The Michigan chronicle. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1936-current, 1943-12-04
By HORACE A. WHITE

language can be tools In the hands
Of the fascist elements I'm our com.
munity to divide the workers. A
dozen playing" Negro can be made
to scare ten thousand ignorant
white workers. These ignorant
whites. because they are insecure
In their jobs and houses, will &C.
cept one dozen playing" Negro As
an excuse for keeping all Negroes
out Of deserved jobs.
Nobody Is so naive as TO believe
that II all Negroes become good
little chocolate soldiers" that our
problems are solved. No! No! Far
from Il. The problems Of boisterous
talk and actions are Just little mani
'estatioHs TO our bigger problems
N't have to be met.
Emotional insecurity. inferiority,
1ividual and group Illustration
e the key words to what we COM
only call boisterous and "un-
ivilized" behavior. Overlook these
words and their meanings in the up
struggle Of "our people and we
miss an opportunity to give help
to the Negro people.
The Negro II emotionally inse-
cure because he has been rejected
by the majority Of his neishbors
The Negro in this regard may be
likened unto . child In . family
who seeks 70 como before his
parents on an equal basis with his
brothers and sisters but Is pushed
back In every attempt to do 80. The
child who Is pushed back has no
status. He knows that the moment
he shows his face he Is going to get
kicked against.
The child still wants to be ac-
cepted in the family circle. He
wants to be accepted by his parents,
brothers and sisters. He needs and
wants their acceptance 90 badly
that he cannot be normal. The child
will follow one or two GENERAL
LINES Of behavior. He will put
himself off In a corner and nurse
his hurt and learn to hate the rest
Of the family and anybody who
looks like" them. Or the child
may do all sorts Of overt negative
things to gain attention. He may
wet the bed, curse, drink and fight
members Of the family to get At
TENTION. He has to have the at
tention OF his family even though
he brings punishment down on his
head to get It..
Negroes who have been given
jobs that have been denied them by
the community under other circum-
stances feel insecure and unwanted.
To feel unwsnted Is . terrifying ex-
perienc whether Il Is on the part Of
an individual or . group. The un-
wanted individual or group builds
up tremendous amounts Of hostility
and hatred against those that have
rejected them. This hostility and
hatred ultimately has to be ex-
pressed. When . Negro gets on q
street car and curses out q conduc-
tor, he Is not cursing and showing
hostility TO the conductor 80 much
As he Is showing hostility to his
kind for years Of rejection. When
Negroes talk loud among them
selves on street cars they are not
just dirty and disrespectful-they
are like the little boy whistling in
the dark. They are trying to find
some security for themselves I'm
loud talk. OF course the security
they want Is not In the loud talk
any more than courage Is In the
little boys whistling.
School teachers who work in Ne
gro districts complain that Negro
children are loud, boisterous and
hostile. That is possibly true. Their
parents plus their environment
makes them that way. Their parents
have built UP so much unexpressed
hostility for the way that they have
been treated by their white neigh
bors that they turn . great deal Of
this hostility at their own children.
The Negro child Is tossed SO much
between love end hate by his
parents that the child IL completely
frustrated. He cannot take Il ont
on the parent directly. but he can
take Il out on the teacher, school
and other students. Hostility as TO
be expressed.
0 course. the above Is only q
small peak into complicated SUBJ
ject but 1t is enough to suggest a
program TO meet the problem.
Negro leaders must accept Ne
groes. and stop always asking the
masses Of people to prove them
selves worthy. Negroes are born
worthy Of all American opportuni-
ties.
Negro organizations must set up
an organizational structure which
strengthens the "egotism" OF the
masses. We mean by this construc-
tive attitude toward self. Organiza-
tons among Negroes must take into
account the need Of the Negro as
with oil people 10 have status.
The organizations among Ne
masses do not give status. They
only give opportunity for emotional
explosion. Status means recogni-
ton with opportunity for self full
fllment in maintaining ones place
Our organizations must set UP some
very high idealism-Idealism that
expresses itself in every day con-
duct-idealism that gives man
some firmness in each step he takes
Cursing. loud talk and fighting are
only signs OF the lack Of self-resliza.
tion on the part Of individuals and
groups