Saturday, September 19, 2009

The American Dilemma

I was in the Philippines in the spring of 1945. As the war wound down there was little for me to do, so I plunged into Gunnar Myrdal's 2-volume study of the American negro, "An American Dilemma." His conclusion was that America had been founded on the belief that "all men are created equal," yet the negro had always been treated shabbily. This played on the conscience of the American people; thus, the dilemma: proclaim equality, yet harbor hate and actively and passively discriminate aginst the negro.
Considering today's reaction to our African-American president, it's clear that the dilemma persists.