Color-blindness
Not For Blacks
By JEAN PARVIN
James Farmer visited Guilford
College last week to speak on
"an issue of prime concern
today—the issue of race, of
color, in the United States."
Farmer believes that "never has
tension (between races) been so
great as now ... except perhaps
during Reconstruction days". He
declares that despite many laws
and slight progress, tension has
risen. Improvements so far have
been just a drop in the bucket as
far as Farmer is concerned. In
the past decade, often called the
era of the 'Civil Rights
Revolution'... the changes have
not succeeded in significantly
altering the life of the average
Negro ... The decade was not
wasted", he says, "but it helped
primarily the middle-class Negro
who doesn't represent the
majority." The other Negroes
continue to "run up a down
escalator".
Farmer feels that "everything
has changed but everything is
still the same" for black people
in America. Today he can legally
purchase a hot dog in any
restaurant, but he still does not
command an acknowledgment
of the dignity and respect the
hot dog represents.
"Blacks and whites", he said,
"are both victims of 'residues of
racist conditioning. The
'Hollywood image' of the Negro
has projected the image of a
clown, a buffoon, or a criminal.
A childlike oaf who we could
love perhaps, could pat on the
head like a puppy, but whom we
could not respect." School
textbooks often help to
condition young black children
to believe in their own
inferiority. Farmer declared that
blacks are conditioned to believe
in their own inferiority and that
whites, too, are conditioned to
believe in black inferiority. More
sensitive whites try to uproot
this feeling in themselves^ but
(Continued on page 3)
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Color-blindness
Not For Blacks
By JEAN PARVIN
James Farmer visited Guilford
College last week to speak on
"an issue of prime concern
today—the issue of race, of
color, in the United States."
Farmer believes that "never has
tension (between races) been so
great as now ... except perhaps
during Reconstruction days". He
declares that despite many laws
and slight progress, tension has
risen. Improvements so far have
been just a drop in the bucket as
far as Farmer is concerned. In
the past decade, often called the
era of the 'Civil Rights
Revolution'... the changes have
not succeeded in significantly
altering the life of the average
Negro ... The decade was not
wasted", he says, "but it helped
primarily the middle-class Negro
who doesn't represent the
majority." The other Negroes
continue to "run up a down
escalator".
Farmer feels that "everything
has changed but everything is
still the same" for black people
in America. Today he can legally
purchase a hot dog in any
restaurant, but he still does not
command an acknowledgment
of the dignity and respect the
hot dog represents.
"Blacks and whites", he said,
"are both victims of 'residues of
racist conditioning. The
'Hollywood image' of the Negro
has projected the image of a
clown, a buffoon, or a criminal.
A childlike oaf who we could
love perhaps, could pat on the
head like a puppy, but whom we
could not respect." School
textbooks often help to
condition young black children
to believe in their own
inferiority. Farmer declared that
blacks are conditioned to believe
in their own inferiority and that
whites, too, are conditioned to
believe in black inferiority. More
sensitive whites try to uproot
this feeling in themselves^ but
(Continued on page 3)
