Challenge To America (1960s)

democracy religion science and the law are on the side of those who work toward better relationships among people who were different in religious prefer references skin pigment and ancestral background let us look aresh at these four vital World ideas point of view a program exploring Intergroup relations today Professor William van till and the challenge to America [Music] when our ancestors wrote the Declaration of Independence they said all men are created equal the word they used was all when the founding fathers developed an enduring Constitution of the United States at Philadelphia they began We the People all of us belong to We the People and second class citizenship has no place in the American way of living to make sure we later added a 14th Amendment no State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the Privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States nor shall any state deprive any person of life liberty or property without due process of law nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction equal protection of its laws an American historian James trlo Adams summed up the American Democratic dream that dream of a land in which whole life should be better and richer and Fuller for every man with opportunity for each according to his ability and achievement it has been a dream of being able to grow to fullest development as man and woman unhampered by the barriers which had been slowly erected in older civilizations unrepressed by social orders which had developed for the benefit of classes rather than for the simple human being of any and every class the powerful judaic Christian tradition of Western Civilization affirms human Brotherhood the religious leadership of the Western World agrees on one God the universal father not a conglomeration of quarreling Greek gods each with a personal following such a universal father can hardly be expected to maintain separate but equal Heavens many religions add that man has an immortal Soul it is difficult for a believer in the soul to credit that The Souls of those whose ancestors came to America by steerage in the 19th century are somehow inferior to The Souls of those whose ancestors came earlier to America on the Mayflower Christian and Jewish religious tenets developed throughout the Bible are incompatible with prejudice and dis discrimination the evidence from science that racism is rot and stereotyping is simple-minded is especially significant when we recognize that post darwinian science made vigorous attempts to establish the innate superiority of one or another group but the psychologist tell us that no tests have yet been devised which prove the innate or biologically built-in superiority in Native intelligence of groups of one color or religious persuasion or geographical locality painstakingly the semanticists remind us that Catholic one is not Catholic 2 that negro one is not negro 2 that Southerner one is not Southerner 2 in addition to all else that they have taught us about race and culture the anthropologists ad ADV Vis us not to be ethnocentric and when we inquire as to what they mean they tell us a legend common among many brown peoples including the Athabasca Indians and the inhabitants of the melee Peninsula the legend has it that the all powerful having some time on his hands decided to make man he shaped the clay and placed it in the oven but unfortunately he let man bake too long as Cooks have been known to do and the product was a black and burned to a crisp so the all Powerful cast him away and the black man went to Africa the all powerful tried again and this time was overly cautious for he pulled out of the oven a pale-faced man quite underdone and scarcely baked so the all powerful displeased tossed away this man too and The Pale Man went to Europe where temporarily he enjoyed remarkable success but on the third attempt and you guessed it it came out just right a man who was a rich golden brown an ideally handsome man who looked exactly like the people who tell this Legend the ideal golden brown man lived happily ever after in his part of the world and I guess the moral is don't confuse ethnocentrism one of Mankind's bad habits with reasoned thought many are the civilizations which regarded themselves as the conquerors the chosen ones the master people and now in the world history books they rank three short lines each the poet Percy Bish shell wrote the obituary of such self-styled Master races I met a traveler from an antique land who said two vast and frontless legs of Stone Stand in the desert near them on the sand half sunk a shattered Visage lies whose frown and wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command tell that its sculptor well those passions read which yet survive stamped on these lifeless things the hand that mocked them and the heart that fed and on the pedestal these words appear my name is oim andas king of King look on my works you mighty and despair nothing beside remains around the decay of that colossal wreck bondless and bare the lone and level sand stretch far [Music] away like a giant the law moves with slow steady Majesty the milestone along the Giants way include the Magna cotta the English Bill of Rights the legal Heritage of the French and American Revolutions in America the Milestones include the Mayflower Compact the Bill of Rights and the Constitution the Emancipation Proclamation and amendments forbidding slavery and specifying that the right of citizens to vote shall not be denied in our own times the law spoke again through a United States Supreme Court ruling of May 17th 1954 in these days it is doubtful that any child may be expected to succeed in life if he's denied the opportunity of an education such an opportunity where the state is undertaken to provide it is a right which must be made available to all on equal terms we come then to the question presented does segregation of the children in public school rul solely on the basis of race even though the physical facilities and other tangible factors may be equal deprive the children of the minority group of equal educational opportunities we believe that it does in the field of public education the doctrine of separate but equal has no place separate educational facilities are inherently unequal the law is clear racial discrimination in public education is against the law of the land the question of weather is settled and finished the live questions today are how and when during the 1920s and the early 30s a few men of goodwi stumped the country calling for more emphasis upon teaching human understanding through American schools but Americans were busy with what Charles a beard called the Golden Glow of prosperity the ugly Klux Clan was only a footnote in the history of the fabulous 20s next came the stage of the simple answers some adopted the simple answer that all the people needed was acquaintance with the bare facts of science [Music] the suggested answers were simple too simple then something happened in the world that forced Intercultural education to come of age the free societies found that they had to take fascism [Applause] seriously the fascist armies marched and countermarch and the little Nations began to go down we came to realize that musolini bellowing and braying on the balconies of Rome meant it when he said we or they that ad Al Hitler with animal like hysteria in his voice meant it when he screamed that today it was Germany but tomorrow the [Applause] world many Americans came to grips with what democracy meant and recognized that the master race Theory could be no part of the democratic dream other Americans who were less philosophical simply recognized the immediate need for Unity among Americans in a time of war that need came home to all Americans one hot summer day in Detroit when the arsenal of democracy stopped dead while whites and blacks went looting and killing and rioting down the broad boulevards of the city [Applause] taking fascism seriously citizens and Educators invested new energy and funds in human relations education Intercultural education came of age as it entered the stage of promising practices workshops in human relations education multiplied consultation and research in school systems were sponsored by strengthened organizations yearbooks of professional organizations and whole issues of magazines were given over to the reporting of promising practices democracy religion science and the law underwrite the eventual Triumph of better human relations among men we live today what can we do here and now first among the promising approaches is building better human relations through a democratic atmosphere in the school and in the home an atmosphere of belongingness of Mutual affection of being wanted of having a place in the scheme of things such an atmosphere is the polar opposite of a climate of fear or mistrust or hostility or suspicion in the building of a democratic atmosphere the elementary school teacher plays a crucial role for every bigot was once a child a second and a lied promising practice is the study of Children and Youth to deal better with their tensions anxieties and insecurities so human relations minded teachers keep anecdotal records work on case studies and make sociograms they recognize that bullies can become haters and that the picked-on child may become the scapegoat or in reaction the aggressor a third approach introduces into the lives of the young people those books which deal in an honest and friendly fashion with minority groups our libraries are growing richer in such books slowly they are replacing the books about exotic Customs which persuade children that minority group members are strange and queer and maybe a little bit crazy a fourth promising practice is to focus on the immediate problems of human relations in schools that slogan Brotherhood begins on your own block makes good sense how about sportsmanship toward the visiting basketball teams rather than Gallery references to Pollocks or wops fifth of our promising practices is the two-way passage between school and Community the divorce between what goes on inside the school building and what goes on in the outer Community is tragic outside of the schools there are hundreds of potential teachers who would be delighted to be called in to help the GI just back from the Orient the housewife who knows a particular skill the Workman who could describe his job the religious leader who could describe his church the minority group member who could describe something on which he happens to be expert not necessarily the contributions of his own cultural or racial group outside of the school awaiting visitation by the youngsters are stores and factories and institutions which are maned by people of varied backgrounds there are opportunities for young people to work together to improve the community Through finding common cause with other young people of many backgrounds there's a sixth opportunity for education for better human relations this is through extracurricular activities there are thoughtful plays about human relationships and mother and father and all of the neighbors will still turn out in large numbers athletic events are a great common denominator a seventh promising practice is to permeate the regular subjects of the curriculum with opportunities for Intercultural education in art there exists an opportunity to help young people to see that all peoples have contributions to make not simply those of one nationality one religion One race the subject matter of history is replete with opportunities to learn about human relationships one large school system listed 20 major topics for Intercultural emphasis in American history including European colonization of America treatment of the American Indians religious differences immigration sectionalism slavery attitude toward Colonial possessions etc etc literature is largely about human relationships science enables us to deal with heredity environment the facts of race the study of world languages affords an opportunity for us to become acquainted with the cultures of people as well as with the grammar many of the most modern schools use an eighth approach to their instruction focusing on centers of experience the real problems of young people in a Democratic Society their units deal with health Recreation vocations public opinion Labor Management problems of human relationship which are an integral part of these realistic units take the study housing for instance how long can a student study housing without coming up against problems of discrimination of gentlemen's agreements of slums and of restrictions a ninth promising practice is one which some people mistakenly believe to be all of Intercultural education actually the direct approach through units on Prejudice conflicts among Generations race religion is only one phase of a broad program of education for better human relations if we accept our responsibility to educate for better human relations we may help make a better world internationally the world is looking to the United States for moral leadership for new expertness in human relations let us never make the mistake of assuming that there are only two camps in today's world the Western powers and the Soviet communist Powers there exists a third Camp larger than either of the two mentioned and these are the neutrals The uncommitted Who live by the millions in Southeastern Asia in the islands of oania in India in the Middle East across an Awakening Africa what is their prevailing skin color it is darker than that of the majority of Americans inescapably these neutrals judge the United States by our race relations the Democratic way of life is on trial and manifestations of undemocratic human relations in the United States constitute exhibit a for the prosecution the prosecution specifically the Communists will lose no opportunity to remind the neutrals of our lapses the neutrals and indeed many in our own Camp too are asking Uncle Sam which do you really mean do you mean the noble and glowing words about democracy as a way of life respect for individual personality working together for common purposes commonly arrived at or do you mean the undemocratic practices in human relations reported to us Uncle Sam you can't have it both ways Uncle Sam the time has come to put up or close up if through fears or pressures we fail in this educational responsibility but we will not fail the four Great World ideas support us the world and the nation demand that we not fail if we have the courage and the insight to put up through Intercultural education we will have helped Uncle Sam and his Rendevous with Destiny on the world scene point of view a program exploring Intergroup relations [Music] today the challenge to America Our Guest lecturer Professor William Van [Music] for