American blacks are in the position of a colonial population. They have been compelled to adopt the cultural standards and norms of their rulers in order to make any advancement whatever. But American blacks have been denied the option of a true colonized popu- lation; they have no true culture of their own to oppose to that of their exploiters, because theirs was systematically de- stroyed by the slave masters. They are uniquely vulnerable; it has been for them a choice of conform or die.
