A Civil Rights Leader Views
U.S. Foreign Policy
BAYARD RUSTIN
My qualification in foreign policy is indeed a bit of an embarrassment--but I have sense enough not to pose as an expert in any field. I happen to be an activist and not a profound thinker on foreign policy questions.
I am distressed that this does not appear to be the century for the growth of democracy but rather one of the emergence of non-democratic regimes. Having worked with Gandhi in the Indian revolution, nothing has so deeply distressed me as to observe what is happening in India today, but I think that is the direction in which we are going. I have been distressed with Mr. Kissinger and with the administration's interpretatin of detente because I think, as democrats, we cannot always interfere in the way that other people want to live, but we have a moral obligation to defend freedom wherever it needs to be defended. And, therefore, I am for detente with freedom because liberty must not be surrendered. We have a moral obligation and a political obligation to defend freedom wherever it is in need of being defended.
American Negroes, like many Americans, are unclear on their
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