Group Therapy

"Why don't you niggers like being called niggers?" the policeman asked. "You call yourselves that, don't you?" The response shot back: "Shut up, you blue honky." The policeman flushed with anger and resentment. But instead of lashing out with a fist or a night stick, he sat and nodded when asked: "Now do you understand?"

The thrust and counterthrust took place at one of a series of group-therapy sessions designed to promote understanding between Houston's police and Negroes. The six-week programs have been going on since last September. On each of six consecutive Fri days, as many as 200 policemen, divided into groups of 12 to 15, meet with equal numbers of citizens--both black and white--to thrash out differences. The fourth batch is now attending the three-hour sessions, each of which is guided by a trained psychologist.

Prone to Violence. Sponsored by Houston businessmen who call themselves Community Effort, Inc., the program is run by a Negro, Dr. Melvin Sikes, a clinical psychologist at the city's Veterans Administration Hospital. The sessions begin with an intensive examination of the attitudes the police and the community groups have about themselves and each other. Distrust is mutual --and obvious--at the start. "The Negro is lazy and uncooperative." "He has no self-respect." "He's immoral, has no regard for life or property," say the police. "Police are cold, mechanical, rude," say the citizens. "They use foul language and call Negroes nigger, or boy, or uncle, or woman." "They treat suspects differently depending on their race and economic status, and they are prone to violence."

Required by the city government to attend, some Houston police grumbled, read paperbacks or worked crossword puzzles during initial sessions. At the time, Police Chief Herman Short, a tough traditionalist, helped little with snide remarks about "slobbering sociologists." But as the meetings progressed, he apologized for the slur, and even uncooperative officers began venting their feelings. At one meeting a veteran police sergeant blurted, "I've hated niggers all my life, and every time I see a car with a Texas Southern University* sticker on it I'm going to harass the hell out of that driver." To his astonishment, he was met with applause and praise for frankness. Negroes are not always the most militant participants. Shouted one white college professor: "Racism is part of the air we breathe, and you white cops represent the worst of it! You're all fascists!"

At the end of the six-week course, for which they are paid $54 each, the police fill out unsigned questionnaires. Thus far, 19 rated the course excellent, 92 very good, 253 good. Only 74 graded it either poor or a waste of time--or refused to fill out the survey form. And even Chief Short admits that he is pleased with the results. By late fall, all 1,400 of Houston's police will, as Short puts it, "have gotten a closer look at the people." Already Sikes has received reports from the city's Negro districts of increased courtesy and assistance by policemen. "I don't think there's any question that some change toward understanding is taking place," he says. "And with understanding comes a change in attitude, and then a change in behavior."

*A predominantly Negro school in Houston.

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