If for the other groups discussed here America could be seen as the promised land, for those of African descent that relationship to America could not be the same, for Americans had never allowed it to be so. White racism served the economic, social, psychological and political purposes of white Americans in all parts of the country and over all of its history. In terms of the tension between identities it cast African-Americans in a different mold. African identity was strong even if those in the group wished it were not because it was forced on them. American identity was, at times, obscured even if those in the group wished to embrace it.
Culture holds society together and is the product of society.
For Americans to have held together as a society they invented a culture. Being one and being many is a paradox with which Americans have lived throughout their national history. In decrying the separatists Schlesinger describes those at one pole in a bipolar situation. It may be that those at that pole would sacrifice the one for the many and in the process strip American society of the fabric that holds it together. At the other pole are those, who in their fear of disuniting, seek to erase all traces of cultural difference.