Yet, one wonders. Housing and automation are two of the most
crucial and controversial problems of American society generally.
As they become more and mere obvious in the late fifties,
resistance to tho effort required to deal with them increased.
The forces of conservatism prepared for a bitter fight. Politically,
the Negro is a minority and consequently incapable of putting across
these program", on his own* His fate, as so often happens in this
nation of profound "unoffifial" racism, depends largely on what
the white folks do.
If, as is quite possible, America refuses to deal with the social
evils of structural unemployment and miserable housing, it will
at the same time have refused to deal with the problem of race.
There will be speeches on equality, there v/ill be good Court
decisions, and the United States will move toward a constitutional
definition of Itself as completely egalitarian. The Negro, from
within his world cf double poverty (almost as if there wer*e a
race class condemned to be poor) v;TI watch all this bitterly.
There will be occasional celebrations - perhaps- the next one will
be called in twenty years when the Negro nears seventy per cent
of the white wage level. But nothing basic will have changed.
QCSE - Congress of Facial Equality
33 Park How, New York 38, New York
COrtlandt 7 6k>70
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