Norman Podhoretz's Negro Problem

1968

Norman Podhoretz has noticed a racial problem in our society.  Subjectively examining this problem through his own growing-up experiences, he believes he has an answer.  His answer is miscegenation.  He believes the only answer is assimilation.  Otherwise racial disagreement is a hopeless situation.  This is a novel statement.  Most theories of bringing the races closer are through understanding, and miscegenation is vigorously denied as a goal.  This very fact is pointed out by Podhoretz in his essay, “My Negro Problem -- And Ours”.  And his use of that word, miscegenation, sticks in the mind after reading his essay.  It plays upon the emotions, whether the reader is pro or con.  It shocks.  It is because it is there to shock that it stays in the mind.  It even seems to be the theme of his essay.  But is it?

His essay breaks into halves.  The first half is devoted to events in the author’s childhood.  The other to his adult reasoning.  By telling several events from his childhood within a racially mixed neighborhood, he presents reasons why he could be excused for hating Negroes.  Then he tells us he doesn’t hate Negroes.  Or rather, that he makes a conscious effort not to hate them.  “I cannot restrain my nervousness whenever I pass a group of Negroes,” he says.  This is his true theme.  He speaks of fearing Negroes as an adult, but the fear is actually the fear of the child.  Again we have a split between childhood experience and adult reason, a conflict constant throughout the essay. 

He began with two ideas that puzzled him as a child.  He explains why the ideas bothered him, how they conflicted with what he saw with his own eyes.  Then he explains how he came to understand what was behind these ideas.  He became liberal with age.  But he is honest about his liberalization.  He admits it is influenced by his childhood prejudices.

Podhoretz’s essay speaks directly of a racial problem, but basically it is not concerned with race.  It is concerned with facing conflict as an adult.  It discusses the difficulty of reason to overcome emotion.  What Norman Podhoretz’s says is the adult must overcome the child. 

Norman Podhoretz essay, "My Negro Problem -- And Ours" was published in 1963. It was considered an important and influential take on racial relations in the 'sixties'. Perhaps to understand this short response of mine written in 1968, a person should first read Podhoretz's essay. You can do so by clicking on the title of this post.