Out of curiousity, what do you guys think is worse, a person like Faubus, who may not really have been racist, but strongly opposed integration for political reasons, or someone who was strongly racist and opposed integration because of their racism?
The latter is worse. What about somebody who is strongly racist and supports integration for political reasons, while personally avoiding it?
While I strongly disagree with them personally, the results would be positive, even if the motives were not. So I would support him over the non-racist who's opposed to integreation, easily.
What is the ethnic composition of the neighborhood in which you live?
There are many who support integration for other people while personally avoiding it themselves, because they don't believe the results are all positive.
I believe we should be trying to create the conditions in which integration takes place naturally, as it has for various ethnic groups who once lived apart from one another. That would be a really good result, but I don't see the phonies who pay lip service to integration while avoiding it themselves leading us in that direction.
It's pretty white, as far as I can tell. However, my middle school was basically an even split, white/black, so it's not as if I'm surrounded by people just like me, although the black kids I went to middle school with are in a completely different part of town, I don't really live within walking distance of them.
At this point, I don't view integration as a political issue. But when we are talking about basic rights, like going to school or being able to eat in a restaurant, as was the case in the 50's and 60's, the alternative is so bad that I can let it slide if the person himself doesn't practice it, but uses his power to support integration. Of course, if he was one of those people threatening blacks who moved into his neighborhood, I would have a problem, but if he simply lived in a white neighborhood without being aggressive about keeping it that way, I could live with it.
Poll
