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FREEDOMWAYS
THIRD QUARTER 1966

is, incidentally, the single institution of any stature in the country which has made any committed and sympathetic response tot he conditions and aspirations of the people in Mississippi. After the conference a number of families who were without shelter in the sub-freezing temperatures occupied a deactivated airforce base in Greenville, and were eventually evicted by the Air Force "for the protection of your own health."

Whatever happens, the changed economic conditions will be effective in reducing the Negro population in the Delta. but there is a grim and resilient tenacity in these very same people that Mississippi wishes to disperse. They have endured, and in the Delta this alone is an accomplishment. The community has had to develop traditions of sharing and inter-responsibility which seem to deepen as conditions worsen. So, the state will discover that it is no simple matter to dispose of sufficient Negroes to eradicate their potential political strength. 

[[bold italics]] political possibilities[[bold italics]]

It may seem inconsistent with what has gone before to say that at this point the potential for achieving a powerful, community-oriented, grass-roots political movement, embracing the majority of Mississippi's Negroes, is very real; but it is.

It is the MFDP's position that the route to effective political expression in Mississippi lies, at least in the immediate future, in [[italics]] independent[[italics]] political organization in the black community. For one thing, there are just no other possibilities. Behind its facade of moderation, the racist state Democratic party appears unable to moderate its action or policies, or even to give a convincing appearance of having done so, in order to appeal to the Negro voter. So the newly registered Negro has little choice but to enter the MFDP. This is undoubtedly part of the reason that the Democratic administration indulges in its half-hearted, sparing, and almost nervous implementation of the Voting Rights bill. It is not anxious to create a class of new voters in the South unless reasonably certain that they will gravitate into the ranks of LBJ's "great consensus."

As early as last spring before the Voting bill was even passed, it became clear that as far as the national Democratic party was concerned the bill was intended to register not Negroes, but Democrats. the President and top officials of the national party played host to almost 100 carefully selected Negro "leaders" from the Deep

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