The guardian., 1952-05-03
MRS. CHARLOTTA BASS ACCEPTS
THE PROGRESSIVE PARTY NOMINATION
FOR VICE. PRESIDENT
fcorttnaed from Iast veekl

Continued from tnSt Ueekl
AS I stand here on this plat
form presenting the cause OF the
Progressive Party, / cannot help
but bark back to the 80 years !
spent in the Republican Party as
an active member. Often as a
member of the Republican Party
I was as bewildered and as hope
less for the future as the children
of Israel when they marched
through the Jordan and failed to
envision on the other side. ! re-
member 1910, when ! was chosen
as Western Regional Director for
Wendell Wilkes campaign for
the presidency. Wilkie stood for
one world. But when I reported
to Republican headquarters right
here in Chicago, l found two
worlds - upstairs was q world
for white Republicans and down
below was the world for colored
Republicans.
Yes, l could not see the future
clear in the Republican Party, as
the children Of Israel did not see
their future. But if you remern-
her when the liberation came to
these victims of Pharoah's hate,
as they crossed over, til e. y
dragged from the bed Of the
stream u stones and built a
monument to commemorate the
rolling away of the burdens OF
their bondage. AS a member OF
the great elephant party, ] could
not see the light Of hope shining
in the distance, until one day the
news flashed across the nation
that a new party was born. In
1o4S, in the Progressive Party,
found that one political world
that could provide home big
enough for black and white for
native and foreign born, to live
and work together for the same
ends - as equals.
Here in this party was the
political home for me and for my
people. Here no one handed me
a ready-msde program from the
back door Here l could sit at the
head Of the table as a founding
member, write my own program,
a program for me and my people,
that came from us. In that great
founding convention in Phila-
delphia in 1946, we had crossed
the Jordan. There we shared IN
the labor Of building platform
stone by stone, choosing capdi-
dates, creating new political
party - as equals.
Now perhaps l could retire. l
had helped to found a home for
nv people. / looked forward to
rest after forty years OF
struggle.
But how could / retire and
where could I retire as long as I
saw what Frederick Douglass
saw and felt what he did, "the
need to stand up for the down.
trodden, TO open my mouth for
the dumb, to remember those in
bonds as bound with me-"
Could I retire when I saw that
slavery had been abolished but
not destroyed, that democracy
had been won in World War l,
but not for my people, that fas-
cism had been wiped out in
World War II, only to take roots
in my own country where it
blossomed and bloomed and sent
forth its fruits to poison the land
my people had fought to pre-
serve! Could I retire without
thinking Of Dorie Miller, of
Robert Brooks, of my own
nephew John Kinloch who gave
up a brilliant career, helped set
up the first mixed regiment of
white and black troops, and then
went ahead of them to die in
the Battle Of the Bulge? I think
often of John who was to take
over my beloved paper, of John
who died that those for whom
he fought might enjoy the free
dom and liberty for which he
lay down his life.
I could not retire and step
aside when Rosa Lee Ingram and
her two boys were railroaded to
Jail for defending themselves.
Could turn a deaf ear to Rosa
lie McGee? Where was the Shan
gri-La in these United States
where I could live and breathe
in dignity? Where my people en-
joyed the rights for which their
sons and nephews died? In the
North there were the Trenton
Six demanding justice; in the
Middle West was Cicero. In the
South there stood Amy Mallsrd,
the Msrtinsville Seven, and un-
named hundreds of unavenged
deaths that cried out. There
was no rest in Florida - there q
cross was burning and a bomb
killed Harriet Moore sn6 her
husband; and white justice snuff
ed out the life Of Samuel Shep-
herd, threatened Lee Irwin.
Nc, this new uprising Of terror
was not confined 70 the South.
Il spread throughout the coun-
try goaded and inflarned by per-