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"[T]here
is no doubt that the overwhelming majority of white Americans desire
that
there be as few Negroes as possible in America. If the Negroes could
be eliminated from America or greatly decreased in numbers,
this would meet the whites' approval--
provided that it could be accomplished
by means which are also approved."
--Gunnar Myrdal, AN AMERICAN DILEMMA
During
our long course of study of conspiracies that undermine our collective
humanity, we have frequently come across research that provides critical
keys to our understanding. Such is the case with AN AMERICAN
DILEMMA: THE NEGRO PROBLEM AND MODERN DEMOCRACY. The Swedish
researcher Gunnar Myrdal, under a grant sponsored by the Carnegie Corporation,
produced this landmark study which was published in 1944 by Harper and
Row.
Some
fifty years after its arrival AN AMERICAN DILEMMA still stands
as perhaps the most comprehensive, and unsettling, analysis of America's
relationship toward its African members. At nearly 1500 pages,
including footnotes and index, Myrdal's study is awesomely comprehensive.
Disturbing revelation follows revelation as the scientist, trained in
the discipline of economics while utilizing varied interdisciplinary
sciences, explores every imaginable aspect of Black life (within historical
context, we will frequently herein use the term Negro as it is applicable
within this mid-century study). At various times Myrdal goes so
far as to propose methods by which America might relieve itself of its
longstanding "problem."
As
numerous excerpts from the book, indicate, from the beginning of America's
history, at the core of the ethnic crises is the recurrent theme of
genocidal intent. This is demonstrated as sustained and systematic
planning toward the end of managing Blacks as a material resource for
American benefit, as opposed to human beings in all their potential.
I will take this observation further to suggest that Myrdal's study
stands as a virtual blueprint for a modern conspiracy to undermine the
aspirations of the Black citizen. The severity of this repression
can only be described as systematic genocide--by literal definition
of the term.
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