THE POLITICAL and economic status of our citizens of Negro
blood assumes an importance in the election of 1944 which
has not been equalled since the period immediately following
the Civil War. The Negro people and their spokesmen both in
the North and in the South know this; thoughtful Americans of
whatever racial background know it; our enemies and our
allies know it. Only those leaders of our two political parties
who wrote and influenced the party platforms apparently have
failed to grasp the import of this fact.

The war has given new opportunities to the Negro and at the
same time has emphasized the injustices in our attitude toward
him. More than that, it has made us conscious of the contradic-
tions between our treatment of our Negro minority and the
ideals for which we are fighting. The equitable treatment of
racial minorities in America is basic to our chance for a just and
lasting peace. For it cannot be too much emphasized that in the
world today whatever we do at home affects our foreign policy,
and whatever we do abroad affects our domestic policy. The two
are necessarily interrelated. On no single question is this truth
so inescapable as in the repercussions all around the world that
result from our treatment at home of our colored citizens.

One of the widespread consequences of this war is the growing
determination among colonial, subject and minority peoples
everywhere to win for themselves a share of the freedom for
which the allied nations are fighting. This is the great quest of
our time. To future historians it may well overshadow all other
aspects of the present conflict. We, as Americans, cannot be on
one side abroad and the other at home. We cannot expect small
nations and men of other races and colors to credit the good
faith of our professed purposes and to join us in international

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