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Civil rights and race relations materials, 1957-1964

What You Can Do About Racial Prejudice In Housing Page 5

THE DILEMMA
"It's all very well," the man said as he watched the van back into the driveway across the street." . . . all very well for you to talk about morality and Americanism and freedom and all that stuff. But those black folks are moving in across the street from me - and this is no damned time for ethics!"
The white woman had, on the spur of the moment, joined an all-night demonstration against segregation in her own New Jersey town. Now she faced the TV news cameras. Unexpectedly, in the midst of giving carefully reasoned replies to the newscaster's questions, she burst into tears before millions of viewers. "I did it for my children," she sobbed. "I tell them they're growing up in a democracy. How could I have faced them if I hadn't done it?"

No problem is more agonizing to most people than squaring their moral values with the practicality of everyday living. Certainly no aspect of this problem has caused more agony than the surge toward desegregated housing in America. Good people of strong ethical and moral persuasions suddenly find that the values they've always thought were part of their soul's inner fabric don't protect them from the panic that rises when Negroes first move into their town, their neighborhood, their block. Before we can be moral, they cry, we must be practical!
Yet the fact is that what is ethical is practical. But fear and emotion too often drown out reason.
This booklet is written to help you help others cut through this wall of fear - to discuss the facts, as well as the ethics, of open housing in your own community. Racial integration of community life is inevitable in America. Much of America's future destiny depends on the manner in which this integration comes about.
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THE DILEMMA "It's all very well," the man said as he watched the van back into the driveway across the street." . . . all very well for you to talk about morality and Americanism and freedom and all that stuff. But those black folks are moving in across the street from me - and this is no damned time for ethics!" The white woman had, on the spur of the moment, joined an all-night demonstration against segregation in her own New Jersey town. Now she faced the TV news cameras. Unexpectedly, in the midst of giving carefully reasoned replies to the newscaster's questions, she burst into tears before millions of viewers. "I did it for my children," she sobbed. "I tell them they're growing up in a democracy. How could I have faced them if I hadn't done it?" No problem is more agonizing to most people than squaring their moral values with the practicality of everyday living. Certainly no aspect of this problem has caused more agony than the surge toward desegregated housing in America. Good people of strong ethical and moral persuasions suddenly find that the values they've always thought were part of their soul's inner fabric don't protect them from the panic that rises when Negroes first move into their town, their neighborhood, their block. Before we can be moral, they cry, we must be practical! Yet the fact is that what is ethical is practical. But fear and emotion too often drown out reason. This booklet is written to help you help others cut through this wall of fear - to discuss the facts, as well as the ethics, of open housing in your own community. Racial integration of community life is inevitable in America. Much of America's future destiny depends on the manner in which this integration comes about. 5