The American negro
The American negro
For the average person the racial question means little more than conflict, clashes and similar dramatic events. Facts about the progress made by minority groups and the improvement of their status usually pass unnoticed unless something occurs as spectacular as the recent decision of the United States Supreme Court outlawing segregation in American public schools.
It is too early as yet to judge the full practical import of this decision but we do know that it was made possible by the efforts of both whites and Negroes working together in many fields.
There is no country in the world where racial discrimination is accepted as a dogma by the whole of the population. Everywhere associations have been formed for the advancement of minority groups. In certain countries, as in the United States, the Federal government itself has stepped into the struggle and has sought to put into effect an equalitarian policy.
The battle against racial discrimination and the prejudices which cause it have been a special concern of Unesco since its creation in 1946. Unesco has sought to focus attention on the positive achievements in race relations rather than on the negative aspect of the conflicts themselves. Thus it has been making a critical survey "of the methods and techniques employed for facilitating the social integration of groups which do not participate fully in the life of the national community by reason of their ethnical or cultural characteristics or their recent arrival in the country."
During the past few years Unesco has undertaken special studies of the racial situation in six countries Brazil, France, Western Germany, Yugoslavia, Mexico and the United States each of which has made a contribution to the solution of the .problem, and each of which Unesco feels is worth knowing and publicizing.
There are many ways of combatting race discrimination. Some people believe that the most effective means is through progressive education of the public in order to eliminate the basic roots of prejudice; others pin their hope on legislation; still others look to the steady progress of the minority groups themselves.
There is, of course, no one and only road for eliminating discrimination. But historical circumstances and even individual temperament are often factors which determine what particular method a group prefers. All methods have been tried out in different parts of the world and each has a lesson to teach us.
Let us take the case of legislation. Is it true, as has often been said, that "'you can't legislate against prejudice", or on the contrary, can law help to uproot prejudice itself by placing the stigma of illegality on discrimination? The question is important and an answer can come from an examination of the facts.
Doubts have similarly been raised about the effectiveness of educational campaigns. The caution and hesitation of scientists regarding races has often been misinterpreted as an admission of ignorance. Individuals have not found it difficult therefore to point to one theory of race as opposed to another in refusing to discard their prejudices or traditional beliefs.
Facts and the figures speak for themselves and are therefore much more eloquent. The swift transformation of many civilizations which the world is witnessing, obliges us constantly to revise our opinions about other peoples. How can anyone still speak of "inferior or superior peoples" when advances representing hundreds and even thousands of years of progress are being achieved by so many ethnic groups in the space of a few years?
Yet despite the wealth of information on the subject, the fact of this rapid progress and its deep significance are but little known. In earlier issues, The Unesco Courier. has drawn attention to the ease with which certain so-called "backward" peoples have assimilated the elements of our industrial civilization. It has also dealt with the racial situation in various parts of the world such as Brazil, Hawaii and Australia which seem to be on the road to satisfactory solutions of the problem. This issue is devoted in its entirety to the American Negro whose progress in less than a century is one of the most amazing social phenomena of our time.
Alfred Métraux.