Will those who applauded him so vigorously in his public ap-

pearances and who cheered his motorcades so loudly follow his

challenge?

Will they examine their own thoughts and acts and root out

the racism that is so offensive to the human spirit?

Will they make the link between abstract principles of justice

and their own actions?

I am hopeful they will, but only time will tell. We shall see

whether the wave of firebombings and cross burnings ends. We

shall see whether irrational racial distinctions disappear. And we

shall see whether the new negativism that is gripping the Ameri-

can spirit fades.

For the pope’s message comes at a time when Americans ap-

pear to have abandoned the quest for social justice and retreated

into an antisocial privatism.

In the s there was a general consensus, shared by whites

and blacks alike, that an activist government should achieve full

employment, reverse the effects of discrimination, and revitalize

the cities. Today that consensus has been shattered. In its place

we see the formation of a new negativism in America that calls

for a weak, passive government; indifference to the plight of the

poor; abandonment of affirmative action; and letting the cities

twist slowly, slowly in the wind.

Make no mistake about it. Race is central to the rising support

of the new negativism. People are not merely saying “no” to high

taxes and inflation, they are saying “no” to inclusion of black and

brown people into the mainstream. And behind that “no” are the

Declaring Our Interdependence

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