How does a Christian world view influence their respective view of integration? Do you agree with their assessment of a Christian worldview?
THE CONVENTION LUNCHEON THE NEW SOCIAL ORDER WHEN INTEGRATED Benjamin E. Mays President of Morehouse College, Atlanta, Georgia HEN WE SPEAK of Society, we mean the various elements in a community that are essential to man's existence. A so ciety must have a government, economic resources, social activities, educational insti tutions, civic and recreational facilities. These various organizations are indispensa ble in any society whether it be primitive or a society well advanced in government, economic goods, and education. To state it another way, a "society is a community, na tion or broad grouping of people having common traditions, institutions and collec tive activities and interest." We mean by social order "the totality of structured hu man interrelationships in a society or a part of it" I A SOCIAL order will be new when it is integrated. To integrate means to unite together to form "a more complete, har monious or coordinate entity/' It means to complete, to organically unify, to form a more perfect entity. In other words, inte gration means "unification and mutual ad justment of diverse groups or elements into a relatively coordinated and harmonious so ciety or culture." In this discussion today, we use integra tion in a spiritual sense and not in a po litical or legal sense. Since the May 17, 1954, decision of the United States Supreme Court, we have erroneously used integration when we really mean desegregation. A decision of the United States Supreme Court cannot integrate schools. A Supreme Court decision, when implemented, can desegre gate schools, but it cannot integrate them. Desegregation paves die way for integra tion, but desegregation is not necessarily in tegration. An integrated social order would have no segregation and no discrimination based on race, religion or color. A desegre gated society may have discrimination ga lore and is not necessarily integrated. Only the naive would call the University of Mississippi an integrated institution. Nor could we claim integration at the University of Georgia, where for a solid year white students seldom spoke to Hamilton Holmes and Charlayne Hunter in public. Even Nor thern universities where Negro students have been matriculating for many years may not be integrated. It is highly conceivable that a husband and wife may live together in confusion for several decades without ever being thor oughly integrated. I know of a great phi lanthropist who gave heavily to Negro education but admitted that he would not want to live next door to a Negro. Integration, therefore, is a spiritual quality which must be achieved through love of and respect for peoples of all races, religions, nationalities, and cultures. To speak of a new social order when integrated is like speaking of a society which has achieved in reality the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man. When society be comes truly integrated we will be approach ing the Kingdom of God on earth. Π This topic, "A New Social Order When Integrated," really means that we can never have a new social order until society is integrated. What will politics be like when the social order is integrated? All distinc tion between the majority and the minority will disappear when a politician runs for office. It will be as easy for a Jew to be 155 156 THE NEW SOCIAL ORDER WHEN INTEGRATED President of the United States as it is now for a Gentile; as easy for a Catholic as it is for a Protestant; as easy for a Negro as for a white man. As far as it is humanly possible, a candidate will be judged on the basis of his ability and character. On this basis, no voter would vote for a candidate because the politician was Jewish, Negroid, Caucasian, Protestant, or Catholic. A com- munity where the majority of voters are Negroes might well vote for a white man if he were clearly the better of the two candidates. White people may not now send a Negro to the Senate even if the Negro is clearly superior. This would hardly be the case if the social order were inte- grated. An integrated social order would be hard on our political parties. People would, for the most part, cease to vote the party line. I have a friend who believes that the Re- publicans can do no wrong. Even if Mr. Eisenhower had committed murder, I think my friend would have justified him. She had no use for Franklin D. Roosevelt. There is hardly anything a Democrat can do that is right There are Democrats who are just as narrow in their views about Republicans. But in the integrated social order politicians would not be judged on the basis of party affiliations but rather on the character of the man and upon his ability and deter- mination to implement his platform. IT IS IN the realm of economics where discrimination hurts the most. There is prejudice against Jews in employment, but it strikes the Negro hardest. Although much improvement is being made in this area, it is a well-known fact that there are many, many jobs members of minority groups cannot get, however competent they may be. They are often frozen on the job at a certain level and not permitted to advance. They are not even allowed to train for certain jobs. Such discrimination exists both in industry and in government. In an integrated society the sky would be the limit for anyone who sets out to climb the economic or political ladder. There is religious prejudice, too. Where Catholics are in control in certain areas, it is much easier for one to get a job if he is a Catholic. Protestants are equally guilty of discrimination on the basis of religion. None of this could happen if our society was really integrated. In an integrated so- ciety the ability to do the job, the ability to get along well with people, and integrity of character would be the major criteria when hiring people for specific jobs. Re- ligion and race would play only a negligible role. Though the first time in history, it was a tribute to America that John F. Ken- nedy, a Catholic, could be elected President of the United States. Doors would be barred to no one in a thoroughly integrated society. In an integrated society, denominations would stiU exist, but there would be no discrimination in worship anywhere. One would not have to be white to worship in a church in Mississippi. He would not have to be white to join a church, any church of his choice, in New York, Chicago, or Los Angeles. Negroes would not get jittery if white people in large numbers joined a Negro church. It would indeed be the house of God, and not the house of man. All social fears rooted in class or caste, culture or color, nationality or economic status would be non-existent if we had a new, integrated social order. What is right would take precedence over what is expedi- ent. We would not debate the question as to what will happen to me, to my job, to my political future, to my social standing in the community if I really followed the dic- tates of my conscience when confronted with a clear right as over against that which is obviously wrong. The climate would support the right choice. We would make the right choices and leave the consequences to God. We would hardly raise the ques- tion about the future fifty years or 100 years from now if we did right today. Ill FOR THE most part, I have spoken of the smaller society — the nation and units within the nation. But the nation can no longer be contained within geographical BENJAMIN E. MAYS 157 boundaries. There was a time when oceans, mountains and long distances could protect a nation from devastating wars and poten- tial annihilation. That day is past. No nation can protect itself from bombs, nu- clear weapons of war, and poisoning gas. No nation is secure today. Even if the United States could, through a miraculous act of God, become an integrated nation so that every American would be free and secure, we would still have to deal with a non- integrated world. An integrated world would mean many things — too many for me to try to spell out. And yet it can hardly be denied that the world is a long way from integration. China and India are at war. The two nations seek different goals. Spiritually they are worlds apart. We are feuding with Cuba and Russia. The United States and Russia seek different goals. We are spend- ing between forty and fifty billions of dol- lars a year for defense. During the last 3,000 years mankind has waged 3,300 wars. Among other things there can be no inte- grated world without a common desire to have peace and an honest program for peace followed by the nations of the world where- by peace could be achieved. As long as men spend more in the preparation for war than they do in the preparation for peace, there will be no integrated world. An in- tegrated world cannot exist where lying, deceit, hypocrisy, and a deep-seated distrust are prevalent among the nations. As we have already said, integration means "uni- fication and mutual adjustment of diverse groups of elements into relatively coordi- nated and harmonious society or culture." Surely an integrated society means a world without war. I am sure you are saying by now that I am describing a Utopian world. The kind of world that poets, seers, and prophets have spoken about and dreamed of, but a world which no one has seen and no man will ever see. Yes, it is Utopian. But I