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Show Third In The Series Racial Tension And The Public Character (This is Part I in the third in a series of articles by prominent Americans giving their views on The Condition of the American Spirit today. Part II will appear tomorrow. The writers include social critic Marya Man-nes Man-nes FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, historian Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., civil rights leader Bayard Rustin, Father James J. Kavanaugh, novelist Saul Bellow, Rev. Billy Graham and psychoanalyst Erich Fromm. ) By BAYARD RUSTIN It is the end of that season in American life again when many people, mostly whites, seem suddenly aware that they live in a country plagued by racial tensions. It wouldn't be true to say they were not aware of it all along, since it would be impossible for anyone to spend a week, let alone a lifetime, life-time, in this society and not be. But they certainly act as if it were a surprising discovery, dis-covery, as if racial tension were a nuisance created exclusively by lawless Negroes, without with-out reason or justification. The People To Blame One might as well make some obvious points right away. Though Negroes may be the chief barometers of race tension in our society, they are not the chief authors of it, and they certainly are not the ones who have t done most to nourish it. The credit for that belongs to white Americans. It is they who c sowed the seed of bitterness during slavery and it is they who have refused ever since to restore the full human rights and dignity of Negroes. I am not ignoring the millions of white Americans who have strongly and consistently consistent-ly supported the restoration of full dignity for black Americans. But they have been, and remain, a small minority. And in spite of their efforts, and in spite of our own, the essential quality of American life, so far as Negroes are concerned, remains one of injustice in-justice and indignity. that raped Africa and brought millions of humans here in chains; that took land away from the Indians by subterfuge, force, and treaties that were not honored; that made the gunman a hero of the national ethos and the national virility; that eradicated the beautiful old animals from the plains; that tolerated gansterism as a national way of life; that gave birth to organizations like the KKK a white protestant group dedicated to God and country but which perpetrated the most unspeakable atrocities against hu-" hu-" man beings with black skins. While, in the context, his was a destructive statement, this is precisely what Rap Brown meant when he reminded the country that violence was as American as cherry pie. Conditioned To Violence Not only is the society built on violence, but it also, for those purposes it deems to be in the white interest, tolerates violence. This is one of the distinctive marks of the national character. Further, in the face of the unjust social conditions that prevail among Negroes, it has established a framework within which a number of young Negroes respond violently to frustration. This is something the society should not ignore in judging the behavior of young Negroes. But it does. The tendency is still to condemn con-demn Negro violence while ignoring the conditions that lead to Negro violence and while ignoring, as well, the essential violence of the American spirit. A response of this nature implies clearly that in the eyes of the majority of the society Negroes are the villains vil-lains rather than the victims, by and large, of American race tensions. It is a response, in other words, that rejects a belief both in the Negro's humanity and in his rights of equal citizenship. It denies white American complicity in the degrading conditions in which Negroes live, and it implies an unwillingness unwill-ingness to join in any meaningful "attack upon these problems. The Principle Panacea The majority of white Americans do not seem aware of how deep a responsibility they share in the making and 'the future breaking of these tensions. One has only to look at the way they respond when the centuries cen-turies of Negro frustration boils over occasionally occa-sionally into one form of violent behavior or another. From Reconstruction, up through the modern protest movement, right up to the current period of urban disorder, white society has been more quick to invoke the police power than the remedy of social program. pro-gram. The most recent example of this was the derision and laughter with which our congressmen greeted proposals for a rat eradication erad-ication program in our ghettoes. While they were laughing, the rats were still biting Negro Ne-gro babies and the anger of the black ghettoes ghet-toes was still mounting. This reflected a sickness of spirit and an appalling insensi-tivity insensi-tivity to the degrading conditions in which people live. On the other hand, our lawmakers law-makers rushed vigorously to the support of a riot bill aimed specifically at suppressing Negroes. A Veneer of Civilization Nor do the majority of Americans seem aware of how high a place violence occupies in the American spirit. It is the same spirit A Narrowing Gap Of course, particularly when criticizing the role of the national government in all of this, no one as closely associated with civil rights activities as I have been can ignore the fact that especially over the past six or seven years the executive branch of the federal fed-eral government has moved with vigor and concern against some of the historic roadblocks road-blocks to Negro freedom. Yes, as commendable commend-able as have been the efforts of President Kennedy and those of President Johnson (before he gave highest priority to the problems prob-lems of the Vietnamese), no assault has yet been made on the economic problems of Negro Ne-gro life massive enough to make a crucial difference. Not a small part of the reason for this is that, in the area of domestic social legislation, there has been a gap between the will of the Chief Executive and the will of the Congress. In any event, after more than a century of promise Negroes are still not free, and therefore one can reasonably and rightfully indict a century of indifference indiffer-ence and injustice without detracting from the efforts of two of the more progressive and socially concerned presidencies in this century. (C) 1967, Newsday, Inc. |