He takes into account events that changed the liberal idealism of the 1960s to the cynicism of the 1970s. (EB)