Letters to the Editor
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Give Chicago Dems some credit
"They [the democratic party] had to go out and sell the black person to demonstrate that the party was still open,"
Give the party machine some credit. They didn't have to sell a black candidate. Regardless of who they supported in the primary, the precinct captains got in line behind the Dem nominee because they were Democrats. And if that nominee was black, or Polish or Irish or whatever, it didn't matter.
It's interesting that it took one of the last remaining Democratic machines to develop and elect Black candidates. As bad as machine politics can be in terms of corruption or undemocratic forces, there are perhaps some good points to consider as well. A political machine is set up to deliver votes bottom-up in elections, and deliver patronage (jobs, contracts, etc.) top-down in between elections. It's surprisingly apolitical, concentrated on maximizing votes for a given amount of government largesse while keeping power within the party apparatus.
Blacks were not the first ethnic group to understand that if you harness the machine, it can work for you, and turn out voters who might not normally vote for you. After all, it's very easy to convince an Italian (for example) to vote for a black politician if it's the local (Italian) precinct captain calling her up and she's still grateful for that bus driving job the captain got for her unemployed brother...