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Full resolution (TIFF) - On this page / på denna sida - XI. An American Dilemma - 45. America Again at the Crossroads in the Negro Problem - 7. Tension in the South - 8. International Aspects
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Chapter 45. America Again at the Crossroads 1015
of the two-thirds majority rule for the nomination of the Democratic
candidate for the Presidency, and so on.
The Negro problem is becoming national in scope in a different sense
than was meant when white Southerners expressed a belief that the Negro
migration to the North would give the North more of a share in the trouble
of having Negroes as neighbors and that then the North would understand
the racial philosophy of the South better. The Negro vote and the labor
vote in the North also have considerable weight in checking Southern
conservatism and have increasing power to do so. But aside from all that,
national planning cannot leave out the South or humor too much its irra-
tionality. As a matter of fact the South, particularly its agriculture and its
population pressure, will continue to remain one of the main national
worries.
Because of this development, spurred by the war crisis and the coming
peace crisis, it seems justifiable to predict a growing tension between the
two regions, one which will not be restricted to the Negro issue. There is
not going to be a civil war, of course. The South is this time relatively
much weaker in all respects. The North will probably not become more
considerate if the interracial tension in the South gets out of hand and
results in bloody clashes. As recourse to civil war is out of the question and
as things thus have to be settled by political means, the fact becomes of
importance that the white South is not united against a redefinition of the
Negro’s status. The South has been, and is, changing rapidly, and Southern
liberalism has been coming to be a force though it was practically nowhere
in political power and today is fearfully timid on the Negro issue. Even
the ordinary conservative white Southerner has a deeply split personality.
In the short run this can be suppressed, and the tension can lead to violent
reactions. But in the long run it means that the conservative white South-
erner himself can be won over to equalitarian reforms in line with the
American Creed.
8. International Aspects
What has actually happened within the last few years is not only that the
Negro problem has become national in scope after having been mainly a
Southern worry. It has also acquired tremendous international implications,
and this is another and decisive reason why the white North is prevented
from compromising with the white South regarding the Negro. The situa-
tion is actually such that any and all concessions to Negro rights in this
phase of the history of the world will repay the nation many times, while
any and all injustices inflicted upon him will be extremely costly. This is
not yet seen clearly by most Americans, but it will become increasingly
apparent as the War goes on.
We mentioned in passing that the American Negro cannot help observing
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