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520 P i n e Goleta , Ca lif July 16, 1 963 Ivan Al len, fa y o r City of Atl anta , Ge orgia Ho no r able Sir : In t h e city of Atlanta , live descendants of t h e Ifuguenots I , too , am d e s c-e nd ed from .. And aft er reading t h e e n closed sto r y by cle-arwr iting Cathe ri n e Ma c k in I ' m glad t h ey we n t to Atlanta ! Throu~h tut t h e est, and I assum e t h ro ughou t t h e Unit e d States ~ ne ws p-ape rs c a rry front pag e s -tories n early every da y about t h e Sout h ' s racr~ i n ci den ts. In t h e gro ce ries~ i n t e l aundr oma ts , i n t h e a ters , on ve h icles of ub lic tr ansportation , wh erever c asua l co nversat io n s occur - r a c e p roble ms are dis c us sed . 0-- I wa s born and live d until I wa s 9,. in a v ery segr ~te d ,, very lo ya lly S o uthern , Texas to wn . Th en we moved to Seattle - a t a ti me wh e n very few So uth erners ev e r left t h e So uth , i n 1915, just be fore orld ~ r I ~ Here I was c a ta pu lted into a melting - p ot t yp e s c ho ol~ The teac:hllr t augh t Ci v il Wa r History rral l wrong," and inward ly I r ag e d .. She t h o ugh t I p ronou n ced " p ou nd s when we studied a rit hmetic, all wro ng , and kept me in du ring t h e lunc h hour to le arn to p ronounce o ur l ang u ag e ri gh t." I cried and k e p t protesting I was p ronou n c ing it right .. My fam ily was i ndignant a t h er intoleran c e ~ a c hild ' s· Southern accent but in time, of course , she s u ccee d e d in ob liter at i ng it. ITy happ ier means , my fe eli ng that only those s-kin the color o f mi n e , ha ir wit h t h e d e g ree best " people . There wer e Chinese, J apanese, Negro , Canadian ,, Italian and F re n c h c hildren with e y es sha p e d l!_ike mine,, of curl of mine,, wer e 111 the Russian Jew , German Je w , i n my room. I le arned with awe, that the very short-sighted little Chinese gir l and her e qual ly short-sighted lit tl e ye llow b IJ-othe r,, struggling with English ,, wer~ t h e best students in the room . I learned that the Jewish youngsters went not only to our school, but a t 4, to one c ondu cted by the rabbi, and Saturdays,, for piano a n d violin lessons - and I saw no signs they were "less than me" in anything they accomplished •. They were ttbetter l " And the Negro c hildren awed us with songs t hey knew from a slave· grandm,ot 1er - songs sung throatily in mel odious voices. They got along as well in sc ho ol as I did 9 and I ~ ~ ~ ~ r o moted twice in Texas . Wh en race problems occur~ t a y ,, or I hear them discussed ,. I think how the Negro c h ildren sympathized wh en I skinned my knee - and tore up a handkerchief to bandage it~ When fought Japan, and hated" the Japanese~ I re c alled truth and loyalty - not treachery - from my days with Ja p anese playmates . When I attended University of Wash in g ton, I attended a Sociology course "Race Problems" with students from all over the world - and earnestly we explored ou.:r likenesses - as wel l as the differences environment proclucea, �2'- 2 - 2 The le a rned, worl d- tr a veled p rofessor,, R .,D .. Mc Kenzie ,. no w dead, p r e·di c·ted even t h en ( 1 927) eve ntua l ar with Japan - be c aus e , he sa i d ,. " t h e Uni t ed States· re pudia ted the "Gentle men ' s Agreement ' wh ile t h e Ja pan ese · were a ssi du ously keep i ng t h eir side of t h e b a r ga in - and Ja panese. ' fa c e ' will never recover wit hou t return i ng t h e blow~'n ().A? ffe p're d i c ted tro ub l e a he ad in the United St at es , e groe s slowly i mp roved fr om t h eir state of servitud e;- be c am e able to le arn o f free dom ,, e qu ality and d e mocr a c y - for whi tes but not for them . In t wo World Wa rs , Negroes le a rned abroad of an e qua lity of tre a t ment t h ey had not known at h ome . They le a r n ed Ameri c a loves their music, and t h eir strength in athleti c pu rs u its . The inevitab le dem a nd for c ompiete e qua lity of tre a t ment , so upsetting to so many wh ites , our Dr~ e n z·~ ~ o p ro phesied . Iir i's(Jrd to u e a rn any att itude ga i ned in c h il dho o d ,, and Americans toda y . in ever stat e , are b eing ask e d to unlearn more attitudes and to, ad o p t new ones tan ha s ever occurred before . This is tr u e a ll over the wo rl d . Fo hundr eds - nay , t housands , even milli ons , of years, generat ion aft r gene r at io n live d a li ke , thought a li ke ,, p roduced cra ft alike ., Dr ., Adan r.11reganza , speaking of Ca lif ornia Indians , de cl are d that any Indian girl who might want t o c reat n e w designs to weave into h er baskets,, would thoug~t sick~ Basket designs , at tit udes toward neighboring tribes , ways to, deal with the god s , mag ic for inaking the game a·pvea r for the hu-:::Oter - t h es e were· le a rned from tribal me mbe rs, and for untQ]d ages, went unqu e st i oned . To day - Grand f ath ers ar e s c ar cel y done v owi ng man wi l l never penetrat~ oute r spac e ,, when a grands on - aged youngester d oes it., And in our re'lations with ot h er nati on s, c h il dr en either study . and come to re~ p e c~,, cultures of o th ers - or , if at the moment we are having differences with thhee nations - c hildr en le arn a t titudes of suspicion and fear toward them ., Somehow, in Atlanta - fortunately - a ttitudes must have been long agrowing of "live and let live." How wonderful i f more cities can follow Atlanta ' s example. But even more wonderful it wold be i:f cities· can go one step further : " Live , and help live! B'ecause America ' s Negroes. do1 need he lp,, in order to 1 i ve . It isn ' t Christian , it isn ' t neighborly t to become observers,h ere :- to say,"Okay 9 now NBgroes have their freedom .. Let ' s just wait - they ' 11 make a bust o f us i ng it ! " inclined to ward They d~ need friendly guidance : people mml!l.IUl mnm neighborliness or m,ore formally trained inteaching to point out ," VTe do things this way. 111 Heck ,. I didn ' t know why cli pping the grass edging t1e sidewal·~ of my new trailer home was so difficult until a neighbor pointed out I didn ' t have the right tool !/ Uses of language, housekeeping methods , persona l grooming - these things,. some Negroes need to le8rn. Other Negroes or whites need teach them: people · · · · who are white living in farm areas,. are a so " 0 t1t of place" when first the) move to •own.' • More· po ver to you , a yift,; to ~ tlanta ! Very truly yours ~ ~ . ·t ois Hennessy - retired newswri er ' s_: , �