The Tribune. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1951-19??, 1951-11-10
Roanoke Negroes In Politics

Last Sunday afternoon November d
political mass meeting was held at Higl
Street Baptist Church. The meeting wa
spcarheaded by DR.. H. T. Penn, loca
dentist. While DR.. Penn is but little NOR,
than novice in the game of politics. he
used the names of outstanding politician,
Of Illinois and West Virginia who were tC
address this meeting, and drew a large
audience.
Only the West Virginia Councilman, w
l.. Brown of Charleston, marked his pres
ence, a n according to h opinion oil
many he was anything but a public speak
er. But what did DR.. Penn care? He hao
succeeded in inveigling people out to hea,
Congressman William l.. Dawson of Chi
cago. who did not come
Out of this meeting grew an organiza
ton known as, Allied Civic and Politica
organizations The aim of the organiza
tlon it is said, will be to elevate the dig
hlty or every individual, arouse the civil
and political consciousness of Negroes anc
-fe--eendHet -aR nis al
No one could object to such laudabls
detectives. But it appears that the forma
ton of the organization was irregular ane
started off on the wrong foot If the Roa
noke organization is to follow the blue
print laid down by Councilman Brown.
information of the organization in Charles
ton, w. Va. which forms into fedora
ton OF all other Negro organizations il
the city, it does seem that the proper thine
to have done would have been to call 6
meeting of all of the organizations togeth
er and elect officers, appoint the neces
sary committees and agree upon course
OF procedure. If that were done, it is most
probable that they would have a differ
ent president.
There were reasons that Dr. Penn was
rot opposed when his name was placed
before the body for president In the first
place, 1T was in a church and on Sunday
afternoon. To have even offered another
against DR.. Penn would have caused the
usual verbal explosion that people are
getting fed up with.
sane and sober leader would under
stand that conditions in Roanoke are very
much different from those in Charleston,
West Virginia or Chicago, Illinois. Whether
North, East or w e t, Negroes who are
elected to offices of public trus+ are either
elected from districts predominantly Ne
gro or they have the endorsement of the
opposite group. Negro bloc vote in Roa-
nOke is pure folly. If the approximately
fifteen thousand Negroes in Roanoke, in
Guiding men, women anS children, could
qualify and vote, there would be a poten-
tlal eighty thousand on the other side who
could be thrown against our small num-
Der. Certainly, if we muster 5000 votes and
work some miracle to hold the white vote
to three thousand, then DR.. Penn's dream
might come true.
If the Negro in Roanoke follows the
Course prescribed for bloc voting, whether
one thousand or five thousand, it will de-
feat the very thing he hopes to accom-
plish.
Unless this organization calls meeting
of the various organizations of the city,
and allow each organization to submit a
name as it's choice for president, and agree
to elect the nominee who receives the high
est number Of votes, as federation of or
organization of the city, the newly or
ganized political and civic organization
will soon exist In name only, as in reality
it really does now.