Word: naacp
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Taken together these wealthy Uncle Toms and the militant members of the NAACP comprise only a small proportion of the Negro community here. Most Negroes have remained silent about civil rights. "You workin' for civil rights?" one young Negro asked a colored member of our project. "Man, you backin' the wrong horse. They'll never let you get anywhere so you better get out and make the money...
...real problem for NAACP leaders, however, is that segregation has left them totally unfamiliar with the white world, and its ways of doing business. And since the white community holds all political and economic power here, negotiations must be carried out on its terms...
...such as the school principal and the slumlord whom the white community has in mind a day few people have time to worry about anything outside their personal problems: food, entertainment, and a little extra money. Unless a group such as the NAACP sets out deliberately to arouse the community, not many of these Negroes would even think about taking the risks that the phrase "fighting for equal rights" implies
...When the NAACP does decide to act it often makes serious mistakes, largely as a result of its faulty understanding of how the white community operates. For instance several months ago a group was formed to discuss job possibilities with the Chamber of Commerce here. However, there was never a stable bargaining team, and each week a different set of NAACP members would visit the Chamber office to talk things over. Of course, since much of the meeting time was consumed by the Chamber's briefing the NAACP on what had been decided the week before, the Chamber soon began...
...town leaders recognize NAACP members as the true spokesmen of the Negro community. Instead they refer to a wealthier class of local Negroes; men who, by slightly superior education, have long been leaders in their isolated world. These people, of course, have as much to lose by integration as the most conservative white man. They band together with white leaders to keep segregation alive...