The Enterprise. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 192?-1930, 1927-02-25
by JAMES CRAIG GORDON

Any one who believes the colored
man will be content in the future
to remain a political nonentity has
greatly failed to read the signs of
the times.
The colored race has definite po-
litical ambitions.
1t has those definite political am
billions because of this reused pur-
pose to better its own conditions,
and to make itself respected in COM
mon with all races of mankind.
Or is it likely that the colored
voters will remain the exclusive re-
tainers Of one certain political
party.
That is ON the way to being a
thing of the past.
Deception More Difficult
The Negro will be motivated in
the future by an enlightened and
educated self-interest, and year by
year V will become increasingly diff
ficult to delude him.
In the South today he regards
himself as DISTINGUISHED. But he
is quitting the South and coming
into the cities where he is not dis
franchised.
He believes that in his hands
will come that precious political as
set known as the balance of power,
so that the day will arrive when
he can trade that balance for what
he considers his Just right and due
He forsees the day when his
present condition will be greatly i'm
proved.
Jim Crow Injustice
In the South he is confronted
with the ignominious necessity of
using Jim Crow cars, a symbol of
that injustice which has for SO
long been his Inevitable portion. In
that Jim Grow there is a special
Kind of injustice for which he has
no redress. IL the colored cars are
crowded, the Negro cannot go into
the white mans car. But if the
white mans car is crowded, the
white man can and does-if he is
In a hurry-go into the colored
mans car.
One colored man said to me:
THAT rubs it in. They assume
we have no natural rights at all"
And then there are the lynch
ings, of which enough has been
said, though the whole CHASTITY story
would need columns and whole
editions for the telling.
Learning Their Power
But the colored man is reaching
out 1ntelligently and some day his
position will be different from what
1t now is. They have capable lead
ers and they are learning the power
OF the ballot in the cities where
they have settled They will have
representation in congress- some
day. and they will also be able to
impress their cause upon white leg
islators by their increasing and
definite trend toward organization.
Meanwhile, they are developing
in other fields.
IL you have not visited the South
in recent years you will be sur
7rised to find in every Southern
city you visit today prosperous
and growing colored business sec
ton.
Pennsylvania Avenue in Balti-
more is an example of what is 60
ing on in all Southern towns-long
of business streets. In
which the stores are of, by and for
colored people.
Two Insurance Firms
Moreover, in the last few years
some very notable business enter |
prises have been developed among
Negroes in various sections of the |
South, business organizations that
would be credit to any commun-
ity. Among these are two insur- |
ance companies Of outstanding pro-
portions.
Or. Robert r. Motion, principal
OF Tuskegee Institute. says of these:
These two companies are the
pioneers in group of companies |
which constitute the National Me-
gro insurance Association. At their
annual meeting in Chicago last
August, subsidiary to the National
Negro Business League, the thirty
five companies represented at that |
m ct ng reported 100000. 900 |
worth Of insurance in force on the
lives of 100000 persons"
Many Negro Banks
In nearly every city in the South |
there is at least one Negro bank. |
Three of these carry more than
$l,OOO,OO0 each in deposits-one
In Memphis, one in Durham and
one in Savannah. There are per
maps hundred Negro banks in the
United States today.
There is also great Negro press
in the United States. While many
OF them play up the injuries of the