St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1951-12-28
Granger Reps
Hursfon Piece
On Sen. Toft

New York. Lester Granger,
one Of the top ten Negro leaders
Of the nation took issue with a
recent Saturday Evening POST
article by Fora Neale Hurston
which claimed the Negroes of
Ohio are crazy" about Senator
Robert Taft.
Practically every Negro news
paper and Independent newspaper
writer in the nation jumped on
Miss Hurston's article which
pleased many Taft supporters and
also fooled some Of them who
don't know what it's all about.
Mr.. Granger. writing from New
York had this to say about the
Hurston article:
There was a time, fifteen or
twenty years ago. when the name
OF Fora Neale Hurston stood for
something among the rapidly
maturing school of young Negro
writers, Miss Hurston, as the tai
ented protege of well-known
writer. justified her sponsor by
producing a couple Of better-than-
average novels at a time when
even average writing by Negro
authors was being hailed as a
significant indication of a racial
renaissance"
The Hurston star, however,
flared only briefly, and then dim
med out. She has written only sell
dom in recent years and. so far as
her Negro public Is concerned,
when she has come out with a
production 1t has been readily evil
dent that she "shoulda stood in
bed" This is certainly true of an
article that appeared under her
name in the December Sth issue
of the Saturday Evening Post, en-
titled. "a Negro Voter Sizes Up
Taft"
One suspects, after reading the
article, that Fora Nealc Hurston
was concerned. not so much with
sizing up Senator Robert A. Taft
as Presidential candidate, as
with estimating how much the
Taft financial hackers would put
out for a piece of campaign writ
ting that reeks like an diversified,
averaged piece of Limburgcr
cheese. Possible she got a good
price for her story; in fact she
must have gotten good price
for putting herself on record in
this way. But whatever the price
paid, Taft's hackers got a bad
bargain. The story is a flop; II
wouldn't convince a half-bright
voter in the most backward po-
litical community. Among the in
creasingly sophisticated Negro
voters, who are studying the
forthcoming Presidential cam
paign. the Hurston article is more
apt to produce an angry reaction
against the banner-bearer of Re
publican servatism,
IT'S not that Miss Hurston Is
for Senator Taft--for a price, OF
courset It's the STAINLESS, belly
crawling way in which she ex-
presses her support and her ef-
fort TO pull Negro voters down a.
crawl with her. Octavus Roy
Cohen. at his most vicious worst
would not have gone farther in
trying 10 picture the Negro voter
as childishly gullible, as easily
distracted by cheap political she
AAoil aiiS uS AAi0 must idNAitllthNth
youngster by the plitter Of a new
toy.
The author is now living in
Florida, where she performed
similarly in that states last SEN
atoral race, writing glowing tn
butes to the successful, and race
batting aspirant for the Y. S
Senate. In turning her attention
to the Negro voters of Ohio, she
shows that she knows even less
OF Negroes in that northern state
than she does of enlightened Ne
gro opinion in her own Florida
To quote a brief example from
her article: Taft has strong Ne,
gro backing in Ohio now. They NO