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Ninety Days Inside The Empire: A Novel by William Appleman Williams

Glimpses of An Election

Page 91

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The Freedom News generated great excitement, pride and optimism within the Negro community. It also provided a public outlet for Negro ideas and emotions. The collection boxes for news and letters had to be cleared and sorted at least once a day, and ever more people volunteered to help in any way they could. The estimate by Wendell Rogers that the paper would be the catalyst for any serious Negro improvement proved correct sooner than he may have anticipated.

People began to talk to neighbors and then walked a bit further ringing doorbells for Clay. After several experiments, the block workers in the Negro community sorted themselves out into two groups. One was composed of four Negro couples (including Rogers and Abbey Mae) who concentrated their efforts among people who were neither NAACP nor church members. The other teams were Susan and Lette, Caroline and Maggie (who used her Sundays and Tuesdays), Cat and Mr. Hank, who tried to catch people in the evenings, and The Reverend and Run-Run. In the latter two cases, the whites had been picked by the Negroes. For their part, Mitch and Marsh did overtime to provide the lists of people who lived at what addresses.

Once Mitch had mastered what he called the topsy-turvy logic of the address census, Marsh gave most of his attention to picking and training a crew to work the marginal white neighborhoods. Clay was at first skeptical of the idea, fearing it would antagonize more people than it persuaded; and in any event preferred Marsh to raise money from the quiet liberals in the business community.

Marsh met the second objection by reminding Clay that he was getting money from Houston and Dallas, and even Austin; and that, in any event, men like Cohen knew that world better and could deal with it more effectively. He answered Clay's fear of a backlash by challenging him to walk sample blocks in the targeted areas. Marsh was betting that most of the people they would meet had been taken for granted for so long that though they might be surprised, even suspicious, they would soon be delighted to be considered important enough for a visit.

Marsh had the touch for face-to-face politics. The first time the race issue was raised he told a story that became a standby for the white block walkers. The man listened, even nodded, to Marsh's first pitch.

"Well, I like those ideas, but I hear Clay's cozy with the Niggers."

Marsh pivoted on his heel and caught Clay's ankle with the toe of his shoe to - keep him quiet.

"What's that mean, exactly?"

"Well, helpin' everybody means helpin' them too much."

"You figure somebody's got to be on the bottom, so better them than you?"

"That's pretty raw, but..yeah, that's pretty much it."

"My old granddaddy up in Tennessee used to tell me a story 'bout that...."

"Let's hear it."

"Well, he was sippin' whiskey most times he told it, so there's several versions, but this was the jist of it. He'd say: 'You hear people sayin' that everybody stands on somebody's shoulders, and there's some truth to that, Little Oliver. The world's a mean place. But people who say that don't seem to realize that if you let that man below you sink down too deep there ain't no shoulder to stand on.' That's what he'd say."

The man gave Marsh a sidewise grin.

"I think you's fibbin' me 'bout that granddaddy, but you might as well come in and have a beer and we'll talk on it."

Walking away a half-hour later, Clay kept shaking his head while studying the sidewalk.

"You are a magician, Marsh, but that's still a lot of time to invest in one vote. And anyway, most people can't do that."

"You are pretty shrewd up there in the office in the city, Barry, but you got lots to learn about the streets. That half-hour will get you ten, maybe even fifteen votes. And it can be learned."