"The race problem in the United States is the type of unpleasant problem which we would rather do without but which refuses to be buried"
About this Quote
Houston’s line lands like a lawyer’s closing argument aimed at the national conscience: not lyrical, not pleading, just a cold description of avoidance as policy. Calling racism “the type of unpleasant problem” mimics the minimizing language of polite society - the way segregationists and “moderates” alike tried to shrink white supremacy into a regrettable misunderstanding, a social nuisance, something to be managed quietly. He adopts that sanitized phrasing to expose its moral cowardice.
The real blade is in “rather do without.” Houston isn’t describing ignorance; he’s describing desire. The subtext is that America’s racial order isn’t merely inherited baggage but something many people actively prefer because it preserves comfort, status, and power. Then comes the haunting verb: “buried.” This isn’t a problem people solve; it’s a problem they attempt to dispose of, as if it were a body. The metaphor implies guilt, concealment, and the fantasy that public silence can function as resolution.
Context matters because Houston was not an armchair critic. As the NAACP’s chief legal strategist and a key architect of the litigation campaign that would culminate in Brown v. Board of Education, he understood how institutions convert racial domination into paperwork, precedent, and “custom.” His sentence reads like a diagnosis of a legal system that pretends neutrality while enforcing hierarchy.
“Refuses to be buried” hints at the inevitability of reckoning - through lawsuits, protest, demographic change, or sheer social friction. Houston isn’t predicting harmony. He’s warning that repression fails: what you won’t face directly returns, publicly, and with interest.
The real blade is in “rather do without.” Houston isn’t describing ignorance; he’s describing desire. The subtext is that America’s racial order isn’t merely inherited baggage but something many people actively prefer because it preserves comfort, status, and power. Then comes the haunting verb: “buried.” This isn’t a problem people solve; it’s a problem they attempt to dispose of, as if it were a body. The metaphor implies guilt, concealment, and the fantasy that public silence can function as resolution.
Context matters because Houston was not an armchair critic. As the NAACP’s chief legal strategist and a key architect of the litigation campaign that would culminate in Brown v. Board of Education, he understood how institutions convert racial domination into paperwork, precedent, and “custom.” His sentence reads like a diagnosis of a legal system that pretends neutrality while enforcing hierarchy.
“Refuses to be buried” hints at the inevitability of reckoning - through lawsuits, protest, demographic change, or sheer social friction. Houston isn’t predicting harmony. He’s warning that repression fails: what you won’t face directly returns, publicly, and with interest.
Quote Details
| Topic | Equality |
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