rs

MEMO FROM TO: TX
J. LEDERBERG . rc
GENETICS DEPARTMENT Mrs. Fred Harris RO

STANFORD UNIVERSITY
STANFORD, CALIFORNIA

 

I neglected to send this encllosure with
my letter of August 22/

fonts

TO: RC

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday, May 11, 3968

 

 

‘ence utile
onal Racism

MEMO FROM Ro  acial in- THE PRIMER restates
J LEDERBERG + dforus what we all know, that we
* DEPARTMEN i live in t f institu-
GENETICS n again ive in a system of institu
FORD UNIVERSITY ‘not re- _ tions that rigidify and pert-
STAN RD CALIFORNIA detail petuate historic wrongs
STANFORD, __ etal’ while keeping the coloration
— about of individual toleran ce.
about wWhai consolation is it to the

_ iliation’ Negro that only a minority
able to get across a dation, of whites cast aspersions on

been
ed message:

talk abeut
real

I hope I have
rather confus
to
We do need
Mien" to cenvey some
problems ahead of us;

"institutional
ity about the

"abolish racism" is to eay
useful and concrete.

we
the problem, so that

: hat is .
nothing t but pervasiv

need to ana lyze
ish
an "“abolis
injustices that wee
and obtain the mea

n concre -
te deal with.

ne)
tabolish racism

statis. his children while the rest
point to their own intellect-

rot by ual progress in racial under-
xperl- standing; while the Negro is
Jam still systematically excluded

ong. I from good housing, good ed-.

rimi- Uwcation, goods jobs; while

vare. the riots are exploited as ex-

cuses to turn our back on

aside human needs? |
swer We are cautioned not to
© ark. “reward” rioters with re-

the fragmentary oly qdentify ing forms in response to vio-

at a ‘ence. What could possibly
‘itu. U* ©
1 a : criminate 20 million people
po- _ for the crimes of a few tens

Without that analysis: | ie life perfect" «ro : of fhousands and to deny

i han
means nething other t

 

ise. i them what is justice, not
es ° charity. Or do we believe
al that one race does have the
right to that domination of
‘7 another which is the fact of
5 American life today?
1 The responsibility for in-
f  stitutional “racism is too
2 heavy for any one individual
\ to bear. There are no easy
Ways to change it. But the
first step is honest aware-
ness. As long as we tolerate
white dominion, Jet us admit
that we are white racists
whatever the color of our
skin, the profession of our
tolerance or the Gemuetli-

chkeit of our commiseration.
© 1968, The Washington Post Co.

be more racistic than toin- .

,

SISA DAN Csyi)