THE CONVENTION LUNCHEON THE NEW SOCIAL ORDER WHEN INTEGRATED Benjamin E. Mays President of Morehouse College, Atlanta, Georgia HEN WE SPEAK of Society, we mean the various elements in a community that...

THE CONVENTION LUNCHEON
THE NEW SOCIAL ORDER WHEN INTEGRATED
Benjamin E. Mays
President of Morehouse College, Atlanta, Georgia
HEN WE SPEAK of Society, we mean
the various elements in a community
that are essential to man's existence. A so­
ciety must have a government, economic
esources, social activities, educational insti­
tutions, civic and recreational facilities.
These various organizations are indispensa­
le in any society whether it be primitive
or a society well advanced in government,
economic goods, and education. To state it
another way, a "society is a community, na­
tion or
oad grouping of people having
common traditions, institutions and collec­
tive activities and interest." We mean by
social order "the totality of structured hu­
man inte
elationships in a society or a
part of it"
I
A SOCIAL order will be new when it is
integrated. To integrate means to unite
together to form "a more complete, har­
monious or coordinate entity/' It means to
complete, to organically unify, to form a
more perfect entity. In other words, inte­
gration means "unification and mutual ad­
justment of diverse groups or elements into
a relatively coordinated and harmonious so­
ciety or culture."
In this discussion today, we use integra­
tion in a spiritual sense and not in a po­
litical or legal sense. Since the May 17,
1954, decision of the United States Supreme
Court, we have e
oneously used integration
when we really mean desegregation. A
decision of the United States Supreme Court
cannot integrate schools. A Supreme Court
decision, when implemented, can desegre­
gate schools, but it cannot integrate them.
Desegregation paves die way for integra­
tion, but desegregation is not necessarily in­
tegration. An integrated social order would
have no segregation and no discrimination
ased on race, religion or color. A desegre­
gated society may have discrimination ga­
lore and is not necessarily integrated. Only
the naive would call the University of
Mississippi an integrated institution. Nor
could we claim integration at the University
of Georgia, where for a solid year white
students seldom spoke to Hamilton Holmes
and Charlayne Hunter in public. Even Nor­
thern universities where Negro students
have been matriculating for many years
may not be integrated.
It is highly conceivable that a husband
and wife may live together in confusion for
several decades without ever being thor­
oughly integrated. I know of a great phi­
lanthropist who gave heavily to Negro
education but admitted that he would not
want to live next door to a Negro.
Integration, therefore, is a spiritual quality
which must be achieved through love of
and respect for peoples of all races, religions,
nationalities, and cultures. To speak of a
new social order when integrated is like
speaking of a society which has achieved in
eality the Fatherhood of God and the
Brotherhood of Man. When society be­
comes truly integrated we will be approach­
ing the Kingdom of God on earth.
Π
This topic, "A New Social Order When
Integrated," really means that we can never
have a new social order until society is
integrated. What will politics be like when
the social order is integrated? All distinc­
tion between the majority and the minority
will disappear when a politician runs for
office. It will be as easy for a Jew to be
155
156 THE NEW SOCIAL ORDER WHEN INTEGRATED
President of the United States as it is now
for a Gentile; as easy for a Catholic as it
is for a Protestant; as easy for a Negro as
for a white man. As far as it is humanly
possible, a candidate will be judged on the
asis of his ability and character. On this
asis, no voter would vote for a candidate
ecause the politician was Jewish, Negroid,
Caucasian, Protestant, or Catholic. A com-
munity where the majority of voters are
Negroes might well vote for a white man
if he were clearly the better of the two
candidates. White people may not now
send a Negro to the Senate even if the
Negro is clearly superior. This would hardly
e the case if the social order were inte-
grated.
An integrated social order would be hard
on our political parties. People would, for
the most part, cease to vote the party line.
I have a friend who believes that the Re-
publicans can do no wrong. Even if Mr.
Eisenhower had committed murder, I think
my friend would have justified him. She
had no use for Franklin D. Roosevelt. There
is hardly anything a Democrat can do that
is right There are Democrats who are just
as na
ow in their views about Republicans.
But in the integrated social order politicians
would not be judged on the basis of party
affiliations but rather on the character of
the man and upon his ability and deter-
mination to implement his platform.
IT IS IN the realm of economics where
discrimination hurts the most. There is
prejudice against Jews in employment, but
it strikes the Negro hardest. Although
much improvement is being made in this
area, it is a well-known fact that there are
many, many jobs members of minority
groups cannot get, however competent they
may be. They are often frozen on the
job at a certain level and not permitted to
advance. They are not even allowed to
train for certain jobs. Such discrimination
exists both in industry and in government.
In an integrated society the sky would be
the limit for anyone who sets out to climb
the economic or political ladder.
There is religious prejudice, too. Where
Catholics are in control in certain areas, it
is much easier for one to get a job if he is
a Catholic. Protestants are equally guilty of
discrimination on the basis of religion.
None of this could happen if our society
was really integrated. In an integrated so-
ciety the ability to do the job, the ability
to get along well with people, and integrity
of character would be the major criteria
when hiring people for specific jobs. Re-
ligion and race would play only a negligible
ole. Though the first time in history, it
was a tribute to America that John F. Ken-
nedy, a Catholic, could be elected President
of the United States. Doors would be ba
ed
to no one in a thoroughly integrated society.
In an integrated society, denominations
would stiU exist, but there would be no
discrimination in worship anywhere. One
would not have to be white to worship in
a church in Mississippi. He would not
have to be white to join a church, any
church of his choice, in New York, Chicago,
or Los Angeles. Negroes would not get
jittery if white people in large numbers
joined a Negro church. It would indeed
e the house of God, and not the house of
man.
All social fears rooted in class or caste,
culture or color, nationality or economic
status would be non-existent if we had a
new, integrated social order. What is right
would take precedence over what is expedi-
ent. We would not debate the question as
to what will happen to me, to my job, to
my political future, to my social standing in
the community if I really followed the dic-
tates of my conscience when confronted
with a clear right as over against that which
is obviously wrong. The climate would
support the right choice. We would make
the right choices and leave the consequences
to God. We would hardly raise the ques-
tion about the future fifty years or 100
years from now if we did right today.
Ill
FOR THE most part, I have spoken of the
smaller society — the nation and units
within the nation. But the nation can no
longer be contained within geographical
BENJAMIN E. MAYS 157
oundaries. There was a time when oceans,
mountains and long distances could protect
a nation from devastating wars and poten-
tial annihilation. That day is past. No
nation can protect itself from bombs, nu-
clear weapons of war, and poisoning gas. No
nation is secure today. Even if the United
States could, through a miraculous act of
God, become an integrated nation so that
every American would be free and secure,
we would still have to deal with a non-
integrated world.
An integrated world would mean many
things — too many for me to try to spell
out. And yet it can hardly be denied that
the world is a long way from integration.
China and India are at war. The two
nations seek different goals. Spiritually they
are worlds apart. We are feuding with
Cuba and Russia. The United States and
Russia seek different goals. We are spend-
ing between forty and fifty billions of dol-
lars a year for defense. During the last
3,000 years mankind has waged 3,300 wars.
Among other things there can be no inte-
grated world without a common desire to
have peace and an honest program for peace
followed by the nations of the world where-
y peace could be achieved. As long as
men spend more in the preparation for war
than they do in the preparation for peace,
there will be no integrated world. An in-
tegrated world cannot exist where lying,
deceit, hypocrisy, and a deep-seated distrust
are prevalent among the nations. As we
have already said, integration means "uni-
fication and mutual adjustment of diverse
groups of elements into relatively coordi-
nated and harmonious society or culture."
Surely an integrated society means a world
without war.
I am sure you are saying by now that I
am describing a Utopian world. The kind
of world that poets, seers, and prophets
have spoken about and dreamed of, but a
world which no one has seen and no man
will ever see. Yes, it is Utopian. But I