Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1928-09-01

have been requested, although we are
personally friendly with this dis
tinguished official of the A. NJ. (.
Church. His first handicap was that
he has an actual and an official resi-
dence Yin Washington. We take 1t
that he is badly in need of an adj
visory committee if the following
showing is authentic:
That brilliant attorney and astute
politician, J. Thomas Newsome, Esq,
who at one time was a candidate for
Attorney General of this State gave
out the following letter received from
Chairman John R. Hawkins and ms
secretary:
August s, 1928.
J. Thomas Newsome, ESQ.,
Attorney at Law.
Nv Dear Newsome:
In connection with the organlZa-
ton of the Colored Voters DIVISION
of the Republican National Commit
tee, we are inviting you to serve as
a member of the advisory committee;
AS the campaign progresses you Will
be subject to call for some speclflc
work, and we very much hope you
may see your way clear to accept the
appointment and its attendant re-
sponsibilities.
Yours very truly,
n11o.ol Uota,c' division
John R. Hawkins, Chairman,
Albin L. Holsey, Secretary.
We ask in all candor: How could
the Colored Voters Division address
Hon. ]. Thomas Newsome as my
Dear Newsome"? Mr.. Hawkins
should have had enough money at his
DISPOSAL to send messenger to Mr.,
I Newsome or to summon him to
Washington and in chambers 60
over the situation with him or else,
he should have written him that by
the direction of Chairman Work, OF
the Republican National Committee,
he had been named to serve on the
aforesaid committee:
Attorney Newsome is one OF the
leading colored attorneys IN TINS
State, and he has cases paying big
fees listed upon the docket OF the
courts of this Commonwealth. How
could he be expected simply for the
honor of serving under chairman
on a subordinate committee, without
RECOGNITION from the Chairman OF
Republican National Committee II
not by designation of the Candidate
Hon. Herbert Hoover himself to give
up his practice and hold himself
ready to perform specific work ana
attendant responsibilities with non
compensating race benefits for the
masses or hope of reward for him
self? Mr.. Newsome has not accept
ed. .'~---. ,-,-.'
To ask the question is to answer
it. Hon. John R. Hawkins needs an
advisory committee which can fur
nish several carloads of common
sense We call this blunder No. l.
We do not know the order OF the
next blunders. Suffice it to say that
under date of August p, 1928, 1t
was announced that Hon. K. X.
Church. one of the most astute poll
ticians in this whole country, II not
the most astute is said to have also
declined a similar appointment and
in doing so, he virtually 'read the
riot act" and evidently made the
ears of both Chairman Hubert Work
and Chairman John R. Hawkins
tinple. when he sent his declinatlon
DIRECTLY to Chairman Work. Here it
is. z Il ..sSaS:z,7 a'----
ANNOUNCEMENT of my selection as
member of the Executive Commit
tee of the Colored Voters Division
has been made. l am not insensible
of the honor.
"Since, however, l cannot bring
myself to endorse either the person.
mel of this committee or the method
by which it was chosen, l am forced
to decline the appointment and with
draw from membership. thereupon.
Intimate knowledge of conditions
among colored: Americans, Of their
present state Of mind, of their grow
ing self-respect, of the feeling OF
colored Republicans; who. create our
majorities in the free states, together
with my own experiences in laboring
for our party, lead to, the conclusion
that neither important coiored lead
ers nor the rank and file will follow
men who have no votes of their own,
because they hail from
states in which colored citizens are
denied the ballot or from neutral
territory where disfranchisement is
!
That is a political 16-inch gun
fired by "dead-shot" marksman and
even had we been the victim at whom
it was aimed, would be forced to