Black is Bad?

It is fairly self-evident that in English-speaking countries and countries dominated by English-speaking peoples the supreme value of light-skinned, Anglo-Saxon Protestantism is basic to the arising of discriminatory relations against persons and groups not falling within this category. Western civilisation has thoroughly absorbed, through Judaism and Christianity, ancient Persian mythology's dichotomy of light and dark—white is good and black is bad.

Along with the ideal of light (particularly in complexion though there is much talk about the efficacy of blood—evident in the great pride in family trees and such propaganda as Hitler's supreme Aryan race) as good, which gives rise to the fairy tale of innate white superiority, goes an ease and readiness to consider all persons belonging to certain specific groups to be characterised by particular popular stereotypes. From such quackery come the myths verbalised in the expressions Orientals have inscrutable faces, Negroes are more sexually immoral than whites, Maoris coming to the towns to take industrial jobs are "poor types," Negroes are inferior in intelligence to whites, Indian greengrocers are more dishonest than Chinese, persons that follow the cooking trade are foul-tempered, all Americans are wealthy, and that men are better auto drivers that women (the word men includes even those who do not drive?).

Some Japanese are squint-eyed and wear glasses—not all; some New Zealanders are in institutions for the care of the mentally deranged—not all; some Americans are gangsters but nothing like a majority of the population.

A factor which would contribute to an improvement in human and minority group relationships is a canging of attitudes and beliefs away from easily acquired and easily maintained popular stereotypes. In the place of such popular stereotypes should go a recognition of the fact that the physical and intelligence differences between persons within any one racial group are greater than are the differences between any two groups—to a recognition of persons as unique individuals. (The methods and techniques of education, of changing attitude and belief systems of either groups or individuals could hardly be considered here. The immediate aim is to produce a journalistic article—not a book or a short course in social psychology!)