Racism Within the Deaf Community

Documentary evidence and the personal experience of the senior author are presented to illustrate the problem of racism in the general field of deafness. Recent progress in overcoming the problem is noted but the deep-sealed needs for change remain. Major examples of racism noted are lack of integration between blacks and whites in the adult deaf community and current post-educational practices.

In the wake of a rising trend toward “Black Pride,” a growing impatience with second class citizenship, and a burgeoning militancy toward obtaining legal and social rights among black people, the black deaf have been overlooked. It is a cause for concern that extensive apathy and indifference continue to exist among professionals and laymen alike with respect to the gross under-education, mass under-employment, and severe social isolation of blacks who are deaf.^1,2 Fortunately, scattered efforts in various parts of the country give promise that the lot of the black deaf may be alleviated significantly in the decades to come.

For example, the New York University Deafness Research and Training Center is develping new approaches to the Harlem deaf population, especially those who are multiply handicapped. This project will demonstrate ways of casefinding and service that are effective in the ghetto and inner city environment. Kendall School for the Deaf in Washington, D.C., was recently awarded a grant for, among other things, expansion of educational services, including pre-school activities, for the area’s deaf children, a large proportion of whom are black and from the inner city. The Vocational Rehabilitation Unit for the deaf in Detroit, composed of three counselors serving the deaf population, handled 250 deaf cases during the year 1970-71. An analysis revealed that approximately 60 percent of them were black and 40 percent were disadvantaged. Seventy percent of those served secured gainful employment. Other programs in St. Louis, Kansas City, and Chicago may contribute important services to and insight into the black deaf population.

The literature in deafness has begun to reflect the growing concern over special problems of the black deaf. At the Leadership Training Program in San Fernando Valley State College, two seminal papers— one by Ernest Hairston and John Bach-man, the other by Linwood Smith—have explored characteristics of the black deaf population in Los Angeles and in the Watts area. The AMERICAN ANNALS OF THE DEAF recently printed a review of the literature in this area.¹ Talks have been presented to the Convention of American Instructors of the Deaf² and to the American Psychological Association⁵ Symposia and panel discussions were held for the first time in 1972 at major conferences such as the PRWAD, ACB, and a conference on deafness at Gallaudet College.

Impressive as some of these activities might appear in contrast to the quiescence of just four years ago, they only scratch the surface of the total problem. This paper will concern itself with some of the many unmet needs of the black deaf population. Problems already considered in previous papers by the authors^1,2,5 will receive only passing attention here. The interested reader is referred to the earlier articles for additional information.

Lack of Integration

Certainly it is no secret that there is relatively little integration of whites and blacks in the adult deaf community. Vernon⁶ has noted that there was a smaller number and proportion of blacks in his Chicago project than might have been expected. He suggested that the lack of black representation at the staff level, with a resulting difficulty in communicating with black deaf persons through established channels, and the limited integration of blacks and whites in the Chicago deaf social stratum might have accounted for the low percentage of black deaf persons in the study. He also points out that few efforts have been made to account for the isolation of black deaf from white deaf, nor to understand the nature and consequences of this isolation as it pertains to the black deaf adult.

These manifestations of racism in the deaf community appear over a...