Question

Which sentence in the excerpt best shows the lack of interest of white Americans in the lives of African Americans and other minorities?
What White Publishers Won’t Print

by Zora Neale Hurston (excerpt)
Publishers and producers are cool to the idea. Now, do not leap to the conclusion that editors and producers constitute a special class of un-believers. That is far from true. Publishing houses and theatrical promoters are in business to make money. They will sponsor anything that they believe will sell. They shy away from romantic stories about Negroes and Jews because they feel that they know the public indifference to such works, unless the story or play involves racial tension. It can then be offered as a study in Sociology, with the romantic side subdued. They know the skepticism in general about the complicated emotions in the minorities. The average American just cannot conceive of it, and would be apt to reject the notion, and publishers and producers take the stand that they are not in business to educate, but to make money. Sympathetic as they might be, they cannot afford to be crusaders.

Answer 1

The best sentence that shows the lack of interest of white Americans in the lives of African Americans and other minorities is “They shy away from romantic stories about Negroes and Jews because they feel that they know the public indifference to such works, unless the story or play involves racial tension.”

In this sentence of the excerpt we can infer publishing houses will not sponsor books or publications based on stories about minorities and black people because the public is not interested in those stories and would not buy books related to topics that have minorities as main characters.