Negro violence
Sir: Dr E. J. Mishan's recent contribution to the debate on Negro violence (Letters. 21 February) made interesting reading but it was completely void of anything new. He has repeated the familiar legend that there was an encouraging progress in the social and economic field for the Negroes. The trouble with the Negroes is that they are too much in a hurry, they all love to have PhDs right now, Dr Mishan contends. He probably knows of isolated cases of advancement in Negro life. One only needs to visit the Negro quarters to know what it is to live in slums.
The argument that the Negroes could either be responsible human beings or merely a product of historical circumstances is not a convincing one. Of course one could be a responsible human being and at the same time be a product of historical circumstances. The Negroes have been denied equal opportunities in jobs; denied every good standard of education in many cases, and, being responsible men, they rise to challenge a system that thus enslaves them.
It is in the logic of history that one challenges repressive and oppressive systems. If the institution carved out maintains 'the master-servant status quo', it becomes necessary to resist all the forms of evil by violence. This becomes a moral responsi- bility, though legally it is viewed as illegal. Dr Mishan could not separate legal from moral responsibilities. It is this that Father Huddleston has courageously done.
Michael °mole wa 1 Hans Crescent, London swl
Sir: With reference to Dr Mishan's letter (21 February), I wrote in the Times point- ing out that Father Huddleston's present view was contrary to that he held in 1964. As was to be expected the letter was not published.
In my letter I explained that in a sermon Fr Huddleston had preached at St Alban's Cathedral, Dar-es-Salaam, he praised in no uncertain manner the great benefits the white man had brought and he instanced Christianity, schools, hospitals, the civil ser- vice and the legal system. I felt extremely elated for I had been brainwashed into be- lieving that the white man, which I presume included Livingstone, Lugard and others, had brought nothing but misery to Africa.
I have never felt any prejudice towards coloured people, but I find Fr Huddleston and his trendy leftish Bishops and their allies in Parliament with their extraordinary views rapidly making me and many others anti-coloured.
T. A. Wainwright 8 Hermitage Drive, Twyford, Berks
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