On the Other Hand

Recently in these columns David L. Halberstam '55 presented a well-documented review of the segregation problem entitled "The Negro in the South." He might have been more accurate, however, had he entitled his three pieces "The White in the South." His observations begin with a conscientious appraisal of segregation, but they soon degenerate into an only slightly veiled apology for white supremacy.

Drawn from his experiences as a Northerner living in the South, Mr. Halberstam's remarks explain the white man's attitude toward the Negro, the "Other Side" seldom understood amid the "quivering emotion" and "finger-shaking" of the Yankee liberal. He states that he is "convinced of the basic evils of white supremacy" and "the equality of all races." He proceeds, however, to spin a web of selective evidence to show how the Southern white is justified in his own eyes (and in the eyes of "intelligent" people generally) in keeping the Negro down, for the time being at least.

The major point that emerges from his illustrations is that the NAACP undermines the efforts of "progressive" southerners to salve their consciences. Further, he claims that by calling nation-wide attention to a distorted picture of the colored man's misfortunes, the NAACP drives racists and other less enlightened Southerners to intensify repression. He maintains that meanwhile there is no "Negro organization, philanthropic or agitative, dedicated to sanitary and social uplift among the Negroes of the South." Mr. Halberstam, despite his later denial of any partial viewpoint, strongly implies that the NAACP would be well advised to transform itself completely from an effective political pressure group to a neighborhood clean-up, paint-up, fix-up organization.

There is little doubt that the "emotionalism" of the NAACP has aggravated the guilty pride of the Southerner, and in publicizing the Till case the NAACP set out to provoke aggravation. For, as Mr. Halberstam says, "there is a double standard of justice in Mississippi, one for Negroes, the other for whites. On the assumption that the evidence clearly pointed to Milam and Bryant as the kidnappers and murderers of Emmett Till, the group sought to focus national and world attention on the small Southern courtroom. The state attorney general had brought the defendants to trial, but this conscientious action does not imply that the two brothers would have ever been convicted. There has never been any precedent for the optimistic belief that a Mississippi jury would give White justice in a Negro murder. Most observers were skeptical about the possibilities of conviction, and, in any case, the men would never receive more than token sentences. Local police, as it turned out, soon found themselves unable to identify the body of the slain boy. (Mr. Halberstam's statement that the NAACP could have used "its own resources to pin down the identification" is both illogical and irrelevant.)

The NAACP's "shot-gun slander," he continues, "produced the predictable result--the local citizens began to turn their condemnation from the murder of the Negro boy to the NAACP." But in spite of the irritation it knew it would arouse in the South, the NAACP continued to stir up the public, feeling that they had nothing to fear, since the Negro's situation could not get worse. The jury would not bring an effective conviction, the group felt, and a national awareness of the case would at least put Mississippi justice on public record.

The NAACP has followed this course with notable success. In the North, NAACP groups have led civic campaigns to lessen race tension, using noise as a key weapon. Numerous state and municipal FEPC laws have followed NAACP-inspired pressure. The supreme court cases on segregation in education, transportation, and recreational facilities were argued by Association lawers, and pending Congressional legislation includes bills for national unsegregated public housing, medical care, and sanitation, sponsored by the NAACP.

Mr. Halberstam accuses the NAACP of neglecting the poverty and squalor of the Negro while turning to fruitless political activity. But national publicity has been the NAACP's way of defending the Negro, and it is not likely to be abandoned. There is no reason why the group should throw away its weapon and fight with a bouquet. The Negro has neither the financial resources nor the access to power necessary to help himself effectively. More important, the NAACP feels that only through community action will the Negro's status be improved. The economic and social system has forced the colored man into second class citizenship, and the world now owes him the opportunity to make a living.

The Negro will never rise above his present unfortunate position, the NAACP feels, unless the nation, especially people like the citizens of West Point, Mississippi, become aware of their responsibilities towards him. This national awareness will never occur unless there is some group, like the NAACP, prepared to speak out in the Negro's defense.