Jackson advocate. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1939-current, 1952-03-29
RAIGHT
AHEAD"


There is political tug-of-war go
ing on here between City Council
President Rudolph HALEY and City
Councilman Earl Brown over the
question of how best to get a
Negro elected to the New York
State Senate.
Mf. HALEY announced sometime
ago that he favored having the dis
trlct reapportioned and the lines
Drawn so that they would embrace
a thickly populated Negro section.
A Negro could be elected from
such a district and the problem
would be solved. Earl Brown calls
this jim crow of the worst sort and
is opposed to it.
The issue is an important one
and has significance to every other
American community where
Negroes live in large numbers. I'm
der the HALEY proposal. if it were
to be followed through on all
counts, no Negro could ever hope to
be elected to public office except
from almost solid Negro communi-
ties. In such a case, Justice Francis
h. Rivers would not have been
elected to the City Court, nor would
Judge Harold Stevens been elected
to the Court of General Sessions.
Furthermore, with the Negro ever
moving toward indignation and with
1t the ultimate hope of breaking up
ghettos, the HALEY philosophy
would just about bar the election
of any Negro to public office.
1t will be recalled that for many
years in New York, Negroes clam
ored for Negro Congressman.
The old 21st District was repre-
scented by Joseph A. Gavagan, now
a Justice of the New York State
Supreme Court. For a number of
years the Republican Party nomi-
mated Negro for the post; among
the candidates were Rev. Qater
Bishop Lorenzo King and Justice
Hubert T. Delany. The Democrats
refused to nominate Negro all
during that time. 1t was not until
after a Republican Legislature and
Republican Governor brought a.
bout re-apportionment and created
the present 22nd Congressional
District that the Democrats nomi-
mated Negro.
The Democrats are playing the
same trick now in the Senate con-
troversy. Certainly there ought to
be Negro in the New York State
Senate, but it doesn't make sense
to say that there should not be a
Negro in the Senate until an all
Negro district has been carved.
Not even Georgia was ever like
that.
1t should be remembered, too,
that the New York State Senate
Districts in New York have identi-
cal lines with the Councilmanic
District, which means Earl Brown
represents the identical political
subdivision that is represented by
a State Senator. If Brown can
represent the 22nd District in the
City Council, it seems logical that
Negro could represent the same
district in the State Senate.
The Harlem community is sharp
ly divided on the issue. There are
those who side with Brown and
say they will have no part of such
segregation as is contained in the
HALEY proposal; and there are
those who side with HALEY, taking
the position that the Negro should
take a Senator any way he can
get one.
1t should be pointed out, how
ever, that Halley's position has not
won him many friends; although
there are many individuals who are
going along with him. The feeling
is that it would have been more
statesmanlike for him to have urg-
ed his own Party to nominate a
Negro and to have pledged his sup
port to a Negro for the post.