Born to Rebel: An Autobiography

11. Race and Caste Outside the U.S.A.

Chapter XI Race and Caste Outside the U.S.A. All my life the race problem had been asclose as the beating of my heart, circumscribing my thoughts, my actions, my feelings. A black man must not only meet the problem publicly, but invariably when Negroes are by themselves the conversation drifts to some phase of Negro-white relations. It is omnipresent; it creates a physical and spiritual climate from which there is no escape. I thought that for three and a half months, as I traveled around the world, I would be able to forget color, race, and prejudice; that I could be just a man among other men; that I would have a brief respite from thinking and talking about the race problem. I was mistaken. I did find, however, that it works both ways. The Negro dominates the thinking of white people as inescapably as whites are an inextricable part of the thinking of Negroes. There is no eluding the race problem anywhere on this earth. I was one of thirteen Americans chosen to attend the World Conference of the YMCA which met in Mysore, India, in January of 1937. More than two hundred official delegates, representing thirty-five nations, assembled to study the complex problems confronting the youth of the world in 1937. "Race Relations" was one of the seven topics listed for study. Besides myself, there was one other American Negro, Dr. Channing H. Tobias (1882-1961), a very distinguished man. I began the trip to Mysore, India, on November 18, 1936, leaving New York on the Queen Mary despite admonitions that I might meet more discrimination and prejudice on an English boat than on a French or Italian liner. My cabin was designed for two, but I was the sole occupant. Well schooled in the techniques ofdiscrimination, I requested the steward to seat me in the center of the dining room. I did not wish to be tucked away in a corner. Quite graciously the steward granted my request—but I was seated alone. So this was discrmination, British style! Sitting there in solitary grandeur made me very conspicuous. I didn't mind too much, although I could not help feeling a bit queer. No one wishes to be isolated by design. '49 150 B O R N T O R E B E L Not many persons spoke as they passed my table. Four seated across from me did speak, pleasantlyand smilingly.They were Russians.Two had been sent by their government to study engineering in the United States; one, an elderly woman with beautiful white hair and a kindly face, was returning to Russia after a brief visit in the United States; and the fourth person, Mrs. Sara Horowitz, aJewish American woman from New Haven, Connecticut, had come to the United States from Russia when she was six years old and was returning to her homeland for her first visit.They invited me to join them, so, after the second day, I ate dinner with these four. Since I could speak no Russian and the three Russian citizens spoke no English, Mrs. Horowitz was our interpreter. When they asked why I was seated alone, I replied, "I took the seat assigned to me." But they knew, as I knew, why I was seated alone. I felt terribly alone the first two days from shore. People sat and stared at me. Yet such behavior does not always indicate prejudice or rudeness. Often people hesitate to take the initiative to be human, but once the barrier is broken they are eager to form acquaintancesand want to talk. By the time we reached Southampton, friendshipshad formed and multiplied, and I felt that many persons were sorry when we reached journey's end. But I did not escape having to talk about race. Not only foreign passengers but some Americans also wished to talk about racial conditions in the United States. I was a bit surprised when the English-South African woman, sitting at another table from the one at which three of us were having tea, requested me to sit on the other side of the tableso that she could see my face as I talked because "I would enjoy looking at your face much more than at your back." Afterward she and I talked. I wished to know about the South African race problem, and she was curious to know how Negroes were treated in the United States. She did not try to justify...