Who’s Fault Is It?

"Who's Fault is It?"

"What is the Negro Problem" is the question probing many White Americans. W.E.B Dubois makes the first attempt of a sociological study of Black people in hopes of answering this question. Black people today, although not demoralized to "negroes"anymore, are still unequal to native Americans and can still be considered foreigners. One main popular question still exist: Is it that Blacks are unequal or have yet to simply adapt to their environment. Dubois talks about his perception of the condition of Blacks. He presents his logic of Social Darwinism. This idea explains that Blacks have not adapted to "American life" because they lack intellect, ability to socially interact, and moral foundation.

A lack of knowledge causes a chain effect of other problems. Although important, education is not of upmost importance to Blacks. When slaves were freed education was made available for children, however, poor attendance indicated that education was not top priority. There were far more pressing issues that required immediate attention. A college educate adult was absolutely rare. In fact, leading in education were grammar student graduates. Dubois mentions, contradictorily, that an excuse for poor attendance, along with poverty, was carelessness. This characteristic is not only evident in their educational attendance, Dubois exclaims, but also in their work ethic.

The lack of education leads to the lack of adequate occupations. The most pressing issue for a freedman, according to Dubois, is economic survival. Because Blacks were not taught skills needed for jobs with good pay, they were limited to service jobs like errand boys. In a sense, Blacks were trapped. They were limited to jobs that they qualified for but will not allow them to grow in the workforce. Dubois attributes this problem to history. He claims, given that slaves did not learn these things in slavery, they are not able to do it on their own as a free people. When Whites were in school learning, Blacks were in the field or serving. It is also important to consider that those who have lived in an area longer know the area better and how to live and survive. They may even know of a few shortcuts; whereas Blacks, who are thought of as foreigners, will not know the area as well as its natives. Blacks finding jobs that would ensure survival was rare. Dubois also attributes this to their carelessness, and unreliability; even though they are honest and hardworking. He says these traits can be directly connected to that of characteristics of a slave on a plantation. Dubois has so far pointed the problems to external reasons but questions if it is due to the individual lacking rather than environmental injustices done to Blacks.

Blacks being deficient of knowledge and good jobs, to earn a living farther causes them the complex of Social Darwinism. Blacks could not contribute to society for various reasons. First of all, Blacks were not able to socially interact because Whites did not want to associate with them. When Blacks thought about "moving up" and actually moving to a better neighborhood to create a better life, they have to think about the fact that they will likely be denied jobs in the White populated areas. In addition, the housing in those areas was very expensive. Lastly, they would be social outcasts within every group. Whites would not befriend them and they would be so far from the mass of Blacks they would be looked at as traders for not helping the rest of them to move up. It's a lose/lose situation. Dubois explains,

"The art of organization is the one hardest for the freedman to learn, and the Negro shows his greatest deficiency here". He describes their criminal conduct as outrageous and barbaric and again attributes this to "lashings" and other punishments from slavery. "Crime is a phenomenon of organized social life" (235).

The most success Blacks have had in organizing is through a spiritual context; church. In general, Black were not taught in slavery to organize in orderly fashion so to adaptive American lifestyles they must cultivate these practices.

The last segment of Dubois' logic of Social Darwinism is the lack of moral foundation. This is shown in the results of his study through familial structure and marital practices. Dubois initiates his argument saying that because there was not a familial structure in Africa, one could not expect them to just appear now. He mentions that Philadelphia is somewhat excused from marital practices. Marriage was establishes and maintained early on. For other areas, there was an absence of "real home life" and an increase amount of promiscuous women. Temporary cohabitation and the support of men was also a common characteristic of familial