Honored diplomat felt racism at home

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By BILL MAXWELL

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 19, 2000

As the most important Mideast peace talks in a generation wind down at Camp David, I am reminded of the years 1948 and 1949, when United Nations diplomat Ralph J. Bunche -- an African-American -- was the chief mediator between Arabs and Jews on the island of Rhodes for 81 days non-stop.

He negotiated a truce in the Arab-Israeli war and was influential in the first partition of Palestine that gave half of the nation to the Arabs and half to the Jews, that placed Jerusalem virtually under UN control. He urged the Arab states to recognize the new state of Israel and helped to legitimize the Jewish state in the world community.

For his singular efforts, Bunche, U.N. Under Secretary General for Special Political Affairs, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1950, becoming the first African-American so honored. Although he is best known for his work in the Middle East, he brought his mediating skills to many other international hot spots, including Congo, Cyprus and Kashmir.

Few people today know anything about this extraordinary man, whose image was placed on the 20-cent stamp in 1982.

Born in Detroit in 1903, his parents died before he was 14. Orphaned, his sister and he went to live with their maternal grandmother in Los Angeles. He immediately proved himself a brilliant student and graduated valedictorian of his 1922 class at Jefferson High School. He attended the University of California at Los Angeles on scholarship. There, he excelled in football and basketball.

After graduating from UCLA with a bachelor's degree and Phi Beta Kappa honors, he went to Harvard and earned a master's degree and doctorate in government and international relations. He went on to do advanced study in anthropology at Northwestern University, the University of Capetown and the London School of Economics. Then, he joined the faculty of Howard University in the nation's capital, where he organized and chaired the political science department.

Old sports injuries kept him out of military service during World War II, but he joined the War Department as an analyst of African and Far Eastern affairs. His rise through the ranks of the Strategic Services was meteoric. At war's end in 1944, he was one of the officials who helped to establish the international agency that would be the United Nations. Bunche's negotiating prowess became apparent immediately, and Secretary General Trygve Lie hired him as a top assistant.

He served with distinction in various capacities until his death on Dec. 9, 1971. With the exception of Andrew Young, Donald McHenry, Ron Brown and Bunche, few blacks have figured prominently in U.S. foreign policy. The irony, which most of his contemporaries tried to bury, was that while Bunche was blazing new trails in international diplomacy, he was the victim of racism in his own country. He could not, for example, rent or buy in Washington's racially segregated neighborhoods or dine in downtown restaurants. And he suffered countless racist snubs and remarks from legislators.

Early in his career -- even as he served on the board of the NAACP and marched with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in the Selma to Montgomery march -- Bunche did not discuss the bigotry he faced each day. Later, after recognizing the similarities between colonialism in Africa and racism at home, he argued that "segregation and democracy are incompatible."

The year following his triumph in Rhodes, he was asked to become assistant secretary of state. He rejected the post, saying, "Frankly, there's too much Jim Crow in Washington for me. I wouldn't take my kids back there." Even though his name was constantly in the news as Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold's point man, his son was refused membership in the West Side Tennis Club at Forest Hills. Bunche went on the attack, received an apology and was offered club membership. He rejected the offer, believing it was because of his personal prestige and not on the ideal of racial justice.

"No Negro American can be free from the disabilities of race in this country until the lowliest Negro in Mississippi is no longer disadvantaged because of his race," he said.

When he died at age 67, his accomplishments in foreign affairs were not fully appreciated by a nation that measured him by the color of his skin.

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