A question of creoles

In the latest issue of Language (80.4.832), Derek Bickerton writes:

Is it mere coincidence that the rise and dominance of substratum theory, of claims that Creoles constituted new languages clearly distinct from, and unrelated to, their European lexifiers, happened to coincide with the rise of Black Power, Negritude, and similar consciousness-raising movements? Is it mere coincidence that the return to a traditional genetic approach happens to coincide with the withering and marginalization of such movements and a concomitant acceptance of the need for accomodation with the still-dominant Euro-American power structure?

This is a loaded issue, and one I've grappled with myself for the past year. Too much of the literature in creolistics is so infused with ulterior motives that it's extremely difficult to tease out the objective scholarship.