Viewing page 42 of 132

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

FREEDOMWAYS
FOURTH QUARTER 1968

In America, the mass media-movies, TV, radio, newspapers, play a major role in shaping the attitudes and feelings of all people. Television, for instance, is watched many hours a day by most youngsters throughout the United States. What appears on the TV tube may thus become crucial to black children's self-concept. Yet the Caucasian media frequently make black synonymous with evil itself and condition Negroes to shuffle to the tune of "white is right." Black people have revered characteristics which are Caucasian-pale skins, straight hair, aquiline features-and disdain their own curly hair, broad noses and full lips. Advertisers are usually selling "whiteness" along with their soap, beer, deodorants, and automobiles. Sexual and status symbols used to attract viewers reflect white beauty and cultural standards. As a result, many black men and women learn to despise themselves and each other solely because they are black.
If the media continue, on the whole, to depict Negroes negatively and to foster white supremacy then this will far outweigh the effects of even the best school for black children. Therefore, black energy must also be spent in trying to undo racism in the media. Negroes need to demand more participation and power in the news, movies, TV, etc. The chance to present news, history, drama, etc., from the black perspective is crucial if the imprint of white bigotry is to be blocked from young black minds.
Only with strong assertive action by blacks to restructure racist educational processes in America will young blacks today be able to build a positive self-image that will lead Afro-Americans to greater growth, power and achievement.
A short time ago in the South, I asked a young 16 year-old Negro girl about her plans for attending the newly integrated local high school. She replied, "First of all, that ain't no 'integrated school'; that's a 'white school' and I ain't going no place where I have to be 'accepted' by any old white southern racists." I asked, didn't she believe in integration, and she snapped, "Not that kind of integration! If the white folks want to integrate, they can come to my school."
This young lady expresses the growing disenchantment of black youth with the social and psychological consequences of American-style "integration." This disenchantment, at least in part, arises from the fact that integration has been marked by white resistance and tokenism. In addition, integration has taken place almost entirely on "white terms." Black people often find themselves in the demeaning and uncomfortable position of asking and demanding that the white

336

Transcription Notes:
---------- Reopened for Editing 2024-02-12 23:25:12 ---------- Reopened for Editing 2024-02-13 10:12:04