1961 agenda of Southern whites is the same as today’s

In Jeff Chang’s book-length essay on contemporary art and race, Who We Be, Chang quotes a pollster who illuminates a clash of cultures between whites and blacks in the south: 

 

In a 1961 study, Henry Allen Bullock argued that all consumers purchased things in order to have the security of ‘belonging,’ but that Blacks and whites had very different motivations. … 

Bullock illustrated his point by pointing to how Southern whites and Blacks that he interviewed completed the sentence ‘If I could change the world I would …’ The list of whites’ most frequent replies included: 

‘Make it so that people would not park in front of my driveway.’ 

‘Stop the neighbors’ children from cutting across my lawn.’ 

‘Destroy the United Nations.’  

‘Change the Supreme Court.’ 

But Blacks said: 

‘Make all people the same.’ 

‘Establish brotherhood.’ 

‘Do away with war.’ 

‘Break down segregation.’

I know who I want to bring home for dinner. 

source: 

Who We Be: the colorization of America

by Jeff Chang

2014. St Martin’s Press, New York