The Man of Love - Part 1

This evening I would like to discuss with you the future of integration. Broadly speaking, there have been three distinct periods in the history of race relations in this nation, and it is interesting to note that in each period the Supreme Court of the nation rendered a decision that gave legal and constitutional validity to the dominant thought patterns of that particular period. The first period in the area of race relations extended from 1619 through 1862. This was the era of slavery. During this period the Negro was considered a “thing” to be used rather than a "person" to be respected. He was merely a depersonalized cog in a vast plantation machine. In 1857, there finally came a decision from the Supreme Court to give constitutional validity to the whole system of slavery. This decision, known as the Dred Scott decision, stated in substance that the Negro was not a citizen of this nation; he was merely property subject to the dictates of his owner.

The second period in the development of race relations in America extended, broadly speaking, from 1863 to 1954. This was a period of restricted emancipation, if I may use that phrase. We must admit that this stage was something of an improvement over the first stage of race relations because it at least freed the Negro from the bondage of physical slavery and accepted him as a legal fact. But it was not the best stage because it failed to accept the Negro as a person. And it was therefore very easy for the ethos of segregation to emerge as a basic principle and practice of this period. In 1896, through the famous Plessy versus Ferguson decision, the Supreme Court established the doctrine of separate but equal as the law of the land. Through this decision, the dominant thought patterns of this second stage of race relations were given legal and constitutional validity. But because segregation is at bottom a form of slavery covered up with certain niceties of complexity. The end result of the period of restricted emancipation was that of plunging the Negro into the abyss of oppression where he experienced the bleakness of nagging injustice.

The third period in the development of race relations in America had its beginning on May 17, 1954. We may refer to this as the period of constructive desegregation. It is a period in which men seek to rise to the level of genuine intergroup and interpersonal living. The Supreme Court's decision, which came to give legal and constitutional validity to the dominant thought patterns of this period, stated that the old Plessy doctrine must go, that separate facilities are inherently unequal, and that the segregated child on the basis of his race is to deny that child equal protection of the law. And as a result of this verdict, we find ourselves standing on the threshold of the most creative period in the development of race relations in the history of our nation. To state it figuratively and in biblical language, we have broken loose from the Egypt of slavery. We have moved through the wilderness of “segregation” and now we stand on the border of the promised land of integration.

As we stand at the threshold of the period of integration, we notice two contradictory forces at work in the South: the forces of defiance and the forces of compliance. The forces of defiance are at work in several ways. Many public officials are using the power of their offices to defy the law of the land through their irresponsible actions, their inflammatory statements, and their decimation of distortions and half-truths they have succeeded in arousing abnormal fears and morbid hatreds within the minds of underprivileged and uneducated whites, leaving them in such a state of excitement and confusion that they are led to acts of meanness and violence that no normal person would commit. We see a glaring example of this in New Orleans Louisianna today. This defiance also expresses itself in the resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan determined to preserve segregation at any cost. This organization employs methods that are crude and primitive. It draws its members from underprivileged groups who see in the Negros' rising status a political and economic threat. And although the Klan is important politically and openly denounce from all sides it remains a dangerous force which thrives on racial and religious bigotry and there is always the implied threat of violence.

Then there are the White Citizens' Councils. Since they occasionally recruit members from a higher social and economic level than the Klan, a halo of partial respectability hovers over them. But like the Klan, they are determined to preserve segregation despite the law. They base their defense on the legal maneuvers of interposition and nullification. Unfortunately for those who disagree with the Councils, their methods do not stop with legal tactics; their methods range from threats and intimidation to economic reprisals against Negro men and women. These methods also extend to whites who will dare to take a stand for justice. They demand absolute conformity from whites and abject submission from Negroes.

The Citizens’ Councils’ often argue piously that they abhor violence, but their defiance of law, their unethical methods, and their vitriolic public pronouncements inevitably create the atmosphere in which violence thrives. And as a result of the councils' activities, most white moderates in the south no longer feel free to discuss in public the issues involved in desegregation for fear of social ostracism and economic reprisals. What channels of communication between whites and Negroes have thus now been largely closed. Certainly, this is tragic. Men often hate each other because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other, and they don’t know each other because they are separated from each other. No greater tragedy can befall a society than the attempt to live in monologue rather than dialogue.

There is another side to the South that counterbalances all the forces of defiance. It is the work of hundreds of persons in the white South who realize that they cannot cut themselves off from the rest of the nation. They are working in numerous unpublicized ways to implement the rulings of the Supreme Court and make the ideal of brotherhood a reality. Desegregation, too, is appearing in hundreds of minute ways, and even in a few spectacular ways in all of the border states. It is gradually becoming visible in public schools of the South. Separate waiting and restrooms are about gone from the airlines and trains. Negroes are being elected to public offices in cities of the Deep South, and many ministerial associations are integrating. While the reactionary guardians of the status quo are busy crying “Never,” the system of segregation is gradually crumbling all around them.

Now, what of the future? First, let us admit that the reactionary forces of the white South present certain barriers to integration that will make the transition much more difficult. They will seek to delay integration as long as possible by a variety of legal tactics. As the attorney general of one Southern state recently said, "we are prepared for a century of litigation." Now while we can be confident that the struggle for integration will not last a century, we must not underestimate the potential delaying effects of these legal maneuvers.

We must also face the fact that the reactionary elements in the white South delays are not merely seeking to delay implementing the Supreme Court's decision. They are seeking to nullify it. Their aim is to develop enough public sentiment against this decision in order to make its reversal possible. Another fact that we must face is that the present attempt to avoid integration is not merely the rear-guard action of professional bigots. Many of the southerners who oppose integration believe with utter devoutness that what they do is best for themselves, their families, and their nation. This quality of sincerity makes the job of desegregation infinitely more difficult.

But in spite of all of this, the opponents of desegregation are fighting a losing battle. The Old South is gone, never to return again. Many of the problems that we are confronting in the South today grow out of the futile attempt of the white South to maintain a system of human values that came into being under a feudalistic plantation system which cannot survive in a day of democratic equalitarianism.

First, if the South is to grow economically, it must inevitably industrialize. We see signs of this vigorous industrialization with the concomitant urbanization throughout every southern state. Day after day the South is receiving new multi-million dollar industries. With this growth of industry, the folkways of white supremacy will necessarily pass away. Moreover, southerners are learning to be good businessmen, and as such realize that bigotry is costly and bad for business. This growth of industry will increase the purchasing power of the Negro. And this augmented purchasing power will be reflected in more adequate housing, improved medical care, and greater educational opportunities. Each of these exemplifies further weakening of segregation.

In spite of screams of “Over my dead body will any change come,” one must not minimize the impact upon the South of federal court action. Federal court decrees have altered transportation patterns, educational mores, use of public parks, and a myriad of other matters. The habits, if not for hearts of people have been and are being changed everyday by federal action. These major social changes have a cumulative force conditioning other segments of life. The South next reveals increasing sensitivity to the force of world opinion. Few indeed are the southerners who relish having their status lumped in the same category with the Union of South Africa as a final refuge of segregation. It is not pleasant either, to be shown how southern intransigence fortifies communist appeals to Asian and African peoples. Here is further chipping away at old patterns.

Also hopeful is the way in which human relations agencies of all types, public and private, are increasing their activities. Their still small voices go unheard many times amid the louder shouts of defiance, but their influence is felt and growing.

More and more, the voice of the church is being heard. It is still true that the most segregated hour of America is eleven o'clock on Sunday morning. We stand to sing, “In Christ There is No East or West,” how often has the church had a high blood pressure of creeds and an anemia of deeds, but in spite of this we are beginning to shake the lethargy from our souls. Here and there, churches are courageously making a tax on segregation and actually integrating their congregations. Ministerial groups throughout the deep South are calling for compliance with the law and a new respect for the dignity and worth of all human personality and more and more individual white ministers such as Reverend Mr. Folman of New Orleans are willing to stand up courageously for truth even if it means suffering and social ostracism. As the church continues to take a forthright stand on this issue the transition from a segregated to an integrated society will be infinitely smoother.