Mr. Samuel Yette

Executive Secretary The Peace Corps

Washington 25, D.C.

Dear Mr. Yette:

     I am an Alabama white man, born and raised.  The problem of discrimination covers almost every aspect of life in the U.S.A.  You would be surprised at how much whites discriminate against each other.  You would probably be surprised at how segregated we are.  I am poor white trash.  I am not allowed access to the Dothan Country Club.  I do not, cannot, associate with my white betters.  These are irrefutable facts of life.  I deplore them.  But deploring them will not solve the problem.

I do not want to go to the country club.  But I want the right to go.  And no person has the right to deny me that right.  But of course society has certain rules and regulations which we probably must respect.  This is a major part of the problem of discrimination.  It is all bound up in our customs and traditions, rules and regulations.

     Then, too many of us confuse our prejudices for rights.  It is going to be a long process of education.  Because only knowledge can destroy ignorance.  But not only education, but hard work, too.  And let us not confuse education for knowledge.

     Discrimination is a product of ignorance.  Bigotry is a product of ignorance.  Hate and fear are products of ignorance.  And hate and fear go hand in hand.  It is easy to hate the things we fear.

     Hitler made the German people hate German Jews.  Then hate them.  And then the German people demanded that the Jews be destroyed.  Hitler was only doing what his people demanded.  But via hate and fear, Hitler created that demand in the minds and hearts of his people.

     Gov. Wallace is doing the same thing.  He is making his people hate black Americans.  Soon now, Gov. Wallace will start suggesting that we ought to destroy black Americans.  Or maybe the violent followers of Wallace will start demanding the destruction of black Americans.

     Gov. Wallace is conducting the most subtle campaign of hate in the history of our nation.  The explosion is building up.  Gov. Wallace is feeding the hot flames of hate with a steady diet of fear.  Too many southern whites believe Gov. Wallace.   If the violent followers of Gov. Wallace could get their hands on me, they would lynch me.  I am a traitor in their twisted, sick minds.  If you think Alabama Negroes have it rough, put on a white skin, with my attitude.

     It is not easy, nor popular, to defend the rights of Alabama Negroes, but their rights must be defended, because there is no suitable alternative.  Gov. Wallace has made decency and treason identical.  He will destroy every decent element in Alabama, then in the nation, if he can.

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