The Detroit tribune. (Detroit, Mich.) 1935-1966, 1960-04-23
DETROIT TRIBUNE, SATURDAY, APRIL %, 1860
Problems Of Progress


N~onIinueo
The problem of integrated housing is even diff
cult Here all the shibboeth into play Fear host
lily and sometimes violence greet the nonwhite
when he moves his family into all all-whte community
The acceptance of minority members in settings is
challenge. Even difficult perhaps will be the
psychological adjustment of the majority community to the
idea that lilly white communities are becoming thing
of the past that matter where he may find
his next door neghbor to be Negro Puerto Rcan
or Mexican
Another complex situation is the problem of desegre-
cation of schools in both northern and southern
tiles In the North there is sharp conflict to how this
process might best be advanced Some persons believe
that school should the total community and be
located closely possible to the of that community
Therefore they say, the only way that schools be
desegregaed in segregated community to change the
housing pattern
Others believe just as strongly that desegregaton of
Northern schools simply cannot wait until the distant day
when housing ntegraed They urge local school boards
take strong to change the segregated school
pattern by moving children from district to district by
tearing down existing school plants and by relocating them
at the edge rather that the center of awhte aNegro
housing areas.
All these IDEAS when put into practice breed
of problems We have in New York City the intense
opposition of white parents when Negro children
into school district They protested not only
grounds race; believed that there is basic differ
the learning abilities and cultural patterns OF White
and Negro children
In other cases, minority group children have been
brought into school only to be ignored or ridiculed
by alwhite n-group. The process thus propagaes
stereotypes and myths of racial superiority
In the Negro community too, there are many differ
of opinion about methods OF desegregaon Some
times the differences lead to namecang and personality
conflicts among Negroes-and to confusion the part
of welmovated leaders of the general community seeking
the best way to desegregate
This brings up the great problem OF Negroes them
selves in time OF progress and adjustment They, too,
must gracefully accept the responsibility for implementng
their hard-earned rights and privileges
Consider for a minute, the problems of the Negro In
adjusting integraed life He does know what to expect
adjusting inegrated life He does know what TO expect
in attitude or behavior from white to the next he
moro afpd no a
member of minority group he must have strong doubts
about the good will of most of the whites he meets TO say
nothing of bewlderment
In the process of reaching maturity the seimage of
minority group members must inevitably be in state OF
fux Their daily lives will be influenced by their desire
to adjust Many will behave like conventional cltlzens,
leading prosac Woodworking lives But this role will
clash with the stereotype held by many members OF the
majority groups norman behavior may lead to mis-
understanding and tension. Negro who has reached
middeclass economic satue-and behaves with middle
class values and responbiy-may be held to contempt
being "pushy," 'uppity or putting on airs And
harsher terms may be applied to minority leader VINO
chooses to stand up for his simple rights as citizen
There will be other distressing problems for Negroes,
too For thing many will long be sensitive ana DOUBT
full the motives of the general community Whenever
prominent Negro afoul OF the law, many Negroes
raise the question: action being taken against him because
of his race?
Other members of the Negro community as they APP
proach genuine equality will start to act more and more
like the white majority Negroes too will have their snare
of embarrassing and overaggressive members-and tner
demagogues Some of them will exploit the fears and re-
sentiments of their groups Some Will achieve OF MAINTAIN
power by distortng irrelevant incidents into anNego
plots Some will denounce bgory in others In SUCH rapple
ousing that they will arouse bgotry III their own
group.
In the need for convenient scapegoat In an effort
to achieve status for hundred other reasons, some Ne
groes will exhibits bias and hostility toward members Oh
other minority groups few Negro political leaders nave
already dsparaged other minorties in appeals 10 ther
Negro constituencies Others will retaate for past dis
examinations by themselves discriminating
Finally still others will be super-nationaists their ac
tons and values will center soey around the welfare OF
their own group instead of focusing the greatest good
for the greatest number Extreme examples are some OF the
Negro "Moslem" groups which preach an-whe bias ing
ed with anti-Semitic overtones.
Such problems are bound to accompany progress ana
change But the outstanding phenomenon OF tne Negro
community will be its demagogues or It's rac fringe
groups Instead will be what we now glimpse IN the SIT
downs"-he emergence of stable emotonaily nes.ny
people, dedicated to their country and its prncpeis-anu
despite their tragic past astonishingy like 'her WHITE
nQip