The Miami times. [volume] (Miami, Fla.) 1923-current, 1956-04-07
Between The Lines /.
LOYALTY IN POLITICS LIMITED


to play ii advantageously. BY
skillful manipulation Of political
power many average men have
been hurtled into fame and for
tune and conversely by the un-
wise manipulation of political
power men of great promise and
power have been overwhelmed
and have gone down to defeat
and obscurity.
There is world of promise for
him who knows how to play the
game. For instance just as
Woodrow Wilson was about to be
kicked out of Princeton as its
president, we are told, he ran for
the governorship Of New Jerey
and won. Just ar he was about to
be ousted as governor, he ran for
the presidency of the United
States and won in that close de-
vision with Charles Evans Hughes.
The Negroes loyalty to a polit-
ical party has outstripped his as.
seSSment of political values. Ac-
cordingly the Negro has not
learned as yet the finer points of
the game of politics. This can best
be seen 10y the Negroes loyalty to
the Republican Party through
which his emancipation was eff
fected. Long after Lincoln and
his ideals had been forgotten by
the party, Negroes were still
loyal to Lincoln's party.
Slavishly Negroes voted the
Republican ticket until the COM
ing of Roosevelt in 1905. For
quite so years Negroes went
slavishly to the polls to cast Re-
publican ticket just because un-
der the Republican adrninistra-
ton they had been emancipated.
OF course his sense of gratitude
cannot be gainful; but it certainly
was not wise to slavishly follow
a lead that had passed out with
Lincoln and his immediate success
SorS.
The Republican Party allowed
many things to happen to the
Negro without a protest and they
saw gradually the first-class citi-
zenship vouchedsafed unto him
by the 14th and 18th Amendments
to the Constitution severely en-
croached upon without the first
y effort being made to meet the is
sue head-on. But Negroes never
failed to vote the Republican tic
ket. The Republican Party had
been instrumental in effecting his
emancipation and Negroes for so
years were blind to any other
features of the COP.
The coming Of Franklin De-
lano Roosevelt ushered In an
other golden age of hope for Ne
groes and they were not slow to
swear by the Democratic party.
Since the reign OF Roosevelt, Ne
croes have been intensely loyal
TO the party which Myrdal says
was the first to make an honest
effort to integrate the Negro. The
question arises: Will Negroes
generally be blindly loyal TO the
Democratic Party because Of past
favors as they were to the Re-
publican Party for their emanci-
nation?. This is the year Of de-
cision. This writer has begun TO
wonder il the time has not come
when Negroes must reappraise
their loyalty to the Democratic
party. So long as the party was
Ioyai to the Republican policies
we can see the wisdom Of being
blindly loyal TO the party. But
wherein the party forsases the
policies and principles OF Roose-
welt and Truman, Negroes are
justified In reappraising the polit-
ical situation to see wherein they
may be justified in shifting their
loyalty.
whereas at present Eisenhower
is making a fine and fearless
leader and much Of our current
advance can be attributed to has
forthrizhtness, il is to be noted
that currently the Democratic
PARTY Is being manned ana
Unanswered by Dixiecrats with
their current manifesto on int
grafton. In other words the Demo-
cratic Party is being currently
run by a Southern clique tnat
has decreed that the Negro snail
not pass.
II is doubtful If any party so
- .-,anaood as the cIIr-