1. On page 679 Thurman says “Laws which make segregation illegal may or may not attack the root of the evil.” What does he think is the root of the evil?

2. What are the “external symbols” Thurman keeps describing? Of what are they a manifestation?

3. Thurman says, on pg. 680, that “what happens when the external symbol is outlawed and the walls of segregation are razed to the ground is a concern of the law only at the point that safeguards are being erected against other external symbols.” Explain what he is saying here in your own words.

4. Thurman says that “the reaction of the human spirit that has lived under the pattern of segregation on both sides of the wall, when the wall is removed, is apt to be one of panic and profound mental and spiritual distress” (680). What does he mean by this? Use the analogy of the barking dog to explain your answer.

5. Thurman says “the walls that divide must be demolished” (681), but adds that this is only a “prelude” or “first step.” He also points out that if these dividing walls are brought down, new kinds of discrimination can emerge if deeper problems are not addressed. What does he mean? Why does he think the existing walls will so easily be replaced? Use the example of the runners to explain your answer if it helps.

6. Thurman says that “Negroes and white persons are often excluded from each other’s magnetic field of value” (682). What does he mean by this?

7. Thurman asks “precisely what does it mean to experience oneself as a human being?” (682). He goes on to say that a person “has to feel that he [or she] belongs to his total environment” (682). He spends several pages describing what he means by these two statements. (a) Describe what he means by these statements, using one or more of his examples to explain his main ideas if it helps. Once you have explained his idea, (b) come up with ONE of your own examples of a time when you have felt like this or when you think humans experience this.

8. On p. 686, Thurman talks about how the imagination makes it possible to put oneself in another's place. Explain what he means by this and why he uses the story of the little kid and his car to make the point.

9. How is Thurman's example of the little kid and his point about imagination related to his statement that a human "must not seem to himself to be alien to himself" (687). What does he think makes humans feel alien to themselves?

10. Thurman thinks Christianity is a key to making it possible to "experience oneself as a human being" as discussed above. What are the central theological ideas he points to and why does he think they are so important?

11. Thurman says "the church has promulgated a doctrine that makes the Negro the object of its salvation while at the same time it denies him the status of a human being" (689). What does Thurman mean by this and why does he call this a "violation" of the core of Christian doctrine?

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