Atlanta Daily World

REVIEWING THE NEWS
BY WILLIAM GORDON
Managing Editor, Atlanta Daily World

Glad to be "Your Humble Servant"

A very pleasing and friendly voice spoke up at the other end of the telephone.
"Yes, this is the Senator's campaign headquarters," the lady said. "And we are grateful for all you have done in the papers for us."
It was not a question about the sincerity here. Such a statement was part of a familiar ring echoing throughout the region for many months now.
And the feeling, generated from the experiences, is definitely on the increase throughout America.
The whole thing became clearer to me a few nights ago when I attended my first political rally. Standing there in the dim-light of the moon, among rickety buildings, it was a wonderful sight to see people trudging gently to the church to hear what the candidates had to say. Strangely, nobody had to pull them out of their homes or smoke them out of beer parlors or pool halls,
As one speaker puts it: "These people have become of political age. They have advanced to the level of political maturity; their interests are definitely concerned with the kind of people in elective office who make the laws of the community and help to plan the future for their youngsters."
So they came to the rally, the young, the aged, the lame and the afflicted. Moreover, these were the ordinary, hard-working people only recently freed from the shackles of political slavery.
They came hungry for action.
When the candidates came, some brought their families with them. There were wives, and children who milled through the crowd to their heart's content, rubbing elbows with the rank and file.
There was no friction. Mind you, these were the same ordinary people who cook the meals in restaurants, man the machines at the factories, work as porters, maids in down town buildings but who also maintain the level of intelligence and alertness which makes them want to know how their government is being run.
This perhaps could best be explained by the words of one of the candidates.
"I am glad to be your humble servant. I shall be glad to serve you again as I have in the past. So please send me back to public office so that I might serve you better in the future."
There are thousands such candidates throughout America today, pleading and asking for the vote. They are pleading for what has become a valuable instrument in the hands of millions.
And they have reasons to do so.
In almost every large city in the nation, the concentration of Negroes into the hovels and restrictive areas have brought about an alertness of mind and will power. Bent on becoming first-class citizens, they have been forced to use the ballot and the courts to free themselves from social and economic bondage. This alertness has had its effects in several national elections in recent years. It has been even more effective in local areas where Negroes have been named to the public school boards, given seats in city councils, and named to the police force.
On a national level, some significant achievements have also been made, and the trend continues. Like the Senator, running for reelection and the candidate standing and pleading before the small church group, more and more, they are glad to be "your humble servants."