St. Paul recorder., 1963-12-26

Of their children, particularly as
more Negroes came North. But
the continuing high Negro unem-
ployment rate Of the last five
years, which no one has wanted
to notice until recently, has eroded
these gains and increased the an
Meties Of the Negro community.
. The political promise made to
Negroes has not been realized.
The movement North has increased
the Negroes political weight. In six
states, the Negro vote is a virtual
balance of power. The Kennedy
victory (due in no small part to
the rigged balloting in Chicago's
colored South Side, which gave
the Illinois electoral votes TO the
Democrats) gave the Negro leader
ship entree to the new Admins
tration, but then they were told
that civil rights would have to
take a back seat to other political
reforms.
. The new states Of sub-Sahara
Africa have heightened the color
consciousness and pride of the
American Negro. He has felt a
new-and perhaps ominous-sense
of the changeabihty of history,
with the color issue coming to the
fore on the world political scene.
Americas ardent courtship of the
new African bloc at the United
Nations could only, after all, in
crease the sense of discrepancy be-
tween the actions of the Govern
ment abroad and at home.
. Finally, there has been a new
competition for leadership among
the various Negro organizations.
The Urban League had staked its
claim to leadership on the grounds
Of increasing economic opportuni-
ty; the NAACP had taken the
leadership in pressing for legal
redress Of Negro rights. But econ
omic opportunities are increasingly
difficult to find and legal progress
has been slow, and both organiza-
tions have been unwilling, until
recently, to mobilize the restive
Negro community. In Martin Luth-
er King, Jr., and his theory Of nom
violent resistance the Negroes
found a new symbol and a new
method of effective combat. In
the dramatic action of the Free
dom Riders and such reVivifying
organizations as CORE, the Ne
groes have found new leadership.
The present Negro mood has
been compared to a revolutionary
situation. Such comparisons are
in-exact. Revolutions usually occur
when governmental authority has
broken down, either because of
corruption, an inability or unwill-
ingness to act, or loss of support
from the people. None Of these
conditions are true of the United
States today. Unfortunately, what
is true about protest movements,
such as the Negro civil rights
movement, Is that when legitimate
demands are thwarted and long
overdue reforms that have been
morally sanctioned are not made,
then extremist elements take over,
The failure of Congress to act can
only compromise the moderate ele-
ments (already they fear the
labelD among the Negro leader
ship.
With Preside dent Kennedy's
speech on civil rights, the issue
has shuffled back from the streets
to the Legislative halls" And the
issue has been Joined not only pol
itically and sociologically as
Mr.. Buckley failed to see in his
ehsion of prejudice and discrimina-
ton - but philosophically as well.
In a subtle sense, and not for
the first time, the right" is learn
ing the old lesson that democracy
is always a choice between rela-
tive rights. When the President
proposed that all private establish
ments catering to the public be
forced to serve all comers, Sena-
tors Goldwater and Dirksen raised
the question Of infringement" up
on property rights, and therefore
of freedom" In their Htany, prop
erty rights is an absolute and free
dom Is an abstract noun. But can