INTRODUCTION: THE CONTRADICTION

“The American society is faced not just with the necessity of JL actualizing those Negro aspirations to which it is officially committed,” writes Earl Raab, “but of substantially reconciling the contrary and frustrated aspirations of the white community” (1962: 16). White Americans confront quite a problem when they try to reconcile their aspirations with the ones held by black Americans. In crucial respects there is a conflict of interest involved; gains for black people can mean losses for whites. Somehow white Americans must simultaneously attend to black demands and avoid the institutional reorganization that might cause them to lose ground. The problem is not easily solved.

To complicate matters considerably, white people have relatively few publicly acceptable ways to defend their interests. Defenses that vulgarly refer to biological differences are currently unacceptable in public arenas. Arguments that explain the situation in terms of racial subordination, on the other hand, are also unacceptable to many white Americans. Reasoning of this sort implies that blacks are not responsible for racial subordination; it directly implicates white people in the system of racial injustice. Most people are unwilling to accept this harsh judgment of themselves. This, then, is the contradiction confronting white Americans. The racial advantages they have traditionally enjoyed are threatened and they have few acceptable or legitimate options for defending them. What are people in this situation to do; how are they to respond? The people in this study reflect five different ways in which white Americans come to grips with the contradiction.