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Civil rights and race relations materials, 1957-1964

What You Can Do About Racial Prejudice In Housing Page 18

morality. White children are no better--and no worse--than Negro children. They are simply what their surroundings make them.
Q: Won't I suffer a loss of social prestige if I have Negro neighbors?
As discussed earlier, the need for social status is one of the root causes of racial prejudice. To many people, living in association with Negroes becomes the ultimate threat to self-image and respect. No amount of rational argument can convince them otherwise. Yet the fact is that the prestige of any community depends on its appearance, the achievements and stature of its residents and the quality of its community life...and not on the skin color of those who live in it.
A community doesn't lose prestige because a Negro family moves in. It loses stature and prestige only when its residents allow its spirit and appearance to lag. Negroes have prestige desires, too...and are often more conscious of, and more anxious to support, a community's status than its older residents.
The myth that the arrival of Negroes in a community signals its reduction to a near slum is a result of mistaken observation. Many people think of most Negroes as inhabiting areas of social deterioration--slums. Unfortunately, most Negroes do live in such surroundings. Therefore, many whites fear that the arrival of a Negro family is the first step in the decline of their own neighborhood to slum level. They believe that it was the Negro who caused the area in which he lives to become a slum.
But this is not so. Most slum areas inhabited by Negroes were slum areas before the Negro arrived. In fact, it was only after the areas had run down that many Negroes could afford to live in them. The arrival of the Negro neither caused nor accelerated the decline. People who believe, therefore, that Negroes will bring slum conditions wherever they move are confusing cause and effect.
The Negro who moves into a community is usually equivalent in economic and professional standing to the
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morality. White children are no better--and no worse--than Negro children. They are simply what their surroundings make them. Q: Won't I suffer a loss of social prestige if I have Negro neighbors? As discussed earlier, the need for social status is one of the root causes of racial prejudice. To many people, living in association with Negroes becomes the ultimate threat to self-image and respect. No amount of rational argument can convince them otherwise. Yet the fact is that the prestige of any community depends on its appearance, the achievements and stature of its residents and the quality of its community life...and not on the skin color of those who live in it. A community doesn't lose prestige because a Negro family moves in. It loses stature and prestige only when its residents allow its spirit and appearance to lag. Negroes have prestige desires, too...and are often more conscious of, and more anxious to support, a community's status than its older residents. The myth that the arrival of Negroes in a community signals its reduction to a near slum is a result of mistaken observation. Many people think of most Negroes as inhabiting areas of social deterioration--slums. Unfortunately, most Negroes do live in such surroundings. Therefore, many whites fear that the arrival of a Negro family is the first step in the decline of their own neighborhood to slum level. They believe that it was the Negro who caused the area in which he lives to become a slum. But this is not so. Most slum areas inhabited by Negroes were slum areas before the Negro arrived. In fact, it was only after the areas had run down that many Negroes could afford to live in them. The arrival of the Negro neither caused nor accelerated the decline. People who believe, therefore, that Negroes will bring slum conditions wherever they move are confusing cause and effect. The Negro who moves into a community is usually equivalent in economic and professional standing to the 18