Racial Problem Quotes

I have not been able to think out any solution of the terrible problem offered by the presence of the Negro on this continent, but of one thing I am sure, and that is that in as much as he is here and can neither be killed or driven away, the only wise and honorable and Christian thing is to treat each black man and each white man strictly on his merits as a man.

I don't see much future for the Americans ... it's a decayed country. And they have their racial problem, and the problem of social inequalities ... my feelings against Americanism are feelings of hatred and deep repugnance ... everything about the behaviour of American society reveals that it's half Judaised, and the other half negrified. How can one expect a State like that to hold together?

The problem [ of the twenty-two million Afro-Americans] is so broad that it's going to take the inner working of all organizations.

The only reason why I have allowed myself to own a slave for a moment is the insoluble problem of what to do with him when freed. The one excuse for slavery which the South can plead without fear before the Judgment bar of God is the blacker problem which their emancipation will create. We've played our parts, gentlemen, in a hopeless tragedy, pitiful, terrible.

The worst kind of novel is one that blames other people for the racial problem in order to make the reader feel good about himself. As if it's only rich white people or Republicans or conservatives who have this disease.

I've never had any problem with race in Boston, so I don't even want to talk about that. I never said anything about race.

At this point I hadn't yet gotten deep into the historic condition that negroes in this country are confronted with, but at that point in my prison studies I, I read, I studied Islam as a religion more so than as I later come to know it in its connection with the plight or problem of Negroes in this country.

The issue of racism happens all over the world. Granted, people - especially Americans - don't know the the Canadian culture. But if you look outside this country, it's a problem all around the planet.

Some days ago you doubtless read reports published in the newspapers of the country of the opening of a local United Service Organizations unit in Washington for service men and women, regardless of color. The stories published at the time noted the presence at the opening of outstanding officials and semi-officials of the United States, and indicated that they joined with others of both races in singing such songs as Let Me Call You Sweetheart. No member of this House has greater respect for our leaders than I, but one can be pardoned if he questions the wisdom of such officials participating in these festivities. I unhesitatingly brand that affair as a distinct disservice to the Negro race—one to which our sanction should not be given. Whatever the intent of those responsible for the creation of this particular U. S. O. unit, its continued operation can result only in the intensification of the race problem, with which we of the South must constantly struggle. The race problem is grave enough without deliberately aggravating it by promoting the intermingling of Negroes and whites on such occasions