Clarion Defender_1967-08-10

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 'White Problem' selves to dea.th so that all Afro-Americans could be free. Like so many of her black co-workers, Betty started her work in the movement as an idealistic "integrationist" believing that a new world of black-white solidarity was soon a-coming. Just a few years ago in churches all. over the South, black workers threw their heads back, clasped the hands of those white boys and girls, and sang, "Black and white together, we shall overcome," as if God himself had come to de– liver them. It was wonderful to hold that white hand-it was beautiful -and the black workers were grateful. The local black community · also appreciated the participation of white students. Its members had been encouraged ·by civil rights leaders to suppress and repress any negative, hostile feelings toward the white, workers. In fact, some Ne– groes gave them all the "respect" normally reserved for the white plantation boss. Black youths walked Mississippi dirt roads arm-in– arm with white volunteers, their heads bobbing in the sunshine, chant– ing, "Ain't nobody gonna turn us around." But now Betty was talking in a new way. For as she and other blacks and whites had been drawn closer together in the isolation of the South and strained by the "battle-front" atmosphere of their daily work, it had become nearly impossible to hide all of their real but un- acceptable feelings. They had learned painfully that the realities of racism had affected their minds in so many ways that normal human relations betwee·n the races was fraught with severe social and psycho– logical difficulties. Betty didn't want the white students in the move– ment anymore, was disillusioned with integration, and was now a strong "black power" supporter. I talked to her and more than 100 other Negro civil righters while I worked in ~fississippi as their physician. As a psychiah'ist also , I was frequently struck with their insights into the subtleties of "black-white" relations. What I found was that most of them felt that white civil rights volunteers caused too many problems which at that time seemed irresolvable. They also felt that most of the whites who came down were either just white racists of another variety or that they had psychological "hang-ups" centered around black peo– ple. In most cases, they were able to present evidence from their per– sonal experiences to support their switch from a desire for an "inte– grated movement" to an "all-black movement." After the many nega– tive experiences in "black-white" relations which they endured in the Summer Project of 1964 when swarms of white workers descended upon the South, the ground was laid for the easy acceptance of the "black power" concept. One 22-year-old, black, male worker summed up the Summer Project of 1964 this way: "I don't know any 'different' kinds of white folks be– cause all of them are racist at heart, even those in the movement. I would say that some of them are worse than the, white segregationist because they are out here feeling sorry for the 'poor colored folks' and they are doing nothing more than satisfying their own needs by being nice to the Negroes. I made a lot of mistakes in my life, and one of the greatest ones I made was to think the whites in the movement were different from other whites. There is no difference. They just do it in different ways. Everything I learned, I got from Negroes. Whites didn't do anything on my project in Greenwood in the summer of '64 but raise hell and sleep around and do all sorts of other things that kept hell going. We didn't get any work done because we used all our energy fighting them. I feel that they should go and try to help their folks and stay away from the black community because all they're doing is screwing up the minds of the local people. They came down here and started talking about all that could happen and they went away, leaving the local people with a lot of hope and nothing else. They went away themselves feeling that they had saved those poor Negroes but they hadn't. It would have been better, in a way, if they had never come down." Indeed, most black workers felt the whites who came down were primarily concerned with fulfilling some personal need or were there mainly for their own self-aggrandizement and self-glorification. Many of the Negroes sensed that the whites tried to act superior and that they wanted to be leaders, showing the down-h'odden black folks the road to "freedom." This problem of messianic, racial superiority that was so prevalent among some white workers in the movement has been called the "White African Queen Complex" in the females and the "Tarzan Complex" in the male. One black project leader explained: "Every white person has a reason for coming into the black community. Whites shouldn't be in offices in the movement for they think they are superior. They shouldn't even be allowed to type in the office for they even act superior in that position. They always boss you around and act as if you don't have any sense." A black girl added: "These white workers come down and in a week or so they act like the expert and authority on everything about the Negro and civil rights. Right away they want to start 'running' every– thing." According to their critics, the whites did mos_t of the "talking" and very little "listening" to local black people. They were said to be impatient and to quickly begin to "direct programs" and "run" the project office, thus "taking over" from the black people. One black leader remarked, "Some of these missionary white kids go in to organize a black community as if they were herding together a group of docile cattle. They encourage the Negroes to worship them." This white paternalism and superiority was particularly upsetting' to the black leadership because one of the prime goals of the movement was to develop latent leadership potential within the black communi– ties. The over enthusiasm for leadership shown by some whites per– petuated the myth among the Southern Negroes that it was only whites who could bring about change. Thus, despite .what appeared to be civil rights gains, most of the black community was left feeling as helpless and powerless as they had before. Because many of the white workers had unresolved racial prejudices they made very poor com– munity organizers in terms of carrying out the goals of the movement. Many white volunteers were also ineffective in their work in the black neighborhoods because of what appeared to be their disrespect for black people. One young Negro lady reported to me that some of the white students felt they "could identify better with the local black people if they (whites) were dirty and unkempt." They felt this was "getting down to the level of the people." Naturally, this angered local Negroes who took such behavior on the part of the whites as a sign of disrespect. For to feel that they didn't have to take a bath around Negroes, although they did so when they were in their own white com– munity, certainly smacked of contempt. Still other Caucasian volun– teers, bent on showing how "free" they were around black people, would indulge in all manner of unconventional behavior ·in the Negro community which black workers felt they would never dare exhibit "back home with their own kind." Many acted as if "anything goes in the black community" and used it as a stage for their antisocial and rebellious "acting out." Therefore, local Afro-Americans were repulsed by them and began to see them as "misfits, beatniks, leftovers, white trash, sluts, etc." who were only in the movement because they had been in some way rejected and cast out by their own white society. Some blacks felt that many of the Caucasians saw the movement CLARION, ·ofFENDER Crises in "black-white relations" among civil rights workers in the South often centered around socio-sexual con– Bicts. Negro girls were often resentful and jeal– ous of the attention which Negro men showed to white girls, and vke versa. Day– long discussions over these problems often limited the amount of project work completed. times in flaunting their new-found sense of racial brotherhood, white workers even endangered entire communities. For instance, marshals on demonstrations frequently complained that many of the white girls would reach out and affectionately take the hand of a Negro male worker in front of a :\lississippi highway patrolman and/or local white toughs. The Negro fellow would frequently be too awed or frightened to say anything about it. although ultimately he would be the one who was beaten or shot in the head if red-necks attacked. Local black people who realized they had to lit;e in :\lississippi became angry at whites for unnecessarily making survival more difficult for them and the movement. :\1any Caucasians created difficulties for the movement by another manifestation of th'eir tendency to be martyrs. They were so guilt– ridden that they were almost completely "permissive" with their black as a quick ladder to status and prestige in their own home towns and resented whites using the movement for this self-centered purpose. "Many of these whites want to be martyrs and are looking for excite– ment and adventure," said a Negro fellow from a rural county. Another said, "A lot of white folks do come down here to get beaten, and then they can go back to their homes in the North and act like martyrs and become big wheels." Many of the black workers were annoyed at the amount of publicity in the mass media that the white workers received. Betty bitterly said to me one day: 'Tm not going on any more demonstrations and get my head whupped so that some white kid can get his picture in the paper." One young black lady from :McComb, Miss., complained: "We've been getting beaten up for years trying to integrate lunch counters, movies, and so on, and nobody has ever paid us any attention or wrote about us. But these white SOBs come down here for a few months and get all the publicity. Everybody talks about how brave and courageous they are. What about us?" Negro workers were particularly infuriated when some white volunteers sought out publicity and accepted it even when it properly should haye been given to one of the local black citizens. This need for adventure and acclaim exhibited by many Caucasian> led to another very serious problem. Because they were prone to un– necessary risk-taking and provocative behavior toward local whites, they endangered both themselves and their Negro co-workers. Some- co-workers. These types characteristically gave away most of their money and other possessions to Negro co-workers. They just couldn't say "no." They became ready "victims" and attracted blacks who wished to exploit and abuse them. These whites made it very difficult for leaders to maintain proper discipline on local projects-a condition which was vital in the "battlefront" environment of Southern civil rights work. Leaders became annoyed because so many of the white students seemed to encourage some Negroes to victimize them as a way of atoning for their guilt. A worker told me that a number of white volunteers confided to him that they felt "Negroes have suffered so much that I can't bring myself to get angry with them for anything." Project leaders, therefore, who were trying to solve difficulties in "black– white" relations would frequently become frustrated and throw their hands up in despair. Frequently, white guilt was a big factor in black-white socio-sexual encounters. Black workers told me over and over again that a lot of white volunteers tried to prove they were not racially prejudiced by having intense social relations with black people. Of course, this caused many problems. Negro girls were jealous and upset about the atten– tion white females would show to black men. and vice versa. The young black ladies also complained that the situation was made quite difficult for them because many white girls were "too willing." Black females were also angry at some of the white males whom they felt often saw them primarily as sex objects "just like the Southern white man." FreedoM School faculty in Hattiesburg, Miss., during the 1964 Sum– mer Project was headed by Negro couple, Car– olyn and Arthur Reese (above), Detroit school teachers. But most ad– ministrative positions were filled by white civil rights workers. It seemed that many of the Caucasian students believed in the myth (or legend) of Negro sexual superiority. Negro girls were particularly amazed at the extremely seductive behavior of m·any of the white girls. When black girls were discussing white girls a remark that became popular was, "I think all these white girls down here sat up North dreaming about being raped by some big black Negro and came down here to see what it was like!" Another black fellow was driven to remark, "It's so bad in the move– ment that the black woman has lost her husband and the white woman has gained him." Several project leaders felt that a substantial pro– portion of the Negro workers had joined mainly because of the op– portunity to socialize with whites; and they admitted that even the "black nationalist types" continued a vigorous social pursuit of the white volunteers. All of this, of course, created added problems in maintaining proper motivation for civil rights work. In fact, so much energy was expended by both black males arid females in discussing the problems created by white girls in particular that on many days little project work was accomplished. In addition, it became clear that local black people were becoming extremely frightened by interracial girl-boy liaisons and, thus, frequently refused to cooperate with the project work. Once more it seemed to black leaders that the only way to solve mounting diffi– culties was to bar all white volunteers from work within the black com– munity. There were some black workers who, while intellectually lmdt·rstand– ing the reasons for sending whites home, could not sufficiently mobiliz~ their emotional feelings to openly advocate such a position. After all, they "had been through so much with the white workers," i.e., demon– strations, jailings, etc. Still others frankly felt too dependent upon the white students. They were afraid to have them leave and, thus, to be left on their own. But increasing numbers of Negro staffers became disenchanted and discouraged by the problems which an integrated movement in thl· South had created. While most black leaders readily admitted there were some "oood and effective" Caucasian workers who did not present "' serious problems, they felt the exclusion of all whites was the only way to avoid the risk of the inclusion of "so many bad ones." More and more project leaders asked their white workers to leave. By the sum– mer of 1965, open warfare had broken out between those who on the one hand wanted an "all black movement" and the white workers plus their Negro ~llies on the other. The rank-and-file Negroes began to apply pressme on their organizations to be more mititantly "black." Workers who two summers before had been singing with ardor and hope, "Black and white together, we shall overcome," were now shout– ing, "black power" more in the spirit of "we shall overthrow" racism and white supremacy in American life. There is no doubt that the unresolved psychological difficulties in "black-white relations" within the Southern civil rights movement contributed to the development of the cun-ent concept of "black power" which, in turn, discouraged whites from civil rights work in the black community. As Betty put it "I don't know whether the movement was not ready for whites, or ;hether the whites V:ere not ready for the movement."