Note:
Gunnar Myrdal died in 1987, less than 70 years ago.
Therefore, this work is protected by copyright,
restricting your legal rights to reproduce it.
However, you are welcome to view it on screen, as you do now.
Read more about copyright.
Full resolution (TIFF) - On this page / på denna sida - X. The Negro Community - 44. Non-Institutional Aspects of the Negro Community - 1. “Peculiarities” of Negro Culture and Personality
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
Chapter 44. Non-institutional Aspects 961
In one other way the Negro’s humor has grown out of the caste situation,
not out of fear of it but out of contempt for it: the Negro tries, in all sorts
of ways, to express his hatred of the prejudiced white man. Such cynical
humor travels in the Negro community as do the anti-dictator jokes in the
totalitarian countries of Europe:
“It says in the white folks’ newspaper that our women are trying to ruin the white
folks’ homes by quitting their jobs as maids.”
“Yeah. A lot of white women are mad because they have to bring up their own
children.”
Like the Negro’s cackling laugh and appeasing humor, his ^^dumbness”
has been developed as an accommodation to caste. There is no gainsaying
the fact that most Negroes are extremely ignorant: they have no tradition
of learnings they have had unusually bad schools in a region generally
noted for the poverty of its education; their interests are often so closely
restricted to the Negro problem that they have not developed knowledge
of other things; they are forcibly isolated from white society so that they
often cannot know what is expected from them in the way of manners.
Yet, in addition to all this actual ignorance, there is a good deal of pre-
tended ignorance on the part of the Negro. To answer certain questions
posed to them by white people in the South is a way of getting both them-
selves and their fellows in trouble. So they feign inability to understand
certain questions. To volunteer information is often a sure way of being
regarded as ^^uppity” by whites. So they restrict their conversation to what
is necessary or customary. And they act humble, which also gives them an
air of ^‘dumbness.” The aggressive Negro, the one who talks the most in
an effort to impress others with his cleverness, is likely to be more ignorant
and less intelligent than most of the humble or reserved Negroes. AHually,
Negroes tend to be clever in their petty guilefulness. Some of the false-
hoods told by Negroes—and lying is another of the traits in the stereotype
of the Negro—have their cause in the fear or suspicion of the white man.^
In other cases Negroes may lie to whites in resentment against the caste
system. Among themselves, Negroes are probably not given to lying,
humility, ^‘dumbness” or reservedness any more than whites are. In fact,
they are inclined to be talkative and witty. Some of their talk is malicious
gossip and detraction of others: there is naturally much jealousy among the
members of a suppressed group when one of them rises or gets any
privileges. There is intense competition among all those Negroes who feel
that they have a chance to rise. The individualism of Negroes, their in-
ability to ^^hang together,” their bitter competition and jealousy are com-
mented upon by white observers and deplored by Negro leaders.*
Another trait attributed to the Negro and connected with emotionaiisn>
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
