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FREEDOMWAYS
FOURTH QUARTER 1968

grows, it may not be so much from feelings of comfort and satisfaction in being black as it is more likely from their own conditioned beliefs that "white is right." Here a student has succeeded in the white world; thus he is either a successful pioneer or a martyr. His existence has been legitimized by virtue of the fact that he lived and succeeded among whites, the only true standard of excellence.

This severe pressure on black students in such schools is greatly eased if they represent a good percentage of the student body. In this way they can gain much psychological support through their own organizations and social clubs. More recently they have shown in our high schools and colleges that they can organize effectively to bring about change in "integrated" schools that addresses itself more to black needs and experience. 

Even with so-called "integration" the Negro community is still left with "all-black" schools that are generally controlled by a white establishment infected with various degrees of racism. Are children remaining in the "all-black" school going to be made to feel a sense of negative self-esteem because they were not "integrated" and associating with white children? Are they to be forced to feel inferior because some misled educators state that only "integrated" schools can be "quality" schools? Are black children in the inner city supposed to rot as they await "integration" that may not be delivered by America in their lifetime? Are these children to be doomed to a negative self-concept partly brought about by the white-controlled educational process? 

The new directions of the civil rights movement and the rise of black nationalism seek to answer these questions.

The black Muslims, who have not espouse integration as a goal but rather black nationalism and separatism, appear nonetheless to enhance the self-image of black adults and children by teaching black pride.* Negro children in their schools become proud of being black by learning of the many contributions of blacks to the achievements of the world and America.

Presently, this drive to have power in shaping the basic education of black children has expressed itself in the movement for community control of black schools. Community control is an attempt to provide black children with a quality education by modifying curricula to meet the special needs of black children. White-controlled educa-

*Lincoln, C.E., The Black Muslims in America. Beacon Press, 1961. 
Haley, A., The Autobiography of Malcolm X. Grove Press, New York, 1964.

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