Minneapolis spokesman., 1961-07-07

more young Negro professional
men and women are becoming ded-
icated to the rights. welfare and
improvement Of their own people.
We are seeing the effects Of this
in Tulsa. The shuffling, grinning
white mans niger" with his
comic self-depreciation, Is vanish
ing, and the annual outpouring Of
dignified colored high school and
college graduates IL raising the
tone.
But Negro leadership II still far
below its proper level Too many
Negro policy wheel kings who
have robbed their people shame
lessly, are vocal supporters Of NE
gro rights" Too many metropoli-
tan Negro newspapers which
speak editorially Of the new Negro
dignity, deluge their readers with
sex, sensationalim and phony
charm, dreamboolV and aphrodisiac
ada Too many Negro politicians,
who pose as the protectors Of their
race, seem to model their behavior
ON Hulan Jack and Adam Clayton
Powell Jr. Those who preach uplift
should stop the down-push
For the Negro's role in America
Is tough enough as it is, Here is
the only place In the world where
the Negro finds himself a size
able minority among Anglo-Saxon
traditions Of behaviour and per-
formance. Among the French the
Negroes find no such clash. IN the
easy and lax MISREPRESENTATION
tradition Of Brazil there is no con-
flict- But the Angio-saxon way Of
1 living and the traditional Negro
way Of living have been poles
apart. The rabid white supremacist
cites this clash as proof that Ne
groes are basically inferior, cursed
with low mental horsepower and
built-in irresponsibility.
Where" asks the white sup
remacist, maliciously, was there
ever a great Negro civilization ?
Where did Negroes ever develop
by themselves art, architecture,
Engineering, law, medicine or
science even palely comparable to
those of other raees?"
Racial Morale q Factor
But the civilization of Western
Europe of which we are so proud
didn't get under way until after
the Roman conquest Of Britain
and Gaul. Prior to that our Eng
lish, Germanic and Scandinavian
ancestors were no more advanced
than the blacks Of Timbuctu. And
1000 years is but the snap of a
finger in the development Of races.
No anthropologist Of reputation
holds to the theory that Negroes
are slightly subhuman.
Yet the Negroes do lack some.
thing. Perhsc9 the clue Is In
Freud's term lid" I'D Is defined
as a reservoir Of instructive hu.
man impulses" II Is a discipline
and morale factor, built into races
over many generations, that goes
far deeper than family history OF
current environment.
The, peasant looks up at the
crumbling castle on the hill and
his I'D" is strengthened by the
memory Of past glories. The child
reads the ancient writings Of long
gone ancestors and subconsciously
he sets a standard for himself. A
man Is disciplined without know
ing It by the measure Of his pride
lin what he sprang from. Every
great, noble and admired human
being scatters Id seeds that win
grow among future generations of
his people. The Negro Is short on
i'd His history is brief and cloudy.
His traditions are vague. He
doesn't have much to live up to.
1t takes time to build esprit into
people, particularly when rela-
tives who were born slaves are still
living.
Yet this can change. It Is al
ready changing. The right to vote
may be exercised badly once 1t is
won, but it can never be exercised
well until 1t Is won. It Is ridiculous
to permit q man to ride through
Mississippi on a Pullman car II
he has a white coat on, but not II
he has q tweed coat on There are
many barriers that must be up
rooted.
Opening Of the Doors
II
But beyond the legal squabbling,
beyond the fever over segregated
buses and Jim Crow waiting rooms,
there is something much more
fundamental. And that is the right
Of a white collar mind to a white
collar job, regardless, Of the color
of the skin above the collar. 1t is
ridiculous to set up colleges for
shoe-shine boys or give graduate
degrees to sweep-up men.
This opening Of the doors Is
primarily the moral responsibility
Of white employers But more op-