Superiority complex and racial tension

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32777, 30 November 1971, Page 22

Superiority complex and racial tension

In most countries, white groups had neither the disposition nor the will to relinquish the role of lord and master, the Rev. Dr C. S. Spivey, a member of the World Council of Churches Programme to Combat Racism, said in an interview in Christchurch yesterday.

Dr Spivey, an American Negro, is in New Zealand to meet various church groups, Maori organisations and political figures. The basis of prejudice against black groups was not a fear that they might retaliate by suppressing white groups. The basis was that white people were out and out to keep what they had, he said.

White minorities had every reason to be afraid, most white people in - the same situation would say: "If you had treated me in the same way I’ve treated you, I know what I’d do if I got into power.” It was to the credit of the black peoples in African independent States that not a single black Government had organised a policy to repress white minorities. All black governments were making efforts not to be lord and master but to work with white groups, said Dr Spivey.

“Not encouraged” Black people in the United States were not being incouraged by white groups to share in the decision making processes. responsibilities and benefits, because white people believed these rights were their own. The injustices committed in the United States and the atrocities in South Africa were excused in high sounding religibus language as part of a committal to democracy or protection from the ravages of communism. In fact all the verbosity was a shorthand way of saying: “Keep everything in the control of the white groups.” People were always asking about the black power movetnent. and generally ended up I

with a false picture of militant insurgency. The movement was growing but it needed to be seen in the light of white power, he said. “Everyone assumes that white power is all right. The trouble is that whites have got it. and they like it.” “Benign neglect”

American black people were suffering from a kind of benign neglect. There had been a resurgence of conservatism towards many of the decisions of the Nixon administration and it had also been reflected in a growing conservatism to the kind of change that was essential if racial tension was to be reduced.

The solution lay in the hands of American white people. It was up to them to open structures encouraging and enabling adequate participation by black peo'ple in employment and education but it appeared they were only going to do as much as necessary and as little as possible, he said. American black people were going to do everything they could to bring about these changes. At present white recalcitrance and unwillingness to accept them was piling on fuel for a continued state of tension.

That people could not perceive the kind of changes black people were seeking was a reflection of the kind of racism against which black people were struggling. Asked if white American groups were becoming aware of the dangers of a superior attitude towards black groups, Dr Spivey said: “Are they doing this in New Zealand? The situation is no different in the United States.”