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Race Relations
345
major denominations have generally declared segregation to be un-
Christian.
In view of the different concerns which have led various groups
to be interested in racial issues in the last two decades, it becomes
clear that the race problem is not an isolated one.5 It is closely related
to many other issues which cannot be adequately dealt with apart
from consideration of the manner in which segregation, discrimination,
and racial prejudice affect them. Recent developments and findings
in the fields of sociology, criminology, economics, genetics, psychology,
psychiatry, political science, and international relations have all con
tributed to a deeper insight into the nature of social problems and
the extent to which all of these problems are interrelated. These
disciplines have contributed a deeper understanding of the injustice
of segregation and the
human
cost of prejudice and discrimination,
both in terms of those who are the object of these evils as well as of
those who practice them. Moreover, in the years since World War II
it has become increasingly apparent that the flagrant gap between the
American democratic creed and the actual treatment of minorities
in the United States poses a serious handicap to us in our national
effort to win the support of other countries in the battle against Com
munism. Realization of this fact has given a tremendous impetus to
the endeavor to achieve a larger measure of practical democracy
at home. Similarly, recognition of the social consequences of the
fundamental changes that have taken place in our economy—e.g.,
the rapid industrialization of the South, the increased need for
skilled industrial workers especially during World War II, and the
rapid urbanization of our society—has encouraged labor unions,
the churches, and many other groups, both Negro and white, both
North and South, to attack the various facets of segregation and
discrimination with increased confidence and vigor.
In many quarters this deep and widespread concern with the racial
problem has led to an examination of existing patterns of relationships
between the races, with the result that these relationships have been
found to be both undemocratic and un-Christian. While the pattern
of segregation is most deeply entrenched in the South, since there it
is defined and enforced by state and municipal law as well as by
firmly established custom, other forms of discrimination have become
deeply engrained in the patterns of community life in other sections
5 Cf. Charles F. Marden,
Minorities in American Society,
New York, Ameri
can Book Company, 1952, pp. 16-24.