On June 9, 1968, the New York Times Magazine published an article by Dr. Michael Halberstam that raised and examined the question, “Are You Guilty of Murdering Martin Luther King?” The question was addressed to all white Americans, and it presupposed a concept of collective or corporate white guilt. It was prompted by a. particular event, but its application was not limited to that event. As the question itself implied and Halberstam's argument made clear, the question applied to problems of white guilt and white racism as collective phenomena in the whole history of black-white relationships.

The question was not unique at that time, for collective guilt had emerged as a fairly common aspect of social protest.