Sven Zetterberg stared at him, uncomprehending.
Homer Crawford said, "I suppose it's your turn to listen and for me
to do the talking." He shifted in his chair, uncomfortably. "Dr.
Zetterberg, even before the Reunited Nations evolved the idea of the
African Development Project, it became obvious that the field work was
going to have to be in the hands of Negroes. The reason is doublefold.
First, the African doesn't trust the white man, for good reason.
Second, the white man is a citizen of his own country, first of all,
and finds it difficult not to have motives connected with his own race
and nation. But the African Negro, too, has his tribal and sometimes
national affiliations and cannot be trusted not to be prejudiced in
their favor. The answer? The educated American Negro, such as myself."
"I haven't the slightest idea from whence came my ancestors, from what
part of Africa, what tribe, what nation. But I am a Negro and ...
well, have the dream of bettering my race. I have no irons in the
fire, beyond altruistic ones. Of course, when I say American Negroes I
don't exclude Canadian ones, or those of Latin America or the
Caribbean. It is simply that there are greater numbers of educated
American Negroes than you find elsewhere."
Zetterberg said impatiently, "Please, Dr. Crawford. Come to the point.
That ridiculous statement you made about El Hassan."
"Of course, I am merely giving background. Most of we field workers,
not only the African Development teams, but such organizations as the
Africa for Africans Association and the representatives of the African
Department of the British Commonwealth, and of the French Community's
African Affairs sector, are composed of Negroes."