Letters to the Editor
.Paul Robeson and Racialism
Mrs. Marie B. Singer, Bernard Levin
Journalists v. Critics • John Lehmann :The Boer War Miss M. G. Brounger Oxford Psephology Marcus Lower Purging intellectuals William Empson Air Travel Felix Watkins Technical Education Hugh Clausen • Egging Them On E. B. Anderson
PAUL ROBESON AND RACIALISM
-Sta,—Few people have sufficient understanding of their subconscious racial prejudice (for we all hae it to . some extent) to be able to level objective criticism against Jews, Negroes or any other minority. They fear that someone will accuse them of Hitlerism, Jim Crowism or some other expression of a very different order of prejudice. And they are usually right. If you don't believe this just examine the mailbag following your reviewer's discussion of Paul Robeson. Yet the time is overripe for some Musical critic to say that the gentleman in question cannot sing; for some dramatic critic to declare, without compromise, that he is a poor actor; and for some political expert to show that Mr. Robeson does not have the vaguest inkling of what Com- munism is all about . . . whether of the Stalin or the Khrushchev variety. Your reviewer has bravely said some of these things, and because he is right he should be congratulated. As a Negro, I am in the position of realising in- creasingly that colour prejudice has taken a new form.. Not really new, for Negroes (as well as Jews) have always been characterised in general terms. But among certain classes of many societies the pendulum has swung to the extreme Left. No longer do all Negroes smell bad or poach water melons or have an IQ of 50 plus. Nowadays they have become the most impeccable citizens, pre-eminent for honesty, good morals and genius. And the intelligent, schooled man of colour is suffering from this shift almost as much as his father suffered from ostracism of another sort. By 'almost' I mean that this glorifica- tion of the Negro has similar limiting effects upon his development as a person. For he is continually expending energy in trying to live up to somebody's fantasy of him in addition to overcoming the various problems common to us all.
But the harm done by these Nordic fantasies and the way they are expressed goes• much deeper. By segregating the Negro into an untouchable though, this time, elevated class he is robbed of the criticism from his fellows which is necessary to continuous development. Further, his fellOw workers are en- couraged to build up unconscious resentment that can only be expressed in wholesale rejection of him at some later stage. And, of course, there are Negroes Who contribute to this state of affairs by their in- ability to accept criticism objectively. They are likely to hint that there are 'other reasons' for it.
Of course, all this is to be expected. Wherever there is a downtrodden minority one finds premoni- tions on the part of the persecuted. Not only that, but to counteract persecution the minority often imitates the methods of its persecutors, colouring all discussion with racial innuendoes.
Surely there is some answer to these problems of human relationships other than complete extermina- tion of both oppressor and oppressed, as someone has suggested?' Have we not reached the stage in race relations when we can recognise that the oppressed need as much education and enlightenment as their oppressor . . . and along the same lines? Perhaps this can be done in the same inter-racial groups as those in which the mutual problems of hating, inviting hatred, enjoying hatred, arc aired.
It seems to me that Mr. Levin has made a small contribution in this direction.—Yours faithfully,
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