Negro Digest - Freedom Archives

develop black communities . For a
cardinal need of black communities
is a formal system of education
capable of "producing the bureaucratic,
managerial, technical, and
professional cadres required for
modernization", ia
A recent letter to the editor of a
popular magazine may caricature
the point somewhat but may also
set the stage for clarification :
"Sir : A hypothetical interview
of a Negro applicant for employment
with a major corporation :
INTERVIEWER : `So you want
to work for Magna?'
APPLICANT : `Yes, sir' .
INTERVIEWER: `Our shortage
at present is in the business
administration area . Did you by
chance major in business administration,
economics, accounting,
insurance ar statistics? Did you
take any courses in those areas?'
APPLICANT: `No, sir . I majored
in Black Studies .'
INTERVIEWER: `I am sorry,
but we have no openings in that
field at the present time . As you
know, we are an equal opportunities
employer. We will put
your application on file .
Check
back with me in six months or
so and perhaps I may be able to
do 'something for you . Came in
and see me any time: Good day,
sir" .ia
This cartoon characterization of
the problem is used merely to high-
96
(Continued from page 771
light the danger of the development
of a too narrow concept of Black
Studies because of an uncriticized
set of assumptions regarding Black
Identity . If one conceptualizes the
black experience only-or even
principally-in terms of those immediately
felt values of personal
experience and excludes or downgrades
the role of impersonal items
in the self-concept, then the
chances of developing a Black
Studies Program that is meaningful
to both black students and the black
community are already pre-empted
. The truth of the matter is that
such personal items constitute only
one configuration in an adequate
self-construct . Some scholars argue
that in an urban technological society
they are not even fundaments .
Rather, "scientific, rational knowledge
of the world is the basic relation
from which conceptions of the
world, personality, and symbol systems
are derived" . ia
(There is a great need for someone
to address the problem of the
relations between "Soul", a derivative
of the black experience in
America, and "Negritude", a derivative
of the black experience in
Africa . Interesting parallels and
differences might be observed and
related to the levels of technology
in the two societies .)
The thirst for an education that
aids them in understanding themselves
and the world around them,
March 1969 NEGRO DIGEST