St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1959-11-06
Roy Wilkins
Address Text

297 registered, comes this revealing
story:
One Negro Army veteran dis
charged as a technical sergeant,
reported that he went to the
courthouse and was asked by q
female clerk what he wanted. II
want to register" he said. To
register for the Army" she asked
When he assured her he wanted
to register to vote, she told him
she didn't have time because the
court was meeting. She did, how
ever, have him write down his
name and address on a slip of
paper. Less than half an hour after
his return home, two white men
came to his door and asked him
why he had tried to register. He
replied that 1t was his duty. They
told him that he was Just trying
to stir up trouble and advised him
not to go back. He did return a
week later. and again was told
by the same clerk that she was
busy. Fearful of reprisals. he
stopped trying.
In Forest County. Miss. an APP
plicant was asked a variety of
questions, including: What is
meant by due process of lawT'
What Is class assessment of landT'
The registrar was not satisfied with
the man.
The highest total Negro registra-
ton claimed for Mississippi was In
1884 when $4,000 names were on
the list. In 1855 there was a purge
of the list under a new state law
requiring complete Reorganization.
This purge cut the Negro registra-
ton to an estimated 5000.
Mississippi remains the worst
state ON Negro voting. Alabama
has about II percent of Its Negro
eIiEibles registered. FlOridR has
the highest percentage with 20.
and Texas has the greatest num-
her, about Ut 900.
In the light of these figures it is
not to wondered that Alabama.
have defied the Federal govern
ment's attempt even to examine the
registration books. On Thursday of
this week Governor Patterson of
Alabama was quoted in news dis
patches as threatening to throw
Federal agents out of his state II
they came looking for voting data
The barring of Negro citizens
from registering and voting cOnsti-
tutes a scandal. Governor Patterson
and other Southern state officials
understandable want to cover up.
IL they are to make the rest of the
nation believe their fairy stories
of peace and contentment between
the races in their states, they must
conceal from official public view
the iron-fisted way in which they
violate the Constitution and per-
petuate themselves in dictatOrial
power
This condition below the Mason
and Dixon line must be of concern
to Americans in Minnesota and in
other Southern states, for the
election methods in the South bring
men to office-in state houses and
in both houses of the Congress in
WashingtOn-whO exercise influence
over the lives and affairs Of citizens
in Northern states.
Senator Eastland, for example,
has great authority over the selec-
ton OF Federal judges and Federal
attorneys. Yet in his last election
in Mississippi, the total vote for
Senator was 10000 out of voting
age population G95O) OF .2Os,O63.
These are the men who block
civil rights legislation, who fill
buster in committees, and who, by
reason Of their lockout system at
the polls, are able to be returned
to office term and thus gObble up
committee chairmanships on the
basis OF seniority rather than merit
Makes Nation Look silly
Negro Americans are sick of this
system and when enough white
Americans understand its ramifica-
tiOns they will be sick of It. also.
Our great nation looks a little silly
to the rest Of the world talking
always about free elections in for
eign countries when we do not have
Fva IL 10, l.
sister Southern states.
These conditions warrant the
thoughtful attention of all political
parties and candidates. but a spec
iaI burden rests upon the Demo-
cratic party. The men who perpet-
rate this shameful. un- American dis
franChisement Of Negro citizens are
Democrats. The state and county
Chairmen, the national committee
men. the Governors. Senators. Con-
gressmen. state legislators, mayors.
judges, commissioners, etc. are all
Democrats, except for a handful of
Republicans spotted here and there
in the South.
The Democrats in Washington or
Minnesota or Massachusetts, or Him
dis or Michigan or New York or
California or elsewhere may be fine
Democrats Their local and state
well by the Negro citizens in their
states. They have enacted anti-dis-
elimination laws, appointed Negroes
to office, distributed patronage
opened up places on the tickets, and
done much OF what a well-run pol
itical party should do. Locally and
on a state basis they would seem
in many Instances to be entitled to
the loyalty Of the Negro members
Of their party.
But. thus far, with n few out
spoken exceptions, the Northern
Democrats have failed to speak
out or TO exercise much peFsua-
sion upon their Southern wing.
The Southern picture has eRsed
a little, In certain political man
euVerinEH. hut the Southern DEM
Oerats still use blackjack tactics
with that meaRest Of weapons.
white supremacy.
The Northern Democrats have got
to speak to the Southern Democrats
and not about the proper prepara-
ton of mint julep. They have got
to do some straight talk and some
straight voting on civil rights bills.
In the convention next summer they
have got to insist on more than
mere words in the civil rights plank
of the party platform.
NEGROES ARE RESTLESS
Negro voters are restless. They
are angry over the SOuth's defiance
Of constitutional authority and over
its child-like insistence that the
long-lOst master-servant days be
extended into infinity. Political
moorings and perquisites in certain
Northern centers being what they
are, revolution and detection may
not happen overnight But II the
present laIssez faire policy continues
in the face OF the throwback of
ante-bellum arrogance in Dixie.
some Of the political cement that
holds the Democrats together could
disappear with II, needless to say,
would disappear not a little OF the
SOutherners and NOrtherners in the
national political picture.
REPUBLICANS HAVE OBLIGATION
The Republicans, too. have an
obligation in this area. Perhaps,
because they claim to the party OF
the Emancipator. they have more
Of a moral obligation than do the
Democrats In 1857. for the first
time in many a Congress. the Re-
publicanS under the then Minority
Leader Senator william Knowland
OF California mustered some purely
party support for certain section
of the civil rights bill A good
many COP Senators, not found Gus
tomarlly on the Lords side on this
issue. cast the right kind Of votes
on various aspects Of the bill. All
of them were not in the righteous
band, but those who were stood IN
stoutly. They could not win the day
because, curiously. too many nom
Southern Democrats ioIned the Mag
nolia brigade at crucial times.
COP TRADES WITH SOUTHERN
nEM0CR ATa