LIFE OF A WHITE MAN IN A BLACK SKIN

This may not be all of it. It may not cover all the
questions, but it is what it is like to be a Negro in a
land where we keep the Negro down.
Some whites will say this is not really it. They will say
this is the white man's experience as a Negro in the
South, not the Negro's
but to find the truth how else except by becoming a Negro could a white
man hope to learn the truth? Though we lived side by
side throughout the South, communication between the
two races had simply ceased to exist. Neither really
knew what went on with those of the other race. The
Southern Negro will not tell the white man the truth.
He long ago learned that if he speaks a truth un-
pleasing to the white, the white will make life miserable
for him.
The only way I could see to bridge the gap between
us was to become a Negro. I decided I would do this.
I prepared to walk into a life that appeared suddenly
mysterious and frightening. With my decision to become
a Negro I realized that I, a specialist in race issues, really
knew nothing of the Negro's real problem