Word: halberstam
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
There are several other rather one-sided aspects of Mr. Halberstam's article on which we would like to comment. First, we would like to agree with (his) statement that there is a double standard of justice in Mississippi particularly and in the South generally. However, his implication that this double standard of justice operates to the advantage of the Negroes is quite misleading...
Although Mr. Halberstam may be correct about white Southern parents being apprehensive about opening the schools to Negroes who have a higher disease rate than whites, he fails to emphasize the fact that many of these white parents are themselves responsible for this situation. Having been relegated for centuries to the lowest economic position in the United States generally and in the South particularly, it is not surprising that Negroes have the highest disease rate of any other group in this country...
Another aspect of Mr. Halberstam's article on which we would like to comment is his statement that the Mississippi Negro "has found the last remaining way to beat Twentieth Century Responsibility." On the question of taxes, it is true that in certain parts of the South Negroes pay lower taxes than whites. However this has little to do with a desire among Southern Negroes to beat the so-called "Twentieth Century Responsibility." It is rather a result of the Southern Negro's low and depressed economic status...
...question of common-law marriages, we think that Mr. Halberstam has twisted historical facts in order to picture the Mississippi Negro as a person attempting to beat the so-called Twentieth Century Responsibility. Common-law marriages are not a means used by some Southern Negroes to avoid financial and legal responsibilities. Such marriages have their roots in the old slave society of the South and can be understood only in their proper historical context...
...they should form a committee and investigate the ratio of Negro teachers as to Negro pupils in the Boston schools. I may be wrong, but it is failings of the North such as this which invalidate most Northerners as critics in the eyes of their Southern sinners. David L. Halberstam...