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Problems of Humanity - Chapter IV - The Problem of the Racial Minorities
The Solution It will be obvious that a finding of a solution to the problem of the minorities is essentially the finding of a solution to the great heresy of separateness. This is immensely difficult not only because of humanity's predisposing tendency in this direction, but because that same human nature cannot be easily or rapidly changed. Also, this change and the breaking down of the spirit of separateness has to be brought about in a world of men which is today full of distrust and fear and hardly aware of what is really needed - able only to cry in unison: Give us peace in our time! If by an act of immediate legislation the Negro minority gained its full rights the problem would remain the same, for the hearts and minds of men would not have been altered and the solution would be entirely [115] superficial; although the Jews have gained their desire and Palestine was handed over to them the anti-Semitic feeling present - with practically no exception - in every nation remains exactly the same as before, plus the bloodshed in Palestine. The problem goes far deeper than is often estimated; it is inherent in human nature and is the product of countless centuries of fostered growth and the wrong type of education of the masses. Nation is still pitted against nation in the political arena, group against group and (within the nations) party against party and man against man. The wise and the farseeing, those prompted by a sane and unselfish common sense, the idealist and the men and women of goodwill are everywhere and are struggling to find a solution, to build a new world structure of law, order and peace, which will insure right human relations; but they are, in turn, a tiny minority in comparison to the vast multitude of human beings peopling our earth; their task is hard and from the point at which they must work, appears to them at times as presenting well-nigh insuperable difficulties. Certain questions inevitably arise in the minds of the men of goodwill everywhere: Can the Great Powers be trusted to function selflessly in the interests of the Little Powers and of humanity as a whole? Can power politics and the various national imperialisms be forgotten and ended? Can a world policy be devised which will insure justice for all whether great or small? Can world opinion be sufficiently strong in the interests of right human relations that it can tie the hands of the selfishly aggressive and open the door of opportunity to those who have as yet had little? Is the hope of establishing an era of right human relations within nations as well as internationally, an [116] impossible dream, a waste of time to consider or an evidence only of wishful thinking? Does the goal of right human relations, equal rights and opportunity for all men everywhere provide an entirely possible goal for which all well-intentioned men can work with some hope of success? What are the first steps which should be taken to promote such right endeavors and to lay a secure foundation of world goodwill? How can public opinion be sufficiently aroused so that the many steps to promote right human relations will be faced by legislators and politicians everywhere? What should the minorities do in order to gain their just demands, without promoting more differences and feeding the fire of hatred? How can we abolish the great lines of demarcation between races, nations and groups, and the cleavages that are to be found everywhere, working in such a manner that the "one humanity" emerges in the arena of world affairs? How can we develop the consciousness that what is good for the part can also be good for the whole and that the highest good of the unit within the whole guarantees the good of that whole? These and many other questions arise and clamor for an answer. The answer comes in the form of a generally accepted platitude and is unfortunately in the nature of an anti-climax: Establish right human relations by developing a spirit of goodwill. Then and only then shall we have a world at peace and ready to move forward into a new and better era. Though a platitude is, in the majority of cases, the statement of a recognizable truth, it is difficult in this case to make people admit its feasibility. Nevertheless, because it is a truth, it is bound eventually to demonstrate as such, not only in the minds of a few people here and there but on a large [117] scale throughout the world. People are looking eagerly for the unexpected and the unusual, for an anticipated miracle and for God (whatever they mean in their own minds by that term) to take action, thus relieving them of responsibility and doing their work for them. Not by such methods do men move forward; not by shifting responsibility do they learn and progress. The miracle may happen and the beautiful and the unexpected appear but only when men have themselves created the right setting and by the wonder of their own achievement made it possible for a still more wonderful expression of rightness to manifest. We can have no further expression of divinity until men act more divinely than at present; we shall have no "return of Christ" or a downpouring of the Christ consciousness until the Christ in every man is more awake and alert than is at present the case; the Prince of Peace or the Spirit of Peace will not make the presence of peace felt on earth until the peaceful intentions of men everywhere are changing the aspect of world affairs. Unity will not be the distinctive characteristic of mankind until men have themselves pulled down the separating walls, and have removed the barriers between race and race, between nation and nation, between religion and religion and between man and man.
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