![]() | The Cavalier daily. Wednesday, May 7, 1969 | ![]() |
No Change
However, "those victories have
not yet proved meaningful to the
mass of black people - they
haven't changed anything," he said.
The main benefit of this decade of
work was improvement in the
upward mobility of the middle
class; it has not helped those who
never had any mobility at all.
The second reason for the
change in emphasis is that there is
more segregation now than there
was in 1954. In the West, Mr.
Farmer said, there were few Negroes
15 years ago, but they lived
where they pleased. With an increase
in the Negro population
came segregation.
Mr. Farmer said that the movement
has underestimated the extent
of racism. He referred to the Kerner
Commission's Report's "saying that
we have been programmed, conditioned,
even brain-washed by elements
of the national culture which
present the white man as superior
and the black man as inferior.
"It is hard to grow to adulthood
without at least residues of these
traditions," he noted.
Particular instances of this cultural
influence included children's
books and textbooks, as well as
Hollywood. Mr. Farmer said that
these and other media have perpetuated
the "magnolia myth" of the
happy slave. Negroes have seldom
been presented in any but traditional
and subservient roles.
Mr. Farmer spoke of the necessity
for black people to learn
self-love. He emphasized that this
does not imply counter-hate.
![]() | The Cavalier daily. Wednesday, May 7, 1969 | ![]() |