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Scholaroutliinesblackman sconditionintoday’s AmericaThe principle difference between the North and South’s attitude toward the black man in America, Dr. Stephen Wright, a black scholar, told a Central College Academic Seminar audience last Monday, has been that the South didn’t care how close the black man came so long as he didn’t get too high, while the North didn’t care how high a black man got so long as he didn’t get too close.Dr. Wright was the featured speaker in Central’s week-long Academic Seminar, The Role of the -lack Man in ContemporaryAmerica. lastToday's problemHe noted that there are three factors that compound the black man’s problem in trying to overcomesegregation anddiscrimination, and have kept him from beconing just another immigrant: his high visibility because of his color; the wide-spreadassumption of his inferioritythat has been perpetuated through the stereotypes in the movies, radio and literature of the culture; and the long period in which his place was maintainedat the bottom of the socialladder.a fashion model and still be regarded as inferior and subject to all of the normal forms of discriminations.The black man is involved in a struggle to change all of this, he said, and noted four ways changes take place in our society:1) political action- but how can the disenfranchised affect social action? How can a political minority affect radical political change?2) through litigation. Mbut how can the black man get change through litigation in courts controlled bv whites?3) through organized protest- The question here is is a minority strong enoughtto make boycotts and disruptive confrontations work or* do they create a neutralizing backlash?4) force and violence—but can a minority risk this, and even if it couid. is it right?Wright predicted that in the 1970’s we would see a greater manifestation of the black man’s struggle to determine his own place in American social order- to make it in every respect the same as every other American.4lt;You will see themanifestations of thisreaching effects of white racism- poverty, the creation and maintenance of the black ghetto, the damage to the black man’s self respect, the move byblack leadership, towards separatism, a reevaluation of his leadership, and the blame for all his problems, including his own, on the white man.Because 30 to 66 per cent of the population of America’s ten largest cities is black, the cities will be the battleground for the black man’s struggle for equality, and the ghetto has become the powder keg by which the situation will explode, he said.Wright said, ...the more aware the black youth becomes of the magnitude of their plight, the deeper their anger and the more impatient they become with indifference, and with tokenism, a disease more deadly in some respects than unadulterated discriminatin.A historyWright gave Central students an overall view of the history of black leadership in America and the dilemmas facing black leaders on Wednesday.He explained that afterrestoration of the franchise, and two. the elimination of segregation, he said At the time of its formation the NAACP was considered as quite radical. But by 1954. things had changed. The NAACP had managed to have laws limiting the right of Negroes to vote declared unconstitutional. and had obliterated the separate but equal doetring. However, black leaders soon discovered that a change in the law did not mean that the situation was in reality-changed. Wright said.THE ANSWER to this need was the organization of various groups aimed atnon-violent demonstrationfor civil rights. These groups included the Student Non-violent Co-ordinating 1 ommittee, the Congress of Racial Equality, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Southern Christian Leadership Conference.These groups were instrumental in getting the 1964 Civil Rights Bill passed, and organized the great civil rights march on Washington, DC.. Wright said.“By 1965. it had become obvious to a number of the students of the followingthat something more thanDr. Steven J Wrightfourth, to eiiminatidiscrimination in employment. and fifth, to in sure the equal ad ministration of justice* Stokely Carmichael. whlt; invented the Black Poweiphrase, called attention tlt; the limintations ot th .Hrategies of non violendemonstrations and con frontations.”The result has been foi black leadership to move more and more to ;philosophy of violence, anc the emergence oi organizations such as the Black Panthers. Dr. Wright asked. “Is any strateg short of violence likely tc achieve results?The answer depends or what the white community does if their response is more racism, they may force the black man closer to violence that he has everbeen before “
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Pella Chronicle Advertiser
Pella, Iowa, US
Wed, Nov 05, 1969
Page 6
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NY, USA 05 Mar 2021
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