Red and Black

I do not offer the following example of the changing attitude of the negro intellectual toward the betterment of himself and his people either us a threat or proof of a popular trend.

It merely indicates, I believe, the irrepressible doubts of the dim present and unending search for a better future. The negro leader of tomorrow is today making up his mind.

A negro friend hastened to me recently displaying scarcely repressed enthusiasm.

"Say," he said, "do you know how the '1947 Negro Year Book' describes Russia? It says Russia is the promised land for the negro."

He had copied two paragraphs of the Soviet Constitution. They read:

"Equal rights for citizens of the USSR irrespective of their nationality or race, in all spheres of economic, state, cultural, social and political life, shall be an irrevocable law.

"Any direct or indirect limitation of these rights or conversely any establishment of direct or indirect privileges for citizens on account of their race or national exclusiveness, or hatred and contempt, shall be punished by law."

"That's the kind of equality and protection I am looking for," my friend said. "And I understand from the 'Year Book' it's really working out."

The next day, just to check on my friend's account of Russia, I glanced into the 'Negro Year Book'. Though I didn't come across any reference to a "promised land", I did discover, among other things, that more than 170 nationalities in the Soviet Union live together in harmony: that Russia's 1000 negroes enjoy real citizenship. The section on Russia, furthermore, stressed:

"The complete equality of all races as an integral element in the beliefs and attitudes fostered by the Government of the Soviet Union."

Nothing has given me reason to believe that the "Year Book" exaggerates or espouses any particular political cause. It simply compiles material illuminating negro life the world over.

I make no comment other than that the negro is thinking, thinking, the long, long thoughts of freedom.

I make no prediction other than that America will be the land where ever man is free.