White moderates, while perhaps with virtuous intentions, oppress and silence blacks through apathy, furthering de facto discrimination. Perhaps stated the most strongly, Martin Luther King Jr. wrote from a jail cell that “the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not... the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate” (“Letter from Birmingham Jail”). King clearly isolated the very same group of people who believed themselves to be progressive and educated. While these individuals don’t agree with discrimination against blacks, they are “more devoted to "order" than to justice [and] prefer a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice” (King). Here lies the apathy that King
…show more content…
Another example of white apathy to oppression of blacks is found in Richard Wright’s novel Native Son. While Mr. Dalton, a white real estate owner and philanthropist, is purely fictional, he acts as a microcosm for upper-class white individuals and their treatment of lower-class blacks in Chicago. Mr. Dalton, when confronted with his own egregious profiting off of housing for minorities, takes solace in having “sent a dozen ping-pong tables to the South Side Boys’ Club” to which another character points out that black youth “want a meaningful life, not ping-pong” (Wright 294-295). Despite being cognizant of his own exploitation of blacks, Dalton dismisses his own deplorable actions by using monetary donations as penance. He willingly closes his eyes to the real negative impact his actions have on minorities, which is a similar trend occurring in contemporary times. The Pew Research Center ran multiple surveys in 2016 to determine perceptions of race in
Another example of white apathy to oppression of blacks is found in Richard Wright’s novel Native Son. While Mr. Dalton, a white real estate owner and philanthropist, is purely fictional, he acts as a microcosm for upper-class white individuals and their treatment of lower-class blacks in Chicago. Mr. Dalton, when confronted with his own egregious profiting off of housing for minorities, takes solace in having “sent a dozen ping-pong tables to the South Side Boys’ Club” to which another character points out that black youth “want a meaningful life, not ping-pong” (Wright 294-295). Despite being cognizant of his own exploitation of blacks, Dalton dismisses his own deplorable actions by using monetary donations as penance. He willingly closes his eyes to the real negative impact his actions have on minorities, which is a similar trend occurring in contemporary times. The Pew Research Center ran multiple surveys in 2016 to determine perceptions of race in