MBOYA. There is this transition that is taking place, but we cannot agree that institutions in Africa should be judged on the basis of whether they are like the American or like the British, or like the French system. I think my own observation is that the American institutions leave so much to be desired. And so do the British institutions, with their debate about the House of Lords and so on. MCKISSICK. And I would think

MBOYA. We must do our own experiments here and get the institutions better suited to our circumstances.

MCKISSICK. Tom, I would like to add something to what you said. I really don't see too much difference betweeen the problems of the people of Kenya, and the problems of black people in this country. We really got the same problems. CONYERS. A very brief distinction, Mr. McKissick, because in Kenya, the government there is totally committed to the eradication of racism. It is totally devoted, according to Mr. Mboya, the Minister there, it's totally devoted to the developing principles consistent with democracy. And I draw a great distinction between the development of the people in Kenya toward a democratic form of government, and the very oppressive circumstances which still obtain for black people in this country today.

MCKISSICK. I get your point. All we're trying to say, is don't give us a word like democracy and tell us-and really tell us what democracy means in beautiful language, and then put a thing on us called racism, or a bag on us called white culture, without allowing us to develop and decide upon the kind of system, the kind of society we want and to develop our own black thing. In this country, here is one point that must stand out, and it stands out the world over. That I'm a black man first. I was taught I was a black man first by this so-called white society. I was punished because I was black. And I think that I've got to be a black man first in order to succeed. And I think the Kenyans have got to be for Kenya first.

WALLACE. Gentlemen, one last question: anti-Americanism. Just how bad is it in black Africa?

MBOYA. I think the point is firstly that most of the people in Africa feel that the Americans have not made and by this you need to distinguish between the American government and the American people-the American government has not made a real effort to understand Africa. Let us take one good example here. Your Secretary of State, Mr. Dean Rusk. He's been in office, for nearly—I think it is 10 years. I don't believe he's ever made an effort to visit any part of Africa. There may be an explanation to this, but it just goes to show that when a very senior member of the government does not find the continent of Africa of any real interest and concern, that people are bound to wonder whether the policies there are based on a deeper knowledge and understanding of Africa.

Then we have questions like South Africa. There is a feeling in Africa that the American government could do much more in the South African situation then she has dared do. We feel that the American government could influence the situation more, and even, actively participate or intervene. We have the question of Rhodesia, and again here there is still the feeling that much more could be done by the United States.

KWAPONG. There is no doubt, certainly about southwest Africa, or South Africa, that the American government has really never come out forthrightly on the side of what can be considered to be just and proper, for the peoples of this continent.

CONYERS. The United States puts one-half of one per cent of its gross national product into foreign aid, and only two per cent of that goes to Africa. When you take this consideration, and the way we ignore the oppressive racism growing out of South Africa, Rhodesia, West Africa, Mozambique-I think we all have to agree that the Commission on Civil Disorders used relatively mild language when they recently found that America is still essentially a racist society. And I think we have to take that into consideration when we really appreciate the mutuality of the struggle of the Freedom Movement in America for black people, and the struggle to get our government to merely send the Secretary of State to Africa, to merely begin to put black Americans into greater prominence into the African bureau of the State Department, to end racism in employment in America, to provide jobs for the black Americans in our ghettos where the sub-employment rate is somewhere near 30 to 40 per cent in our big cities.

I think this addresses itself to a very, very serious problem which for all practical purposes, I am ashamed to say, is being ignored. The Commission on

Civil Disorders Report said that this is an urgent problem that needs attention, and the Congress and the Executive of this country have literally done nothing. We have ignored the Poor People's Crusade in Washington, we've just dispersed them, sentenced their leaders and people to jail. And we here in America have to begin to recognize that the foundation on which this country was built is in serious trouble, if we don't begin to do much more about this question of relating to Africa, and these growing countries' needs and the problems of black people in America.

WALLACE. Gentlemen, we have come to the end of our hour, and I thank you all for participating. Thank you very much, Congressman John Conyers in Washington; Floyd McKissick in New York; Tom Mboya in Nairobi, Kenya; and Dr. Alex Kwapong in Accra, Ghana.

We have been listening to some good and interesting talk between black Africans and black Americans. On another level, CBS News has just finished an interesting experiment. We sent three young black Americans to Africa, and we watched what their reactions were. Gail Harris, 17 years old. Mattie Johnsonalso 17. Stephen Adams-same age. All from Washington, D.C. They did many of the usual things, like tourists everywhere. They saw old stones, and new ones, and they tried to puzzle out what they meant. The young people experienced what is known as "cultural shock." One of them said, "There's no pizza in Ghana."

But then, slowly, through taste and distaste, their value systems began to sort out each new experience and just as millions of other Americans have visited Europe in search of their roots, so these young people found that their African heritage reinforced their American beliefs. In the customs of Ghana, they saw echoes of life in black America. "In Search of a Past" is a counterpart of sorts to the conversation you have just heard. And on August 20th, CBS News will bring you "In Search of a Past" as part of this series, Of Black America. This is Mike Wallace. Good night.

[From the Washington Star, July 3, 1968]

CRITIC'S VIEW-NEGRO HISTORY SERIES OFF TO IMPOSING START
(By Rick Du Brow)

HOLLYWOOD.-"Of Black America," CBS-TV's seven-part series about Negro history, arrived last night. Much of the first hour was devoted to how the film industry helped to create a Negro stereotype. It was one of the most devastating broadcasts television ever has shown.

A major reason for the impact was the narriation of the on-camera host, Bill Cosby. Using a notable script by Andrew Rooney and Perry Wolff, his masterful, informal approach opened up a new dimension in the narration of television documentaries.

With a total lack of affectation, Cosby's matter-of-fact, good-natured, personal communication to viewers only made his obvious underlying sadness more powerful, and the total effect was overwhelming.

NOT A DISTANT VOICE

It was, you might say, people-to-people narration, rather than some distant Olympian voice intoning the pretty words of an impersonal documentary. And it helped to get the series, which is "tracking the history of the Negro and relating it to his place in the United States," off to an imposing start. The second program, next Tuesday, will concern black servicemen from the Revolutionary War to Vietnam.

Last night's opening broadcast dealt not only with the film stereotype, but the little-known achievements by Negroes and the psychological effects on Negro children who have had little chance to develop the pride of identity because of past treatment of black history.

Once again, by the way, a major television series was not interrupted by commercials. The Institute of Life Insurance last week followed the same practice in its three-part CBS-TV series about the urban crisis. And, like the institute, last night's sponsor, Xerox Corp., made a point of relating business corporations to the problems in the world around us.

"CAN YOU BLAME US"

There were several riveting sequences last night about the effect on children of an absence of pride, identity and dignity. One showed how these factors emerged

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in drawings by youngsters. Another, utterly fascinating, took us to an AfroAmerican pre-school in Philadelphia where a teacher-giving children a sort of emotional protection-made them stand before him and taunted them purposely until they shouted back their pride in being black.

After this sequence, Cosby, referring to the entire broadcast's tracing of attitudes toward Negroes, said: "Can you blame us for over-compensating?"

The passages of film clips from old movies that we have often enjoyed were painful when looked at from the viewpoint of the Negro. Aside from "Birth of a Nation"-well known for its outright anti-Negro feelings there were the movies that seemed more innocent but everlastingly portrayed the Negro man as a comical coward, lazy and dumb and of course servile.

As for the Negro women who always played those loyal, reliable, trustworthy maids, Hattie McDaniel who won an Oscar for "Gone With the Wind," once explained it this way: She said she had two choices in Hollywood-she could either play the part of a maid for $7,000 a week, or be one for $7.

The program noted how the cycle has changed so that we have new stereotypes, like Sidney Poitier, who-as the script put it—is always helping little old ladies across the street, whether or not they want to be helped. In short, the compensating process is revealed again. And what last night's broadcast was trying to do, of course, was bridge the gap so that the whole concept of having to compensate in such matters may soon be a relic of history.

[From the Washington Post, July 4, 1968]

RADIO AND TELEVISION-"BLACK AMERICA" SERIES SHATTERS CLICHES

(By Lawrence Laurent)

REVIEW.-Bill Cosby concluded the first of seven programs called "Of Black America" (CBS, Channel 9) with a flat, friendly statement about the American Negro: "From now on we're going to play it black and American-because we're proud."

This was a fitting conclusion for a long exposition on the grief and agony the black man has found as he pursued the white man's dreams. Part of the problem, through the years, has been that "Black History" has been "Lost, Strayed or Stolen."

It was a program that was blunt. To some it had the impact of a slap in the face. Systematically, the earnest cliches were trotted out and shattered. This began with the truncated version of the black man's history, continued through the patronizing stereotypes of the entertainment business and ended with preschool youngsters being trained to parrot such phrases as "I am black and beautiful" and "My nationality is Afro-American."

The children were students at a different version of "Operation: Headstart." This one is operated in an abandoned store by a dedicated young man named John Churchville. Cosby mused that the teaching technique was "kinda like brainwashing."

This he saw as "overcompensating," a required "sin of pride" that is close to the Greek word, "hubris."

Any person who studies the ratings reports by which television executives are determined to live and die knows that the smallest audiences in prime time are attending the CBS Tuesday night non-fiction programs. These consistently rank at the bottom in listings of programs in order of popularity.

Those few, however, who did turn away from the escapist drama were richly rewarded for their efforts. "Of Black America" shows great promise of being honest, both to its subject matter and to the needs of the late 1960s.

C. Peter McColough, president and chief executive of the sponsoring Xerox Corp., made plain in an opening statement that control of the program's content rests with CBS News. He said the purpose of the six one-hour and one half-hour programs are to "enlighten and inform, and to help change attitudes."

If other programs equal the quality of this week's premiere, McColough just might achieve his purpose.

Cosby, using the firmly understated script by Andred A. Rooney and Vern Diamond, carefully documented the well justified compliants of a black man, who must compete with the images that white society has created of black men. He showed the influence of African art on such honored artists as Picasso and

Modigliana and commented: "When you look at this copying you've got to give us more than rhythm. You've got to give us style."

The most acerbic comments were reserved for the Hollywood film makers, who-starting with D. W. Griffith's “Birth of a Nation,” 50 years ago-persistently had the black man portrayed as a "boy," a menial, who stole chickens, shot chickens, shot craps and was afraid of lions, gorillas, ghosts or skeletons.

In Hollywood's comedy shorthand a frightened Negro "turned white" on the

screen.

Cosby offered something less than awe and reverence for a black actor by the name of Lincoln Theodore Andrew Perry who made $2 million working in motion pictures. His professional name is Stepin' Fetchit, who played drawling, indolent, ignorant characters and, said Cosby: "Too bad he was so good at it."

Radio projected the unfortunate black stereotypes even further with two white men playing "Amos 'n' Andy."

Television picked up the show, using black men who couldn't quite master the English language. (The Kingfish declined about "exter cuticle activities" and issued "a ultimato."

"The new stereotype," said Cosby, is embodied in actor Sidney Poitier, usually seen "helping some old ladies across the street-whether they want to go or not." A hundred years of mass media conditioning spelled out for the black man that he wasn't going to enjoy the abundance of this acquisitive society "unless he joins the white world." It led, he added, to a point where "a rich black cat took the rich white cat's dream."

For some complacent viewers, the theme contained in "Of Black America" may be unpleasant. For others, however, the message is clear and it is needed.

[From the New Republic, July 27, 1968]

TELEVISION-HOW TO SURVIVE THE SCHOOLMARMS

The black teacher (imperiously): "Now I am your teacher and I say that you are a Negro."

The four-year-old boy (passionately): "No, I'm Afro-American!"

The teacher goes on examining one child after another. "Are you a boy?” "No, I'm a man; I'm black and I'm beautiful!”

"When do you want your freedom?"

"Now!"

"We can't give it to you this week. Can't you wait until next week?"

"No! I want my freedom now!"

"What is freedom?"

"Freedom is black power!"

"What's black power?"

"I don't know."

"Don't use words you don't understand."

Probably no one who witnessed the first program of a CBS series called Of Black America will ever be able to look at a black child without having that scene come to mind. A liberal accustomed to regarding black children with some of the fondness he feels for his own may, after seeing this broadcast, be uncomfortably aware that much more than the triumph of the political and economic policies he supports will be required for black children to be able one day to become autonomous men.

Anyone who has seen what happens to Negro children in public schools will not be disposed to doubt the need for the Spartan indoctrination practiced in the storefront freedom school seen on the July 2 broadcast, a school set up in Philadelphia by the black teacher, John Churchville, to prepare children for public schools. Along with the rudiments of the New Math the children are acquiring the fortitude they will need to withstand the browbeating, the cajoling, the seductive flattery, all the ego-crushing manipulation they're bound to encounter later on at public school. They're warned that the schoolteachers are not going to like their independent attitudes, and that maybe their grades will suffer as a result. "But grades are not important," the teacher tells them; "what is important is to be an honest and truthful man or woman."

It is troubling to think what little infant delight, unselfconscious childhood, and easy complaisance these four-year-olds are renouncing. But it is far more painful to see what the public schools do to all future possibility of children

who can be alienated from self and from blackness by dancing to the teacher's tune, or doomed to failure by mute resistance to her. Steeling his charges against the schoolmarm's straightening-irons, Churchville is proposing a covenant with time. It will be hard going for these children, and for many of the teachers they encounter, but in the end they could be the leaven for a generation that will not need such armoring.

The need for the indoctrination at this moment in history was made plain in the earlier part of the broadcast, a compilation of scene after scene of the degradation of the Negro by the mass media, the castration of the black man and the moronization of the black woman, in industrialized folklore from Birth of a Nation to Bert Wheeler to Aunt Jemima to Stepin Fetchit and on down to Amos 'n' Andy, a flood of images of the Negro emasculated by Hollywood which Americans past thirty had once accepted unquestioningly. To see clearly in front of one's adult eyes images implanted decades ago and still lurking far down in the medulla oblongata was jarring: each bug-eye, each stammer, each shuffle, a slap in the face. One began to get a glimpse of the depth and pervasiveness of one's own conditioned racism, as well as, of course, some notion of the destructive effects the stereotypes must have had on black people.

The program, called Negro History: Lost, Strayed, or Stolen, was the most powerful piece of TV journalism so far on the matter of race in America, and perhaps the best documentary in television's short history. The narrative, delivered by Bill Cosby with a presence that met James Baldwin's definition of Soul as sincerity of performance, was the best piece of writing I've encountered. in a documentary; colloquial yet precise, it sustained a rare tone of indignation and chagrin muted into irony. Andrew Rooney and Perry Wolff, who collaborated on the script, successfully resisted the subject's temptations to sensationalize. The finely written and restrained narrative was almost superfluous, so forceful were the pictures.

No concern with words or pictures or reality was evident in the premiere of ABC's A Time for Americans, a series of six hour-long programs on race in America. In a shoddy, inept and cynical attempt to appear to be "doing something" toward bridging the gap between the races, the network put Lena Horne, Harry Belafonte, Dr. Alvin Poussaint and writer Larry Neill together in a studio to talk about "The Negro and the Mass Media," with a white newsman sitting in. Poussaint's and Neill's attempts at dialogue were, as one might haveexpected, frustrated by Belafonte and Miss Horne, who preferred to speak in monologic spurts. The show biz stars enunciated with an evangelical fervor articles of faith set down well before their conversion by the vanguard of the movement. Delighted to be in the trenches, Belafonte seemed eager to recite the entire litany. In his rush to reiterate all the points made in a New York Times article under his name, he seemed unable to make a coherent appraisal of any relation between the Negro and the mass media. One wondered what the silent white interlocutor was doing there was he perhaps a token audience, to keep. the entertainers from straying into any serious talk with Dr. Poussaint or Neill ?— until Poussaint, slipping a word in, began to propose a black boycott of TV advertisers reluctant to integrate commercials and programs, whereupon the newsman spoke up and quickly got him off the subject. The only thing one learned from the program was that Miss Horne and Belafonte openly approve the aspirations of blacks. Yet as Dr. Poussaint had mentioned in the program, whites tend to consider Lena Horne and Harry Belafonte not as representative Negroes but as exceptions, an attitude surely not discounted by the producers. One hopes the rest of the series will be more enlightening.

As any steady viewer can deduce, this is the Summer of the Negro or, as some black cynics have dubbed it, "the race race." Networks, educational television and dozens of local stations are beaming a barrage of black-oriented series and specials that, for the most part, allow the Negro himself to tell it like it is.

Bill Cosby and a CBS documentary crew told it brilliantly last week in the first of a seven-part series called "Of Black America." In a sometimes humorous,