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. 

Experiment

1970

EXPERIMENT

Of the myriad problems of modern American society, racial disharmony is certainly one of the most dominant.  It has been the boing issue of the last decade, with roots going even further into the past.  And it threatens to remain a complex and perplexing issue for the future.  However, despite the maze of unanswerable questions surrounding every approach to understanding our society’s racial facets, one fact can be stated without too much argument.  The attitude concerning what should be the minority’s relationship to the majority has changed.  In the early sixties, assimilations of the minority into the mainstream of society were felt to be the best answer.  As the seventies begin, there is an emphasis on racial pride and the perpetuation of sub-cultures.  It is as if the melting pot had been turned into a great soup tureen serving out different soups.

Where once the rally cry of minorities was brotherhood with all mankind, there are now cries of black power, red power, yellow power and so on.  Language, clothing style, hair style and other particulars of a given minority, that were once disowned by the minority members who wished to blend into the mainstream of American society, are more and more being adopted by the same as their special identity.  Any attempt at changing such styles is regarded as an attempt to force the majority’s values on the minority.

Whether this development of racial pride is good or bad is not our concern.  We are concerned with such things as style, fashion and taste being regarded as the essence of a given group of people.  Our purpose will be to devise a means to prove that such styles are not inherent differences within different racial strains, but are acquired through various experiences.

HYPOTHESIS AND APPROACH

I propose there is no difference between people caused by race, but that differences are imposed upon people by outside pressures.  I do not intend to deal with those pressures.  I am interested in proving only my basic premise in its purest form.  I have devised an experiment to test my hypothesis to some degree.

My approach is simple.  I have compiled a series of musical groups.  Each group contains seven popular songs performed by singers of different race.  A group can then be played for a selected group of subjects who will be asked to list the songs in order of preference.

Why did I choose popular music for my experiment?  I choose a field of art, because only in art does there seem to be any real conventions of racial tones.  There have been inventions by men of all races, but can any single invention be defined in terms of race?  Such terms as “soul music”, “black experience”, "Jewish school of literature” appear often in art criticisms and attest that racial definitions exist in the field of art.  I feel this is especially true in the area of pop music.

A few years ago I was with friends talking about the Righteous Brothers, who were a white duo singing “black music”.  One of my black friends laughed and said, “If you think that’s soul, well I guess I’ll have to take you out to hear some real soul music.”  In that particular statement is the belief that there is some essential difference in the music of different races; a difference caused by race.

I believe the difference is mostly imaginary.  Therefore, I choose pop music as the perfect media for my experiment.

EXPERIMENT

Subjects are selected.  The main requirement for selection is that a racial mix is maintained.  There should be enough subjects to make the results significant.  The experiment deals with music that is a subjective form at best.  Allowances must be made for individual tastes, hearing differences and possible familiarity with the music being played.  There should be enough subjects to allow for these factors and still give definite patters in the charted results.

The subjects are then asked to listen to a series of musical selections and to rank the songs in order of individual preference.  A number will be given each song and they will use the number to list the songs.

SAMPLE GROUP OF SONGS

This performers are racially mixed, but only half of the subjects should be told this.  The half not knowing for certain that there are black and white singers will act as a control group in that no prior prejudice has been given.

1. Try a Little Tenderness   Otis Redding     Black

2. Alabama Song                   Doors                White

3. There She Goes                Bill Medley       White

4. Sudden Stop                     Percy Sledge      Black

5. America 1968                   Animals             White

6. Valentine Song                Tim Buckley      White

7. Always Something There to Remind Me   Dionne Warwick   Black