Addresses Adapted from the 24Th Annual Institute Of

REPORT RESUMES UD 006 002 ED'020 215 ADDRESSES ADAPTED FROM THE 24THANNUAL INSTITUTE OF RACE RELATIONS (FISK UNIVERSITY, AMISTADRESEARCH CENTER AND RACE RELATIONS DEPARTMENT, NASHVILLE,TENNESSEE). BY- SHERRY, P.H., ED. PUB DATE DEC 67 EDRS PRICE MF -$0.25 HC -$0.84 19P.

DESCRIPTORS- *CIVIL RIGHTS, *NEGROES,*ECONOMIC PROGRESS, *SOCIAL CHANGE, *POLITICAL POWER, ECONOMICOPPORTUNITIES, GHETTOS, BLACK COMMUNITY, RACERELATIONS, SUMMER INSTITUTES, FISK UNIVERSITY

THIS JOURNALCONTAINS SPEECHES ON RACE RELATIONS AND THE NEGRO'S STRUGGLE FOR POLITICAL POWER.WHITNEY YOUNG DISCUSSES "THE SEARCH FOR LIBERALS" WHOWILL NOT SACK DOWN WHEN CONFRONTED BY ANGRY NEGRO DEMANDS FORINDEPENDENCE AND EQUALITY. BAYARD RUSTIN ANALYZES TRENDSIN THE CIVIL RIGHTS' MOVEMENT AND CONCLUDES THAT THE MOVEMENT'SCURRENT FOCUS IS ON ECONOMIC INDEPENDENCE FOR THENEGRO AND THE ELIMINATION OF POVERTY. "POLITICAL POWER ANC SOCIALREFORM IN THE GHETTO" IS THE TOPIC OF A SPEECH BY PAUL L.PURYEAR. FINALLY, IN AN EDITORIAL BY CLIFTON H. JOHNSON,"HUMAN RELATIONS FRONTIERS"' ARE DISCUSSED. THIS DOCUMENT ISTHE "COUNCIL JOURNAL," VOLUME 6, NUMBER 3, DECEMBER 1967. (1.0) U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION & WELFARE OFFICE OF EDUCATION

THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN REPRODUCED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED FROM THE

PERSON OR ORGANIZATION ORIGINATING IT.POINTS OF VIEW OR OPINION STATED DO NOT NECESSARILY REPRESENT OFFICIAL OFFICE OF EDUCATION EDITORIAL POSITION OR POLICY. JOURNAL HUMAN

Published Monthly Except July by The RELATIONS CouncilForHigherEducation, The Division of Higher Education and The American Missionary Association, The UnitedChurchBoardForHomeland Ministries,United Church of Christ, FRONTIERS Clifton H. Johnson 287 Park Avenue South, New York, New York 10010. W. A. Hotchkiss, General Secretary Director Amistad Research Center Division of Higher Education & Race Relations Department P. H. Sherry, Executive Secretary United Church of Christ & Editor W. Q. Mart, II, AMA Consultant & Photographer Designed and Published for the Council by The Institute of Public Relations, The founding of the Annual Institute of Race Relations at Fisk University, in Inc. Office of Publication: The 1944, was a reaffirmation of the historical commitment of the American Mis- JOURNAL, Todd Hill Road, Lakeside, and behavior Conn. 06758. sionary Association of the belief that the development of attitudes necessary to the improvement of humanrelations is amenable to the processes of Second -class postage paid at Lakeside, Conn. 06758. education. The Institute had its beginning at a time when wartime idealism and the rising expectations of American minority groups were combiningwith dislocations, The Council For Higher Education relocations, fear, hysteria and frustrations to force a reappraisal of the American R. T. Fauth, Chairman D. C. Kleckner, Vice Chairman creed which has produced a revolution in race relations in the United States. During H. H. Long, Secretary the years, the Institute has endeavored to serve and shape that revolution by finding K. Spalding, Treasurer constructive theories on which to base programs of reform and atthe same time promote understanding to relieve the tensions of change. The Twenty-fourth Annual Institute, held this year from June 26 to July 8, registered 161 participants who came from twenty-six American states and fromabroad. The Vol. 6, No. 3 December 1967 theme "Human Relations Frontiers ..." was developed by twenty-four lecturers and in three clinics devoted to studying the problems of church and race,employment IN THIS ISSUE: opportunities for minority groups, and community action. Theunderlying premise ADDRESSES ADAPTED FROM of all discussion was that America in 1967 is moving from the phase of the human JTHE 24TH ANNUAL INSTITUTE rights revolution in which the emphasis was on civil rights to a phase which demands OF RACE RELATIONS more far reaching social changethan most Americans ever anticipated would be ,) Amistad Research Center necessary to correct the racial injusticesof our society. The civil rights phase of the & Race Relations Department revolution has affected the lives of only a few Negroes and other minority-group at individuals because the overwhelming majority of them aretoo poor to take advantage Fisk University of the public facilities it has desegregated. While the legal structure of Jim Crow has Nashville, Tennessee been destroyed, inequality of opportunity remains a reality throughout America. There- fore the goals of the phase of the human rights revolution in which we now find our- VHUMAN RELATIONS FRONTIERS An Editorial selves must be equal economic opportunity, integrated and quality education, open Clifton H. Johnson housing for all, and better housing for the poor. During the two weeks they were together, the Institute participants sought to get at FUNDING FULL CITIZENSHIP the factsnecessaryfor an evaluation of old methods and the formulation of the new Bayard Rustin strategies'and techniques required in dealing with the complex socio-economic problems of kiday. Recognizing that moral concern and goodwill alone are not sufficient for producing the required social changes, a major interest was the exploration of the POWER AND possible means by which a national political commitment might be forged for pro- (,,JREFORM Paul L. Puryear viding the economic resources for eliminating poverty and making quality education and decent housing available for all citizens. The assumption that the changes could EARCH FOR LIBERALS result only from a national commitment was a rejection of the various separatist Whitney M. Young, Jr. movements of today which are challenging the basic principlesof Christian brother- hood and American democracy. In the final analysis, the Institute of Race Relations COVER: 'America's Mood Today" Richard R. Benda has never been primarily concerned with race or with minorities but with the future of Chicago, Illinois our nation and of man. 444 FUNDING FULL CITIZENSHIP Bayard Bustin

Executive Director A. Philip Randolph Institute

theaters, I want to do three things: first, to analyze the meritsof longer true! The battles for open accommodations, open 4- the contention that the civil rights movement isdead or open libraries, open swimmingpools essentially have been in confusion; second, on the basisof that analysis, to point up won. We are nowconfronted nationwide with problems of how and why the problem of civil rights haschanged in the housing, schools, and jobs, which, although mostgrievously last five years; and third, if the premises which arise outof affecting the Negro, affect also the 67 percentof the poor in has points one and two are defensible,what should be the direction this country who happen to be white. This new situation dealing with prob- of our future strategies. obvious strategic implications. When one is Since the founding of the NAACP in 1909, wehave gone lems which exclusively affect the Negro,then protest can do through three distinctly different periods. The firstand longest two things:it can call attention to and candestroy an evil period, which I shall henceforth refer to as thefirst period, ran simultaneously. When enough young Negroes and theirwhite from 1909 to 1954; the second period ranfrom 1955 to 1965; allies willingly sat and sat and sat at lunch counters,in swim- the third period we are just entering. I shallrefer, therefore, to ming pools, at libraries, in parks,if they had courage, per- the period from 1965 to the present as the currentperiod. Need- severance, and thewillingness to go to jail, they accomplished less to say, when one is evolving strategyand tactics, the their goals. But there is no way that any massof people, short tactician is aware that a division intothree periods is funda- of revolution, can deal with the problems of housing orschools mentally an analytical tool to determine direction;he knows or jobs through protest.Protest can call attention to the fact that in actual fact these periods overlap. But he mustbe aware that an evil exists but it cannot bring forth new institutions. of the center of gravity in order that both tacticsand strategy asked average will be dearly understood. Second: In the middle period, if you had In period number one, from the foundingof the NAACP intelligent Americans, "What is the most crucialsocial problem until 1954, the single fundamental objective was toestablish America faces?", most would have said: "Civilrights." Today, equal. The however, the same individuals are apt to reply: "VietNam." in the courts that "separate and equal" was not made the protest leadership of the NAACP permitted nothing todeter it from The national consensus and dynamic which going into court to file brief uponbrief until the 1954 decision movement meaningful hasdisappeared. It is not a question of established under law that any form of segregation was un- "backlash," as some would have us believe. It is abasic psycho- constitutional. If the symbol of the first period was alawyer logical change, and any responsible strategistbetter under- with a brief case going into court, thesymbol of the middle stand this clearly. period was people marching in the streets. There is afunda- who got mental relationship between these twoperiods, because no Third: In the middle period he who walked most, arrested most, who was brutalized most, had to emerge as a effective protest could have occurredMontgomerycould not have occurred; Selma could not have occurred;the sit-ins common and centralsymbol of the movement and that was Court decision Martin Luther King. This is at an end becauseneither Dr. could not have occurredhad not the Supreme become of 1954 been the platform which freed the Negropeople and King nor anyone else in Americablack or whitecan their white allies to protest. The year 1965marked the end of the symbol for the newer period of political struggle intowhich this second period and the beginning of thethirdthe period we are moving. I do not mean totake any credit away from living in a different of politics. I want to analyze why this has occurredand why Dr. King, whom I adore. We simply are the second period is at an end. time. In the middle period,identity of interest was manifest. Every Negro wanted the right to use hotels, swimmingpools, First: In the middle period we were dealingfundamentally restaurants, etc. But when youattack the problems of housing, with problems which exclusively affected the Negro.This is no schools, and jobs, basic differences of viewregarding political

3 and social philosophy are bound to emerge. A.Philip Randolph busy concentrating on caste to permit theclass struggle to off the and I believe that the Negro can make no further progress in emerge. But oncethe segregation foolishness is lifted similar to this nation without the socialization of our institutions. Butthis Negro people, a class struggle does emergeone this country. places us in conflict with many other Negroleaders who look that which has emerged in all other groups in of the young men in upon this position asforeign to the American system, perhaps This phenomenon explains the action Therefore, this period will witness great Watts when they called Martin LutherKing and me "house even communistic. back to New conflict, with much side-taking, and thus no onecharismatic niggers," or when they said, "Why don't you go baby. You made it. If we symbol. York? You have nothing to tell us, are all equally as smartand you made it and we didn't, it is lawyer; because you are a house nigger for whiteyand he permits you Fourth: In the first period one needed to be a trained and he in the middle period one needed courageand perseverance. to make it. But westand out here telling him like it is, by the thousands! won't let us make it." It explains the viciousattacks on Roy My, how Negro leaders sprang up overnight and the Urban All one had to do was to go and sit somewhereand get arrested Wilkins and Whitney Young, the NAACP automatically a leader. The period League. A class struggle has emergedwhich is now intermeshed a few times, and he was implications of this new demanded only a philosophy of faith. The fact thatintellectu- with the older caste struggle. The ality was absent during the middle period isevident in that struggle for organizing people aresignificant. It means that $5,000,000 no important book or pieceof music was written by any young even if RoyWilkins and Whitney Young spent Negro from 1955 to 1965. In a period, however,when one is next year to organizethe ghetto, they could not do it. It is not talking about strategy for eliminating slums, or creatingade- a question ofwhether they want to, or whether they can put philosophy of faith is not the right people there. Rather, in this kindof struggle, the only quate schools, or finding jobs, a leadership enough. To it must be added a philosophy of history, ananaly- leadership which ultimately is trusted is the caste this caste leader- sis of our society's economic structures,and a sociology of which the people know. But the moment that social change. Further, one must have theability to examine ship is elected by them, it has become middledass and can no and walk one's way through the complicatedproblems of longer be trusted. I am not joking! EveryNegro who goes political alliances. Therefore, it is my opinionthat most of from the ghetto to anti-poverty board is suspectbefore his the leadership which provided only perseveranceand courage second meeting. is profoundly useless for the presentperiod. This opinion has Seventh: In the first two periods, thedynamism of the period pertinence when one analyzes theleft wing of the Negro move- and the organizational will was createdby Southern brutality. ment, which is notinterested in a philosophy of history. This The Negro leadership never had to organize anymarches. group contends that anyNegro over thirty-five cannot be The dogs, Bull Connor, lynching, thebombing of churches, trusted, thus rejecting not only history but alsothemselves the killing of children congealed the Negro communityand the and their forebears. The same leadershipwhich was so valiant white consensus. The reaction was not theresult of a positive in helping Negroes jointhe middle dass now turns around program; it was a positive reaction to anegative thing that and denounces as a traitor anyone who isable to join the was being done.The boys are now too smart. We are not middle dass. Instead of engaging in politics,they engage in going to haveSouth or Norththe samekind of extended social masturbation, which may give one atitillated feeling brutality again. This means that insteadof depending on but produces nothing. brutality, we now have the tedious educational organization job of putting forth concrete, objective,achievable programs Fifth: The press. The press is interested inthree things: Is for the first time in our history. it new? Is conflict involved in it? Is itsensational? From 1955 This is truly a new period. The old period was oneof hope: to 1965 everythingdone on the streets was new, had conflict We shall overcome; We shall never turnback; Freedom now! in it, and was sensational.Negroes had not acted this way The present period, in contrast, at leastfor many, is one of before. Therefore, from 1955 to 1965 the newspapers ran a disillusionment Many believe this society is not going to act. blow-by-blow account of the daily action onthe front page. A society which can engage in war inViet Nam, oppress the But thinking through theproblems of education is neither Negroes, and tolerate poverty is a societywhich does not sensational nor new; the hundreds of committeesworking up mean to ;rove. I went toStokely Carmichael not many months and down the country to do somethingabout slums cannot ago with a very importantproject in which I wanted him to go be dramatic; the work which is beingdone all over the country into four major cities and tolead young Negroes in carrying by people who are trying to get jobs forNegroes is dry as dust two signs. The firstwas toread"WE DO NOT WANT RELIEF," compared to the drama of a Birminghambus boycott. There- to confront the mythwhich contends that all Negroes want is fore, the newspapers do not print it. In thisthird period we a handout; andthe second, "GIVE US WORK," to back upby cannot count on the kindof support from the press which would demonstration the aims of the Freedom Budget.Stokely's make the movement for us. We havethe tedious and irksome response can be paraphrased asfollows: This society is so work of building organizationourselves. corrupt it does not mean to giveNegroes freedom. Therefore, to have program, to project program,is to mislead Negroes. hell," to reveal to Sixth: Until the Supreme CourtDecision of 1954 and the All the program you need is to "give them and 1965, we could not have a Africa and Asia what a corrupt society we live in,and to hope Civil Rights Acts of 1964 Castro becomes basic dass struggle in the Negro community.We were all too for revolution. Che Guevara becomes my hero,

4 Richard R. Benda "Moment of Man" The present period, at leastfor many, is one ofdisillusionment

Washington werefor Negro my hero. Lion. Many people who marched in freedom, but when they are asked to support aguaranteed Eighth: From 1955 to 1965 the federal governmentdid not income or a two-dollar minimum wage,they shy away, not and expend one penny, except for police protection, forbasic Negro understanding the intimate relationship between economics objectives won in that period. The federal government must freedom. characterize the now spend, according to theFreedom Budget, $185,000,000,000 If the above analysis is true, how can we in the next ten years, or the Negropeople will not advance. present period? First, the civilrights movement is not dead. There are great numbers of people, white andblack, who The NAACP has more members now than ten years ago;it marched in Washington for Negro dignity on August28, has much more money than ten years ago; ithas several 1963, but who had no basic concept of whatdignity means. hundred more chapters than ten years ago; WhitneyYoung of They assumed that once legislation was enacted,freedom would the Urban League is now manipulating abudget almost three descend from heaven. But true freedom mustfirst be con- times that of ten years ago.There are thousands and thousands ceived in economic categories. The economy isthe bone, the of Negroes in the ghettos trying to do somethingabout their social institutions are the flesh, the political institutions arethe condition, many more than there ever were atthe time of the skin which grows on that bone and flesh. Ultimately,all human march on Washington. The movement is notdead! It is simply freedom is determined by the economic structureof the institu- confronting a much more complex issuethe basic contra-

5 1.{,S"Ve

dictions inherent in our society. It is much easier to confront ping. The approach is basically wrong!We do not need paper prejudice in this society than it is to ask the same society to wrappings, we need a new package.If a little Negro child change its economic priorities and to provide for the poor. benefits from Head Start, fine, but this is not the answer.We From the very beginning we have fallen into the same trap take some boys from street corners and send them tothe Job Thomas Jefferson fell into. Jefferson awoke one night after a Corps, at the same time that the Job Corps states that 50 per- bad dream, in which he had seen the Republic being torn apart cent of the boys they train cannotfind work. I could have told by slavery, and did a very noble thing. He took a piece of them that the very day it started. Or we can createbands for paper and manumitted hisslaves on his deatha great moral the children to play music, or, as Mayor Lindsay isplanning in act. But an inadequate one! He should have arisen, manu- New York City, we can send Shakespeare to the ghetto. I oppose mitted his slaves, and then, on the basis of that moral act, none of these programs assuch, but note this. In 1910 a attacked the problem economically, and gone into Congress Moynihan Report could have been written about the Italians: and fought for the elimination of slavery. We are still acting they were all criminal, all carried stilettos, all were involved in like Jefferson. "Oh, if only white people would be nice." Minis- crime and broken families. In 1900, an even more vicious ters preach every Sunday telling white people theyought to study could have been written about the Irish: they werecalled be friendly. The fact of the matter is, prejudice is always with "Shanty," which meant "white nigger," and characterized as us, in blacks and whites. filthy, dirty, and unintelligent. Their families were also said If society is constructed in one way, prejudice is able to rise to be disorganized. But, as thefamily heads of both these to the surface and be socially and politically organized.If, on groups were permitted to gain economicindependence, the the contrary, society, particularly its economic life, is organized problems in their communities and family life gradually dis- in another manner, prejudice can be reduced to anirreducible appeared. The same thing will happen when we give economic minimum. Martin Luther King's assailants stoned him in security to the heads of Negro families, and not before. Chicago last December, not fundamentally because they were prejudiced, but because they were living in a society where What about guaranteed work, full employment? I am not there were inadequate jobs and inadequate housing for every- talking about Franklin Delano Roosevelt's "made work," be- for public works it must one. Given such conditions, it takesbut two or three potential cause if the government is going in Hiders to organize dissatisfied people to throw stones. This answer two questions: Are we producingsomething everybody probably could not have occurred if full employment and seriously needs? Are we building into the program the possi- adequate housing were realities in Chicago. Both Negroes and bility for upgrading? I do not know Robert Kennedy very whites have to accept the fact that the basis of prejudice is well, but I would like to help the poor Senator. He announced psychology. last spring that he could no longer take his children sailing economics and stop all this foolishness about that The struggle before us is a human rights struggle to eliminate in their yacht on the Hudson because his doctors told him poverty, bad housing, and inferior schools. the filth of the river's spray would transmit diseases. We can by hiring hun- Let me proceed to specific strategies. If Stokely Carmichael assist Mr. Kennedy and others who own yachts and his ilk believe that this society is going to do anything dreds of thousands of young men to dean up every river and special for Negroes, they are profoundly mistaken. I under- every streamlet in this country. We can givethem the title of have stand how bad white folks can be perhaps better than theydo, assistant engineer. After a three-year period, those who and therefore I ask for nothing special for Negroes. With this the talent can be elevated to the salary of an assistant engineer, in mind, I ask that we press for two basic economiccommit- and from there hopefully proceed to the salary and title and ments: an immediate two-dollar minimumwageand guaranteed diploma of an engineer. John Dewey and I have much in employment. A small businessman might question thefirst common on this issue. Deweysaid, "You learn while you do." commitment: "Well, Mr. Rustin, I would be put outof business; I agree, but add, "You learn while you do, while you are I only have five employees and I couldn't afford to give it being paid." to them." Our reply -must be: "Wewill have the government I also want to help poor Governor Rockefeller. He thinks examine your business. If it is or can become sociallyuseful, he is rich, but he is as poor as the most deprived person on 116th Street and Lennox in New York City, because hehas to we will ask the government tosubsidize you in order that you breathe the same filthy air every time he comes into the city. can pay these men a minimum wage, inthe same way that the government subsidizes Mr. Harriman'srailways and the Why do we not put hundreds of thousands of boys to the task nation's farmers. But you better have a business that isworth- of cleaning the increasingly filthy air in America's cities? Let us train them to be something morethan people carrying other while." people's tools. Those who have the ability an be raised to an engineering or semi-engineering status. Or again, in every city in this country the transportation system is rotten.Why do we not put people to work improving it, or inbuilding more hospitals, or more roads where they are needed, or more psychiatric clinics? We should put people to work building hospitals, not as orderlies who will always necessarily remain Look at the "war" on poverty. This so-called war picks up at that level, but with apossibility that over the next five years a piece of string here, and a little pieceof scotch tape they could learn by doing to become assistant nurses at decent there, and a little spit here and makes a nice little paper wrap- salaries and with diplomas.

6 If the civil rights movementdoes not concentrate basically on economic issues,

freedom for Negroes in ourtime will never be achieved

with us is one The Negro education problem will neverbe solved by dis- anything else because their mutual interest will it be decided finally in thing only, Bull Connor." Dr. King said,"I think we can cussions on college campuses, nor ahead." The group met the grammar schools. Study needs to beredefined as work stretchit a little." I said, "O.K., go which Dr. King said, "Now, something for which you get paid. The Negroyouth, seventeen- and discussed Bull Connor, after Negroes." and eighteen-year-old school dropouts, will not return toschool. we also want totalk about the problem of jobs for fifth-grade reading The reply was, "Well, Dr. King, since wehave such a terrible If I were a Negro dropout, seventeen, with a why don't we meet level, I would not return to school becauseI would know that, problem with Bull Connor at the moment, if I did, after four years my reading levelwould probably in- next month to talkabout jobs for Negroes?" The meeting level which would mean four years never took place! Doesthis mean that Dr. King should not crease to a seventh-grade of Bull Connor? of my life gone with no better job prospectsthan before. I will have sat down with those gentlemen to get rid deal on the basis that I not fool these kids. Thewhole concept of school must change. No, because in a political alliance you The school must become working in thehome, working in the am interestedand you are interested in A, B, and C. I say to about D?" And you will say to me, "I am factory, but work correlated with continuingeducation. you, "Well, what "What about E?" And I Let me condude with two otherbrief items. The single most not interested." You will say to me, the way the process important element for the socializationand the democratization will say that I am not interested. This is of this country isin the hands of Southern Negroes.The works. tragedy is that instead of Negro leadersfocusing on this ele- Think of the relationship of the Negro to thetrade union ment, however, they are runninginto the North where they movement. A vicious attackby Negroes on this movement what is happening, and today is fundamentally stupid, because thatattack is based do not belong, do not understand about cannot make a contribution.But if and when the remaining on the behavior ofthe trade union movement vis-a-vis politically to register 200,000 apprentices in the country. The largestpossible num- Negroes of the South organize themselves whereas and vote, and when through votereducation they perceive ber of Negro apprentices would be 20,000 youngmen, have 77,000 standing idle on the corners of the issues, the political nature of this countrywill be completely at this moment we changed. The Negro vote can accomplish thekind of social New York City alone. I want very much to open upthe building in legislation we need, because it candrive the Eastlands and trades. In fact, I have been very successful this past year their ilk out of Congress, and thus openthe door to social getting 250 Negro boys intoapprenticeships, but I am more of the Negro progress. This is a long-rangetask. No one will get his picture concerned with the mutual interests and goals in the newspaper doing it; no one is going tojailexcept in a and the trade union movement. There is noNegro ally in this few placesdoing it; few people will get shotdoing it. In short, country which standsfirmly for an increased minimum wage, there is no drama in it. It is irksome andtedious to transport guaranteed work, guaranteed income, redefinition ofwork, and his home into a voting booth, but this is the free and full medical care, except the trade union movement. a person from for us, the nature of the period. Therefore, no matter what problems they create Finally, we cannot go to Congress without alliances,and unions become by virtue of mutual economicaims our most alliances are not built on affection. They arebuilt on the fundamental allies. We need to bring an increasingnumber of basis of immediate mutual interest, sothat five out of six organized and unorganized white people intothe movement, alliances must be made with people who maybe an enemy because if we go to Congress without anywhite allies we the following week. I shall neverforget when a group of us simply will be repulsed. basically were in Birminghamduring the Bull Connor affair and the The problem before us then in this third period is word came that Dr. King was to meet with someof the white an economic one. It is economicin that the objectives of the businessmen. Dr. King rejoiced, "Oh, this is a greatoccasion. first two periods, while not completed, arecompleted enough We will bring up seven or eight points."I replied, "I suspect, that a dynamic cannot be created around them. It is not pos- Dr. King, that they want tobring up one point and that is, sible for Negroes to gain economic independenceunless the you want to getrid of Bull Connor because he isbeating problem of poverty is dealt with. If the civil rights movement Negroes' heads, and they want to getrid of Bull Connor be- does not concentrate basically on economic issues,freedom for cause he is bad forbusiness. I don't think they will discuss Negroes in our time will never be achieved. A

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Richard R. Benda 'Message of the Day!' POLITICAL POWER ANDSOCIAL

REFORM IN THE GHETTO

Paul L. Puryear

Professor of Political Science Fisk University

would like to state the objectives of this paper at the this paper is to try to deal with the pervasive social and econo- Ivery outset.I intend to dearly depart from the as- mic problems of the ghetto against the backgroundof con- sumption of many liberals that theproblem of the Negro in siderations of political power. I am assuming that sodal change the United States is essentially a psychological or anattitudi- is, in large measure, a resultant of political activity, and that nal problem. I've quite frequently heard it said that if wecould a rational assessment of thepolitical assets and deficits of only convince prejudiced whites that not all Negroes areil- Negroes, and their allies, is one of the indispensable steps in literate, dirty, criminal, and destructive, the race problemwould planning for social change. solve itself overnight. Instead, I would argue withProfessor Throughout this paper, I confine myself to the use of the Herbert Blumer that "race prejudice exists basically in a sense term "political power," in part, to disengagemyself from some of group position rather than in a set of feelings whichthe of the current confusion and controversy over power and members of one racial group have toward the membersof political legitimacy in the Negro community but, more particu- another racial group." If Blumer's hypothesis is correct, race larly, because "political power" can be rather precisely defined relations must be viewed as a set of power relationsshaped in terms which are widely accepted by political and social not only by the attitudes and valuesof the parties, but by their scientists. Political power, as I intend to use it, connotes that objective social, economic, and political interests.Consequently, measure of social energy or pressure necessary toeffect a the outcome of any struggle flr advantage will dependlargely transformation in the objective condition of individuals and upon the political power which groups canmarshall on behalf groups in society. And, in this paper,the focus is on the role of their interests at a given point in time. of such power in changing the status of the Negro masses. In For the majority of Negroes in the United States, poverty employing the term "political power," I am intentionally by- provides the raw materials out of which political interests and passing the more controversial term "black power." I do so to political strategies evolve. Whatever political power Negroes avoid what I have come to regard as a rather debilitating can muster must necessarilybe directed at the problems of controversy, and because I have somedoubt that "black low income, inadequate education, unemployment, poorhealth, power" has any precise meaning which is understood even by and all the other social ills which, taken together, constitute those who engage in the controversy. ... the culture and environment of poverty. What I wish todo in In recent months, there has been considerable public dis-

9 cussion concerning the acquisition and utilization of Negro cause without political power can hardly be denied. But an political power to achieve social reform in the ghetto. While important emperical question still remains: Under what con- the urgency of this question seems to have arisen with Stokely ditions and on what terms can effective power be mobilized? Carmichael's call for "black power" in the summer of 1966, And I should like to direct most ofmy remarks to this question. the fact is that the advancement of Negro rights has always But before I move to this assessment, it seems useful to try to proceeded against the background of considerations of political briefly analyze the nature of the broad socio-political move- power. Altruism, goodwill, and morality have undoubtedly ments that have arisen out of the racial problem in this played a role in changing race relations over the last thirty country. ... years, but, the success of the Negro rights movement depended In a little noticed paper, written less than a year ago, Pro- primarily upon the accessibility of political power and its fessor David Danzig of Columbia pointed out that a distinction effective utilization. It may well be that the successful litigation must be made between the "Civil Rights Movement" and the of a long series of desegregation cases between 1930 and 1955 "Negro Revolution." While these two movements are often was, as Professor Pritchett has pointed out, the consequence closely related and frequently overlap, they are, to use Danzig's of growing libertarian sentiments on the Supreme Courts, words, "distinct movements with different histories, constitu- but these sentiments were expressed by judges whose appoint- encies, and goals." The "Civil Rights Movement" has been ments were shaped by a political environment in which the essentially a coalition of middle-class white and Negro liberals Negro vote was a more significant factor than it had been in who viewed the Negro problem as a moral issue. The chief the decades prior to 1930. Similarly, the proliferation of civil idealogue of this movement was Gunnar Myrdal, whose monu- rights legislation and the growth of Negro office-holding are mental study of The American Dilemma documented thefailure the symbols of Negro political strength in the North and West of white America to honor its national creed of justice and and, increasingly, in the South as well. equality. He regarded this failure as "...nothing more and A careful examination of election statistics over the last nothing less than a century long lag of public morals." "The thirty-five years reveals the increasing potency of Negro politi- Civil Rights Movement" concentrated upon the removal of cal power as a factor in winning concessions for the Negro this lag. The main assumption was that segregation and dis- population. To cloud the issues of legitimate power with the crimination were morally evil and denied the Negro equality emotionalism which both sides bring to the "black power" of opportunity which would enable him to emerge from the controversy is, as Professor Kenneth Clark has intimated, "to vicious cycle of poverty and ignorance and be assimilated, interfere with the serious discussion...of social power... as one by one, into the larger American society. Thechief goal a factor in the relationship among the various ethnic groups was to secure equal opportunity for Negroes not as aself- and races that comprise America." conscious community but as individuals. Politics in pluralistic America is, in considerable measure, the politics of ethnic and racial self - interest. Although we com- While the "Civil Rights Movement" has concentrated pri- monly assume that ethnic minorities gradually lose their sense marily upon equal opportunity and the assimilation of of cultural identity as they become assimilated into the larger individual Negroes, the "Negro Revolution" is a movement to American society, Nathan Glazer and Patrick Moynihan have overcome the social, economic, and political inferiority of shown that the ethnic melting pot never really melted. After Negroes as a group. As Charles Silberman intimates, American four or five generations of aculturadon, the Irish, the Poles, society is now confronted by a Negro community which seeks the Italians, the Jews, as well as other racial, ethnic, and to be admitted en masse. This, it seems to me, is the funda- religious groups, still think of themselves, at least some of the mental purpose of recent demonstrations, economic boycotts, time, as belonging to a distinct group with a unique tradition rent strikes, and the increasing and unfortunate outbreaks of to preserve and special interests to protect. An analysis of the violence in the ghetto. The aim of the Negro Revolution is to 1960 presidential election statistics illustrates the political impli- advance the welfare of the Negro masses whose lives have been little affected by the substantial successes of the "Civil cations of this fact ...Over 85 percent of the middle-class Catholics who voted Republican in 1956 shifted back into the Rights Movement" in changing the legal and constitutional Democratic column to support Mr. Kennedy in 1960. structure of the nation. It is also the aim of the Negro Revolu- tion (and this should not be underestimated) to achieve psychological redemptionto free the Negro from feelings of inferiority, to release him from the socially imposed trauma of blackness, and to instill not only pride in his racial and cultural heritage but to give him confidence in his ability to control his own destiny. The increasing call for "'participatory democracy" and the federal government's insistence upon the Our political history, then, establishes aclear link between "maximum feasible participation of the poor" in its poverty politics and racial, religious, and ethnic identity. It seems programs, emphasize the growing recognition of the right of perfectly legitimate and reasonable, therefore, to expect Negroes political self-determination by racial minorities, and by the to develop and sustain political power as a meansof enhancing poor. their status in society. Power, as Bertrand Russell has suggested, To draw a distinction between the Civil Rights Movement is the thread running through all humanrelations. That the and the Negro Revolution is not to favor one and discredit Negro cannot defend his group interests or advance the group the other. Both have had substantial and indispensable in-

10 47... --

Among the morestartling

indications is that the Negro

who finishes four years

of college will earnless over 41

alifetime than

awhite with only eight years

of elementaryschool! Richard IL Benda "Nly Son, Nly Sour

conditions of the vast majorityof Negroes. Low income, poor fluence upon the status of Negroes inthis country. But it is education, unemployment,and sub-standard housingall con- to argue that civilrights was a peripheral moral issueuntil hopelessness and despair national voting bloc be- spire to lock theNegro in ghettos of Negroes themselves emerged as a from which there is no apparent escape.The central and over- ginning in the 1930's. It wasthe political voice of the Negro, for Negroes today isthat almost 50 and the religious and intellectual whelming fact of life joined with that of labor percent live in a stateof officially recognized poverty. communities, that providedthe necessary and indispensable of the civil rights co- leverage for the substantial successes The median Negro family incomeis $3,233 or 54 percent alition in achieving formal legalequality for Negroes. Franklin Approximately two out of every Roosevelt's wartime FEPC, the impressivearray of desegre- of the white family's $5,835. three Negro families subsist onless than $4,000 annually as gation lecisions inthe federal courts, and the growingbody durable compared with 27 percentof the white families. Only one out of civil rights legislationspeak for themselves. As a $6,000 or more, as comparedwith political movement, civil rights waseminently successful. of five Negro families earns one out of twowhite families. And thedollar gap between But the Civil Rights Movement'semphasis on equality of startling strength Negro and white income iswidening. Among the more opportunity was both astrength and a weakness. Its Negro who finishes four yearsof barriers based upon race must indications of this is that the lay in its recognition that legal college will earn less over hislifetime than a white withonly be removed before Negroescould improve their status.Its has recognized rather late that the eight years of elementaryschool. It is this stark fact that weakness lay in the fact that it given rise to the NegroRevolution. In a recent comment,A. removal of legal barriers does notsimultaneously provide the of the movement for equality of opportunity. Equalityof op- Phillip Randolph, the elder statesman means for enjoying Negro rights, made this point quitedear. portunity has had littleeffect upon the social and economic

11 " The civil rights revolution has reached a point where itis incapable of achieving any further victories because it was not structured toachieve However legitimate or social and economic goals such as jobs, education, and housing. These are the most important goals for Negroes today. The next stage in the Negro struggle for equality and dignity must be a social potentially effective revolution. Even if racial discrimination and segregation were abolished overnight, theproblems of joblessness, inadequate education, ghettos and dis- ease would remain still.The problem now is not majoritarian politics may be: racial discrimination and segregation. The problem is economic exploitation and subjugation. Negroes have to develop new approaches to these prob- Negro. It is not a politics of racism, but a response to racism. It is the by-product of generations of social neglect and Negro lems, inventing new tactics and fashioning a fresh exdusion from the political process. It does not seek to sub- strategy. It means new concepts for the advance- jugate the white minority or exclude it from the political process, ment of the black and white working poor." but to assure the advancement of the social and economic well-being of the Negro population. The majoritarian style By inference, at least, it seems to me that the basic point of politics places the main centers of political power in the Mr. Randolph makes is that the issues which were most crucial Negro community, and those who setk to administer the for Negro rights in the preceding thirty years are not the most government (whether Negro or white) mustdeal with that crucial issues today. Consequently, fresh assessments mustbe reality. I would suggest that this is a style of politics which will made to determine how, in a given social context, political be highly visible over the next decade, particularly as the power can be effectively amassedfor the new tasks which lie Negro percentage of the total population grows in large urban ahead. I would like now to turn to that assessment. areas. Those who view this prospectwith alarm need only Depending upon location and differences in the underlying refer to American political history. Majoritarian politics has political and social structure, political power can be mar- been practiced for generations by successive waves offoreign shalled in various ways. I would like to characterizethese immigrants seeking a better life. It is a formof political be- various forms as majoritarian politics, alliancepolitics, and havior which is now dearly legitimized. protest politics. The first two operatethrough the electoral However legitimate or potentially effective majoritarian system; the last through new politicalforms and structures. politics may be, it is not a political strategy which can be ap- The nature of majoritarian politics isself-evident. Poten- plied universally. Nationally, the number of voting districts tially, it can be brought into play wherever Negroes constitute where Negroes constitute a majority does not exceed sixty. a majority of the actual orpotential voting population of a Inevitably, their political strength is limited by their numerical given governmental jurisdiction ( that is, a city or acounty). position vis-a-vis the white populationand, particularly, that As a purely numerical question, this is a conceivableoutlet segment of the white population which is mosthostile to the for Negro political power in the Black Belt Countiesof the interests of the Negro community. To bepolitically effective, South and some Northern urban centers such as Newark, therefore, Negro political power must be merged with those New Jersey and Gary, Indiana. To date, there have beenonly elements in the white community with whom Negroes can make a few working models of thisstyle of politics to observe and common cause. I call this alliancepolitics. analyze. In Mississippi and Alabama, mass-based political In theoretical terms, alliance politics is not new. Muchthat organizations responsible to Negro minorities havebeen or- has been gained in civil rights legislation over the last twenty ganized in recent years. But these efforts to date have metwith years is a by-product of a coalitionof Negro and white voters. only limited success. Since 1964, Negroes in Macon County, But alliance politics has been largely employed toachieve what Alabama have constituted a majority of the votingpopulation Harvard Professor James Q, Wilson calls "status" ends rather and have possessed the formal power necessary tocontrol than "welfare" ends. A "status" end seeks "the integrationof politics in the county. But it is still too early to judge the out- the Negro into all phases of the community on theprinciple of come. Negro leadership in the countyhas exercised its power equality." A "welfare" end, on the other hand, is one which cautiously and, therefore, has uncertain control overthegovem- looks "to the tangible improvement of the Negro community ... mental process. Moreover, a dear definition of therelationship through the provision of better services, living conditions, or between the middle-class leadership and the masseshas not positions." Those espousing "status" ends might see great value yet dearly emerged. Theelection of Lucius Amerson to the in the election of a Negro to the Senate,while those seeking office of Sheriff last year was the firstelectoral victory based " welfare " ends might give a higher priority to improvedhousing upon a grass-rootsappeal to the Negro masses over the heads or fairer treatment of Negroesby the police and the courts. of the established leadership. What this portendsfor the style The distinction between "status" ends and "welfare" ends and substance of politics in the county remains tobe seen. became rather dear to me a few years ago when a colleague of Majoritarian politics is primarily a response tounyielding mine did a small study of a town in the deep South where white resistance or indifference to change inthe status of the Negroes were just beginning to vote in large numbers. His

12 It is notapolitical strategy to beapplied universally

major objective was to determine howdifferent social class social welfare for Negroes. Because so much of theidealism groups within the Negro communityperceived the whole process and action on the peace front and the civil rights front is tobe of voting. He found sharp distinctions between upper-income found among young college and university students, thiskind and lower-income respondents in his sample. Upper-income of alliance seems increasingly viable as the Americanelectorate Negroes, by and large, placed great value on the psychic or grows younger. The recent emergenceof new political group- intangible benefits of voting. Their views can be fairly well ings under the general rubric of the "newpolitics" is tangible summed up in the comment of one respondent that "every evidence that such an alliance is already developing. citizen should have the right to vote." Forthis individual, There are also opportunities for effecting alliances among voting connoted "status "status as anequal citizen in both the Negro and the white poor. By various estimates, 35 to 50 law and practice. It embodied the personal fulfillmentof what million Americans live in poverty. Of this numberabout 20 my colleague calledthe " Democratic Ideal." percent are Negroes. While alliancesbetween these groups will be difficult to effect on purely racial issues, there do seem to be By contrast, the low-income respondents were moreclearly reasonable prospects for cooperation on broader social and oriented toward tangible benefits having moreimmediate and economic issues. The " Freedom Budget," which isproposed by direct impact upon their lives. To this group, improvedhousing, the A. Philip Randolph Institute of New York, calls for a better education, and improved employment opportunities were rational program to end poverty within ten years. It seems the chief concerns. And, the fact that only 20 percentof the that this is the kind of program which could win wide coalition low-income group was registered to vote may suggest a certain support from a broad cross-section of thepopulation, including disenchantment or distrust of the formal electoral process as labor and the poor. an instrument for theachievement of group interests. However, While the precise character of Negro-whitepolitical coalitions as political actionincreasingly focuses on "welfare" goals, the will be shaped by a variety of factors, the empirical evidence base for Negro-white political alliances is likely tobroaden suggests that such alliances are politicallyeffective. It was a considerably. coalition of Negroes, trade unionists, liberals, andreligious Alliance politics is possible under at least two setsof cir- groups that staged the March onWashington, passed the Civil cumstances. First, where seeminglydissimilar groups espousing Rights Act, and laid the basis for the Johnson landslide in 1964. different political causes agree to merge forces to achieve agreed- And with the expansion of the Negro electorate in the South, upon goals. This is essentially abargaining situation in which such coalitions will increasingly be effective in local and na- all the parties to the alliance agree to be mutually supportive tional politics. It is significant, for instance, to note that in so that all achieve thegoals they seek. Secondly, where groups 1964 the Negro vote provided the margin of victory for Presi- share some interests in common but have not, in the past, dent Johnson in Virginia, Florida, Tennessee, and Arkansas. sought a common strategy and a common politicaleffort. He lost only those Southern states where fewer than 45 percent What is necessary in this case is to find a basis forbringing of the eligible Negroes were registered. the groups together for political action. Permit me to suggest In the congressional and state elections of1966, the emerging several directions in which such alliances might develop. importance of the Negro vote in the South was also observable. Conceivably, one kind of political alliance can be achieved In Arkansas, Negro votes supplied the margin of victoryof through the merging of the civil rights movement with the Winthrop Rockefeller over an ardent segregationist. In Ala- peace movement. It is arather striking fact that two years ago bama and Virginia, the Negro vote was decisive or near there was little overlapping membership in these two move- decisive in crucial senatorial races. And in South Carolina, a ments. Those who worked for civil rightstended to be inactive United States Senator and a governor were elected by margins in the peace movement, and vice versa. Martin King'selo- provided by Negro voters. As one Carolina newspaper com- quent speeches in Chicago and at RiversideChurch in New mented: "One, and only one, general conclusion appears pos- York linking the civil rights movement with the peace move sible: Neither party can win statewide or congressional races ment provide a verbal bridge for apolitical alliance which in South Carolina without Negro voting support." conceivably may develop among those who oppose war on As Negro registration and voting expands in the South, religious or humanitarian grounds, and those who see our Negroes will frequently constitute the critical factors in elec- massive military expenditures as a deterrent to programsof tions at all levels. Fresh opportunities will presentthemselves

13 Rxr. 'WM sr

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" --11"

"Let My People Go . . ." Richard R. Benda for effective coalitions with more moderate whites. This will shalling of a segment of the electorate on behalf of specific mean not only a larger hearing in citycouncils and state legis- candidates and specific issues which concern the Negro com- latures, but will lead to the gradual disintegration of the Dixie- munity. crat wing in Congress which frequently combineswith conservative Republicanism to block broad social legislation benefiting Negroes and the poor. Protest politics, on the other hand, operates outsidethe usual While I am reasonably optimistic about the growing ef- channels of American politics and seeks to achieve Negro fectiveness of alliance politics North and South, there are some demands through the use of a variety of forms of direct action difficulties looming on the horizon which ought be noted. One applied at crucial points within the economic and political is the problem of fully realizing Negro voting potential.This system. It is especially effective where other forms of political is not simply a matter of getting most of the eligible Negroes activity have not produced desired results. registered (although this is important). More particularly, it is In February 1965, the distinguished strategist of the civil the question of how the vote can be mobilized for full expression rights movement, Mr. Bayard Rustin, wrote an article in in elections. For instance, although Negro registration has Commentary entitled, "From Protest to Politics." It was a risen dramatically since the passage of the Civil Rights Act, perceptive article making a strong case for the organization substantial numbers of those registered do not vote regularly. and rational use of the combined political power of Negroes In South Carolina in 1966, only about half the registered and liberals as a decisive weight in American politics. While Negroes voted in the November election. The significance of I thoroughly agree with his thesis, I think the tide of the article this lapse is to be seen in the fact that those who remained was misleading. For, I would arguethat "protest" is a form of away from the polls had almost enough votes todefeat the politics. The two are not separable in the way that his tide arch segregationist Strom Thurmond in his bid for reelection to suggests. And, I would argue that this can be an increasingly the Senate. In Georgia and Alabama, 50 percent or less of the effective way of generating pressure on the political system for registered Negroes voted. And in Memphis, in the Ninth Con- the realization of Negro demands. gressional District, a drop-off in the Negro vote permitted a I want to stress that protest politics, as I conceive it, is conservative Republican to unseat a moderate Democrat.This peaceful and non-violent. It is to be distinguished from what failure of Negroes to employ all the voting strength they have Rustin calls "class agression," and what we more typically is a serious one which will have an affect uponthe ability to refer to as "riots" or "rebellions." While I will have more to say bargain successfully with whites for political advantage. about the political significance of the latter phenomenon in a Majoritarian politics and alliance politics operate through moment, it should be dearly distinguished from "protest poli- the traditional electoral systems. Both depend upon the mar- tics."

o! Imrs*allw.m=1.11.411=10.1.11.

"Snooping" by the welfare investigators is abitter and con- Protest politics may takeseveral forms. The economic boy- familiar forms. Boycotts have been stant grievance. Cloward reportsthat in Cleveland, where the cott is among the more police conduct many of these investigations, oneof the typical used frequently both Northand South especially to win em- boycotts tactics is to interrogatethe children of ADC families about ployment concessionsfor the Negro. Usually, such of their by Negroes themselves, but newefforts undeclared family income or the male companions represent direct action regularly through- dramatize the role which religious mothers. Similar invasions of privacy occur such as, Project Equality welfare recipients are beginning to resist play in this sphere. out the country, and and other liberal groups can meeting in the South The rent strike is a more recentform of protest politics them. A recent report of a neighborhood the leadership of Jesse Gray in Bronx indicated that many ADC mothershave publicly vowed brought into vogue through father. organized effort to rectify the con- to no longer teachtheir children to lie about seeing their Harlem. In theory, it is an The organization of the welfare poor represents adramatic sequences oflax housing-codeenforcement by requiring the his property as a turn in the movementfor human rights. The most persistent slum landlord to make improvements on abandonment of the widespread precondition for collectingthe rent.It may also have the theme of their efforts is the the laxness of public officials in practices of rejecting legitimateapplicants, summarily termi- indirect effect of dramatizing and failing to provide the full enfordng the law, andthus trigger governmental action as nating the benefits of others, the result of Dr. King's cam- benefits provided by law to those who remain onthe rolls. well. This was to some extent these issues have shown far as I am able to determine,there have Groups which have concentrated on paign in Chicago. As the most dramatic growth andthe most stable membership. not been any systematicattempts to assessthe rent strike as a In a number of cities such as NewYork, city-wide coordinating political tactic and, therefore, itsefficacy is difficult to judge. effective when it has a wide committees have beenorganized to maximize strength and Protest politics can be most level, the Poverty- It is necessary, therefore, develop broad strategy. At the national base of support in the community. Washington, D.C., which have wide appeal and which aresig- Rights Action Center has been established in to seek out issues of the poor across local and nificant to large segmentsof the population. ProfessorRichard to coordinate the organization Cloward of the Columbia UniversitySchool of Social Work regional lines. What is perhaps most significant isthat the welfare protest has, in recent months, been assessingthe organizational capa- support from local anti- article in Nation magazine movement is beginning to attract bilities of the welfare poor. In an church groups, and civil rights organizations. last spring, he suggested that one way toforce changes in the poverty agencies, United States would be to The success of this form of protestpolitics will depend upon scandalous welfare system in the the ability to recruit eligible burden on the system by enrolling such incremental support, upon place an impossible financial welfare ranks who are not currently participating all welfare eligibles who are notcurrently enrolled. Admittedly, persons to the of those who live in in the system, and upon a continuingfocusing on issues which this group constitutes a sizable segment divisiveness among the poor. poverty and, conceivably, atactic, of this kindcould be a promote unity rather than productive form of protest for change inthe existing welfare system. What is now dearly observable isthat the welfare poor are organizingfor protest politics, as well as more conven- tional forms of political activity.The most dramatic of these efforts was the recent attempt of thewelfare poor in Roxbury, of the system Massachusetts to force change in the operation distinction of violence generally At an earlier point,I indicated that a dear in that city. The subsequent eruption politics which is non- here was organized should be drawn between protest obscured the significant political fact that involves unlawful behavior. political activity by a group notpreviously organized in a violent and "class agression " which I would like to make a brief commentabout the political signi- self-conscious way. The organization of the welfare poor isproliferating at a ficance of the latter phenomenon. and marches have In the United States, and inWestern democracies generally, rapid rate. In the last year, demonstrations achieve political ends is notregarded as been staged in New York and at least sixteenother cities pro- resort to violence to legitimate. Rather it is assumedthat the bona-fide daims of testing welfare practices. Resentmentof the welfare system by the long festering sore, and, therefore, a viable competing groups in societywill be adequately adjusted so poor has been a stake in maintaining social peace issue around which to organizepolitical action. A great variety that all groups will have a and equilibrium within the system.With the rather notable of demands have been put forward bythe protestors. Para- of the inadequacy of welfare exception of the CivilWar, this conception of the nature mount among the grievances are by theAmerican experience. payments and the invasionof personal privacy by welfare political society has been borne out only 70 per- Violence has been regarded asdysfunctional because individuals officials. In Ohio, for instance, recipients receive received sufficient benefits from the cent of what the stateitself has declared to be the minimum and groups have generally day per social system to make violence unnecessary.But congregated subsistance income by 1959 standards-73 cents per increasingly large numbers of clothing and all other expenses except rent. today in the Negro ghetto are person for food, of mediating their legitimate Welfare demonstrations in that state were heldlast year to people who perceive no effective way budget surplus claims within the political system.This is what Kenneth Clark persuade the government to use its $30 million "powerlessness," a feeling that one can- to raise welfare payments to a moreacceptable level. has called a sense of

15 not change his environment orshape his future. This sense of reached a climax. This movement made very effective useof powerlessness is especially observable amongNegro youth coalition politics to destroy the legal foundation of racism in that who are becoming increasingly alienatedfrom American society. the United States. But these successes are muted by the fact Unable to manipulate thepolitkal system intraditional ways, the legal destruction of segregation and discriminationlargely the ghetto's alienated people see violence asfunctional- -as a affected institutions which are relatively peripheral both to the means of making somechange, no matter how small, in the American socio-economic order and to the reality of poverty quality of their lives. And, strangelyenough, violence does in the lives of Negro people. The taskwhich now lies ahead is bring a hearing and some tangible results.The riots in Watts to broaden the base of political power intheNegro community, not only resulted in a major inquiryinto the causes of ghetto and in the larger community, to meet new demands for em- disenchantment, but substantial federalfunding which was ployment, housing, education, and related goals. I have sug- funneled directly into Watts, bypassing MayorYorty. And gested some of the possibilities and a few of the difficulties in even now, as weassemble here, thegovernment is again playing achievingthese ends through majoritarian politics, alliance its seasonal money game,shifting poverty funds from place to politics, and protest politics, and have pointed to the causes place to meet new outbreaks of violence asthey erupt. This is and dangers of functional violence as a mode of political the unfortunate legacy of the failure toface up to the need for expression. political modernization in the ghettothat is, tothe need to In dosing, I would simply reemphasize that groupself- develop political forms that can operatepeacefully, rationally, interest is the very core of real politics, and it isthe essence of and effectively within the establishedpolitical system. What is American politics. The Negro can no longer address himself needed is a complete restructuring of politicallife in the ghetto exclusively to the removal of the white man's prejudice. His to make political actiontruly productive for ghetto dwellers. problems are too urgent for that. To paraphrase Booker T. Only then will violence and "dass agression"become dys- Washington, he must "let down his (political) buckets where functional as a mode of political expression. he is and confront American society on the issue of his rights What I have tried to suggest in these remarks isthat the with all the political power and all the political wisdom he can traditional civil rights movement, as we have known it,has muster.

GY4

SEARCH FORLIBERALS Adapted from the Charles S. Johnson Memorial Lecture

Whitney M. Young, Jr.

Executive Director, National Urban League

Dr. Charles S. Johnson, first Negro tobecome president to riots and violence. There areothers who believe that their of Fisk University, once wrote: "The essence of our sys- ends can be achieved only through violence andultimate tem of government and life is voluntary cooperationin a destruction of that system. democratic process that respects the dignity of individuals. It is conceivable to me that, given the continued gapbetween Our faith in the human spirit to achieve the endsof a free the Negro and the white, the increasing disillusionment,frus- society has given hope to millions ofmankind over the world. tration and hopelessness, moresuch fanatical experiences are We cannot default this promise. This is our moralchallenge bound to occur. It seems miraculous thatwe have not seen more such extreme behavior expressed in the last few years.The in a national crisis. ...The issue is not how unsanitary some enforced racial slums and ghettos have become,but how to truth of the matter is that we have not been able todeliver to improve the health and welfare of the nationwithout regard to the Negro that which we have promised. And the reasonwhy race, sex, or national origin; nothow much a person thinks we have been unable todeliver is because we have not been his property loses in valueif theNegro moves intohis neighbor- given the resources with which to do this. Now isthe time for hood, but how to achieve a free market for living spacefor the those who are truly concerned and interested to appreciate people of the nation." the kind of risks, we, as the Negro leadership, and as Negro Although these words were written eleven years ago,how citizens are willing to takeand thoserisks are real. Those appropriate, how timely they arefor the crisis we are witnessing who are sympathetic to our efforts to maintain the Negroes' today. faith in democracy, must indicate their beliefduring this most The Urban League has tried to resolve theracial struggle difficult periodby unprecedented cooperation. within the framework of our democratic systembeingopposed What is happening today is no spur of the moment demon-

16 early 1960's we saw many employing, the very things thatNegroes were told would be stration of indignation. In the them into the mainstream of life, were proven positive things. We saw SupremeCourt and lower court de- necessary to get of important legislation. We to be fallacious. Welearned that merely to become educated cisions. We saw the passage of our great white peopleis saw a new attitudebeing taken on the part of American in- to adopt the behavior patterns given this not enough to openthe doors into the mainstream of American dustry and an unprecedented interest and support that a Ralph Bunche with a Phi Beta problem by the highest officials of government.Even Southerners society. We have seen Ne-g-r-o could, in Kappa Key, a Nobel Prize,and a Ph.D., cannot move into had finally realized that with some practice and did. We can no longer fact, be pronounced as "Negro" ratherthan " Nigra." Cicero, but an Al Capone can and then in 1966 something operate on the assumptionthat the sheer acquisition of sophis- We felt we were on our way, makes us an integral part of the happened. In rapid succession we heardthe cries of " black tication or college degrees power" by a handful of desperate and unwisepeople. We heard white society or the white power structure. of and saw riots occurring in citiesthroughout the country. The fear seems to be thatof upward mobility. When I say We saw the defeat of a Civil RightsBill without it ever getting We saw set-backs in termsof upward mobility, I mean themobility on the part of a minority. to the House floor for a vote. firmly on any segment of our of conservative candidates The blame cannot be placed attitudes; in terms of the election population, but, strange as it may seem, on oureconomic in places like Florida,Georgia, and Alabama; in termsof a of racism headed by theMrs. Hickses of prosperity. Because of thisaffluence, our society has developed most subtle kind of white Americans with middle-class incomes Boston and the Mrs. Cunningsof New York Cityyes, we a large number the streets, the depreci- and little formal education.These are the people who, in many heard of their concerns about crime on removed from welfare, feel insecure ating property values,and their fury concerningbussing. All cases just one generation usually prefaced by "we are for inte- in their newly acquired statusand feel constantly threatened of these "concerns" were of person thrives on racist why some of my best friends areNegroes." But by the rise of the Negro. This type gration ... propaganda, often under the guise ofreligious teachings and nevertheless, we were proceeding totouch upon a most vul- the "liberal" found hard to now well financedby newly wealthy reactionaries. nerable areaan area that even that these same people are acceptthe sensitive area of thehome. The "my house is my I feel it important to point out in order to justify opposed not to the Negro alone,but to change in general. They castle" slogan was twisted in strange ways line on questions of rent supple- even stranger and morecruel behavior. follow the same reactionary for this behavior were described ments, model cities,public housing, and social security ex- On the surface, the reasons all things that represent social and disgust over "black power,"and rioting. I am pansion. They are against as the fear progress andthought. These people will not stopwith the certain that we all knowbetter. The truth is that liberalism seems neighborhood; they'll distance people are from the problem.And blocking of a Negro's entrance into their to be related to the block the Jew; they'll attack theYMCA, the school boards; the fact of the matter is that in1966 the problem of integration and textbooks that are to became a national issue and was nolonger restricted mainly they'll dictate the kind of materials be used in dassrooms. Today wehave a population which is to the Southern regions. of complex problemsa popu- In 1964 and 1965 we werediscussing problems that were vulnerable to simple solutions rights and pub/it accommodation. lation which is insecure. unique to the Southvoting This ought to disturb all Americans,white and Negro, but In 1966, however, we weretalking about housing and de facto talking about issues next doorand not what should be of equal concern to usis the current defection segregation. We were from the fight. This defection is 300 or 3,000 miles away. of the liberal establishment then witnessed was nothing justified by the overridingproblem of the war in Viet Nam. The change in attitudes which we who are down in Washington short of incredible. The samepeople who had prided them- But, what upsets those of us their priests, and their ministers regularly fighting is that we are notfighting to get new legis- selves on sending their Rabbis, hold on to what we've got. down to Mississippi to march asproof of their commitment to lation, we're simply fighting to these same religious leaders Nlany bills and amendments havebeen struck out or cut back liberalism were ready to censure most recent session. be done in their own communities. by the House of Representatives in its for discussing what must of civil rights bills are and had to be reckoned with, Appropriations for the implementation The problems in Birmingham were being made to weaken but the problems in Bronxville andShaker Heights were their being emasculated. There are efforts all of our much needed programsand legislation. own business. Many of our intellectuals and many moreof our "liberal" friends snubbed our cause when wemoved from the South to the North. We learned thatthe South had no monopoly on prejudice. When you saw thosehoodlums throwing bricks at nuns in Chicago,when you saw the resentment, youwould have been hard-pressed to tell that you were notin Mississippi. We Northern cities were made torealize that Chicago and other that for some reason the liberal and suburban communities had nointention of accepting any It has been proven to us does not have much stamina;but the rightist, on the Negro for their neighbor. surface some rather significant other hand, finds time for all issues.He works like the devil Last year brought to the bomb China and North Viet Nam, points. One was the fact thatthe old strategies that we were agitating the President to

17 It is possible to change attitudes

it has been done but he also works equally as hard todefeat all of our domestic kind." Despite a blanket of radio censorship, thesong somehow programs. He givesequal time to infiltrating the Appropri- is on its way to the top ten list. Only the pleasof a young ations Committee and he outmaneuversthe "liberal" estab- listening audience have brought it this fara young interracial lishment to keep appropriations for domestic andforeign audience sympathetic to the gap between ideals and actions. crisis down. The liberal apparently justdoesn't have as much Many of our young people today aredamoringfor responsi- conviction as then .:: people who arefighting the fellow who's bility. But, this feeling of responsibility is too often misguided moving in next dour. We have one Senator inWashington who by the false liberalism and hypocrisy of their parentsthe regularly expresses righteous indignation aboutself-determina- members of the adult society. In the end their futility manifests tion and denial demonstrated 10,000miles away in Viet Nam, itself In militancy and rebellion. but ignores the abuses to self-determination going on inhis There is unlimited debate about Stokely Carmichael, Adam home city. Powell, or Mohammad Ali, but too many refuse to recognize, Despite the talk of great progress at local, state, andfederal as Life magazine pointed out atthe end of the summer of 1966, levels, there are strong forces at work that havecombined to that of the 19 million Negro citizens in this country, 18,990,000 keep the basic condition of Negroes in relation tothe white did not throw a Molotov cocktail, did not shout "kill whitey" population relatively unchanged. The liberalestablishment, in or "black power."They bore in silence that which they have effect,is using a slingshot for a jobthat calls for nudear always bornethe injustices, the discriminations, with great weapons, or applyingband-aids as a cure for cancer. faith and greater patience with and in the American system. The Negro leaders are racing hard to keepabreast of the But, as we all know well, for every Negro who throws a rock, anger and pent-upfrustrations erupting in the rat-infested one hundred are dying inthe muck and mire of Viet Nam. No ghettos of our urban areas. We are not quarreling overthe one mentions that for everyMohammad Ali there are fifty issue of Viet Nam; all we are asking is,"Who in Congress white American males moving to Canada to beat the draft. who in communities across the countrywho in our power No civil rights bill is being passed for the hundredsand thou- structure is fighting for and pushingfor the domestic programs sands of Negroes who are dying in disproportionate numbers crucial to the Negro?" Few liberals are supportingthe rent in Viet Nam. I'll never forget what GeneralWestmoreland said supplements, the teacher corps, and these issues have nothing to me when I visited Viet Namlast year. His words were: "Mr. to do with the money being poured intoViet Nam. We ought Young, I've found out three things over here, that geniuses to be mobilizing for a guaranteedannual income, minimum and idiots come in all colors, that cowards and heroes come in wage, and expandedfree public education, but on these questions all colors, and that nobody gets exercised orengaged in any there is absolutely no dialogue, and these are the problems at great dialogue about open occupancy in afoxhole." the heart of the civil rights struggle. It is no wonderthat our people have reached a point of disillusionment with thelaw The tragedy is that it seems we must experience thiskind of and the liberals. After a long struggle, we finally see thatlaws emergency crisis before people actdecently. Many of the white are passed, only tofind them sabotaged and weakly imple- servicemen I spoke with expressed more sympathywith riots mented by the behind-the-scenes activities of established con- and black power than some of the Negroes. The experienceof servative groups. hearing white men criticize a society which permitted them to To deny the justification for the anger of the Negrowould grow up with superstitious notionsabout the Negro was un- be dishonest. Perhaps it lies in the willingnessof America to usual for me. Let us hope that these men will represent a strong remove the visible legalbarriers to equal opportunity, but the liberal and positive force for the kind of legislative and local unwillingness to provide the resources to assure it.Today's action that will be needed when they return to their own com- young Negro is rejecting avalue system based on material munities. acquisition rather than contribution or creativity.Today's Young people, Negro and white, graduating from high young Negro is rejecting ahypocrisy which mouths platitudes schools and colleges and returning from Viet Nam, must be on brotherhoodand practices racial, religious, and dass mobilized; and this mobilization must be organized by those separatism and discrimination. with perception and mature experience. Last year the Urban Recently, a white high school sophomore girl, JanisIan, League received not only greatly increased contributions from caused an uproar by writing a song entitled"Society's Child." Negro citizens but business corporations as well. These indus- The folk-rock song about interracialdating deals with the trialists and businessmen realize that either they will support pressures a younggirl yields to from her mother, teachers, responsible leadership or irresponsible leadership will take and friends, because as the song states"Honey, he's not our over. The struggle can no longerbe generalized. In the past we

18 spoke glibly about the struggle betweenthe poor and the moves into the street,the majority of liberals are reluctant to bourgeoisie, about the coalition of labor andNegroes. Today move along with it.They are all for the Negroes' objectives, with the means. The atti- there is no longer a nice horizontal cuttingknife. Today that they say, but they cannot go along all levels tude of the Negro in this regard wasaptly described by Bis- knife is vertical. We can find friends and enemies at "When you say you of the economic ladder. We cannot assumethat all the business marck when in another era he remarked, the community is opposed tofair housing; the wise ones, either agree to a thing inprinciple, you mean that you have not practicality, realize that the slightest intention of carrying it out in practice." from moral conviction or sheer whose only goal is to main- Negro population must bedispersed. The intelligent business- And what about the liberals nothing is more foolish than to sit back and tain peace and comfort?What about the liberals who want man knows that and let a low-income tax user,rather than a tax producer, take change; but without upsetting the existing organizations If the present trend continues in the next institutional arrangementswithout trouble orturmoil? The over the central cities. the one-by-one absorp- ten years, tenof America's eleven largest cities will have more white liberal whose ultimate goal was It has already happened tion of Negroes of "merit" intowhite society is suddenly agi- than a 50 percent nonwhite population. with a de- in Washington; it willhappen in two years in Newark, New tated at the prospect of having to come to terms Jersey; it happened last year in Gary,Indiana; it will happen manding Negro community. Americans in two years in Baltimore.The restlessness, the understandable The clock is ticking and it is up to us as thinking militancy, and the anger have so farbeen fairly well contained to shake our well-meaningbut inactive friends out of their looking within the bounds of the ghetto;but for how long can anger lethargy. We must let society know that the Negro is not distinguished only by the color of for a handouthe is looking for independence.There are be kept within a boundary but we must in- a man's skin? Negroes who are willing and ready to serve, useful action. And it is still society with a proper attitudebefore it will make an ag- This anger must be channeled into that many Americans up to us as communityleaders, as the educated, as members gressive effort to find them. It is true of this action which will have to surrender the comforting senseof their own of the "middle class" to guide the course American left on its own could easily headtoward defeat and destruction. superiority. There is nothing in past or present be between separatism and history to suggest that Negroes can gain theirrightful place For all Americans the choice cannot confrontation. But, in the words of integration. Unless there is cooperationbetween the races, we in America without direct Abraham Heschel, "So long as our society is moreconcerned are headingstraight for self-destruction and thecollapse of to prevent strifethan to prevent humiliation, its moral status our democratic system. the faith in our We must quadruple the numberof business leaders, of will be depressing indeed." I have retained government officials,of agencies, and of private citizens who society to make changes. and dedicated to the "national" interestrather I am not one of those people whofeel that prejudices are are concerned and generations than the "self" interest. These people mustbe convinced that deep rooted and will only yield to generations disposition to a liberal doctrine, and the means tosuch a of education. I know better. I've seen our societychange and late 1930's Russia doctrine, offers a far greater possibilityfor a democratic and fluctuate in its attitudes. I remember in the conservative form. It is not was an ally of Germanywe weretold to hate Russia. In 1941 progressive nation than does a became our allywe the future of the Negro at stakebut the entirenation. Russia was attacked by Germany and The Negro is no longer satisfied withbeing a silent partner were told to loveRussia and its great stalwart people. With always deferring to white judg- the end of the war in 1945, Russia became ourcold-war enemy in the great liberal coalition, Russia and its Communist population. ment on strategy and tactics.It is true that civil rights organi- we were told to hate from white liberals and Today, with the Red Chinese threat, with acordial meeting zations depend on political support have been their trade unions, church groups,interfaith organizations. between Johnson and Kosygin in Glassboro, we unfortunate consequences, told that it's important that wedon't hate Russia too much. But, this relationship too often has like us. as noted byProfessor James Q. Wilson in his book Negro They're changing every day. They're getting more Politics. Negroes tended to be"the objects rather than the It is possible to change attitudesithas been done. before it is too late, and subjects of civil action. Things areoften done for, or about, What we must learn in this country of Negroes, but they are less frequently done what impressed me most on my tripsthrough Asia, Africa, or to, or because I was fortunate to by Negroes." The Negro has long sincemoved away from this and my most recent trip to Europewhere total dependencyin fact he resents it. He is notwilling to move have been received by Pope Paul at theVaticanis that despite physical characteristics, to the sidelines andlisten to palliatives from the white liberal the great differences in religion, culture, rather than the solutions, but he still toooften appears to be economic levels, and languages, manhas a great deal in com- grateful receiver. mon. We havebasically the same hopes and aspirations for our in the lowly position of the We all want If we are accused of continued reliance onthe white " power families. We all want peace. We all want education. structure" and constant conciliatory measures,then it is time a decent job. As aworld society, we have far more in common for the liberal to do some soul-searching onhis part. How many than we do by way of difference. liberals, when in control, do not organizefor an effective fight There is no more reason to placate. If people are not con- of these same liberals cerned about saving their consciences,they are nevertheless against discrimination? How many such even tolerate a measureof racial discrimination within their concerned about saving their way of life. Organizations as the Urban Leaguestand ready and waiting with the know- own areas? coalition of brain power It was once noted that when thestruggle for Negro rights how and creativity to bring about the

19 ..:w-r. .v-7.7.v.,-7,,.4M1.7T,4.1,74rriM...

and mutual cooperation which will save this nation from self- in Athens when those who- are not injured are as indignant as destruction. those who are." And I say we shall achieve justice in this The alternatives are clearprovide the resoulces for pre- country when those of you who are not physically injured vention and rehabilitation or continue to pay a higher cost for are as indignant as those who are. welfare and crime. Either help the Negro become a productive In closing, I will use the appropriate words of Charles S. consumer or he will remain adisgruntled dependent. There is Johnson, "Basically, this is a struggle today not between North absolutely no choice. and South, or whites and Negroes, or between the international An ancient Greek scholar once asked:" When shall we achieve points of view. It is a struggle between those who believe in justice in Athens?" The answer was: "You shall achieve justice democracy and those who do not."

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