Racism termed fallacy of belief by speaker

Abstract

"Racism can be seen in rooms all over the world."" said John Howard Griffin in his speech at a dinner honoring the Rev. John P. Markoe, S.J., retired professor of mathematics. Griffin, author of Black Like Me, spoke at the affair sponsored by a committee of Omaha citizens to cite the extensive work Father Markoe has done in race relations. Dr. Claude Organ, Omaha surgeon and president of the Urban League, presented Father Markoe with a plaque from the people of Omaha. In an acceptance speech, Father Markoe remarked, ""Racism is so bad that a racist would not even be welcomed in hell. On racists, Griffin said, The fallacy of the racist in Nazi Germany and in the American South is his belief that an indictment can be drawn up against a whole people. Good keep silent And what was proven in both places is that all that is required for the triumph of evil is that good men remain silent long enough. We saw it in Germany, in Mississippi and now in Alabama. Griffin decided to go into the South as a Negro when he realized what was being done against this specific group of people. I wanted to discover if we were involved in the practice of racism. If we were not, my life as a pigmented John Howard Griffin would not be any different from that as a white John Howard Griffin. Rejection But it was different in a way I never dreamed possible. I could get a job over the phone, but would be rejected when I reported for work. In cities where months be¬ fore I had been an honored guest, I was now rejected. Griffin said he was not suffering the burden of the Negro's blackness but the white man’s inability to see beyond that blackness"