Storey vs. Texas

The Constitution gives the Negro the right to vote. *Whether or not he chooses to exercise this right in Southern States is a matter for his own conscience to decide after due consideration of the circumstances. For Texas it has been decided, first in the state courts and, six months ago, in the Federal District Court, 'that the "primaries" are not elections, that, consequently, a Texan law of 1923, categorically forbidding any Negro to vote at a Democratic primary is constitutional. It became apparent last week, however, that these decisions are to be questioned.

To be debarred from voting at a Democratic primary in Texas is, for practical purposes, to be debarred from any share in the government of Texas or in the Government of the U. S. through Texas. Mayors, Governors, Judges, Congressmen, Senators, Presidents -if they are Texans, they are Democrats.

Arguing, therefore, that the Texas "white primary" law is virtual, if not actual defiance of the "race, color or servitude" provision of the Constitution, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has engaged counsel to carry an appeal to the U. S. Supreme Court. Associated with the counsel will be Moorfield Storey, a leader of the bar in a city famous for its championship of the Negro -Boston.

*Art. XV, Sect, i, of the Constitution says: "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude."