Number Of Black Elected Officials
In The United States Up By 4 Percent
Washington, D.C.— Ths num
ber of black elected officials in the
United States increased by 4 per
cent last year, according to the
16th edition of Black Elected Offi
cials: A National Roster puhiisW
by the Joint Center for Political
Btudies. The total number of Mack
elected officials rose from 6,424 to
6,681 between January 1986 and
January 1987. The previous
year's increase was 6.1 percent.
The 10 states with the largest
numbers of Mack elected officials
are Mississippi (548), Louisiana
(505), Alabama (448), Georgia
(445), Illinois (434), North Caroli
na (353), South Carolina (340), Ar
kansas (319), Michigan (316), and
California (293).
A total of 71 black elected offi
cials were elected in jurisdictions
where no black American had ever
before held elective office. Addi
tionally, the number of black wom
en elected officials has lalmost
tripled since 1975, when the Cen
ter first began compiling data in
piis category. In 1975, the total
number of black women elected
officials was 530; as of January
1987, the total was 1,564.
» The total number of blacks in
Pie U.S. House of Representatives
has also increased. In 1986, 21
members of the House of Repre
sentatives were black. In 1987, the
figure rose to 23 with the elections
Of Mike Espy (D-MS) and John
Lewis^(D-GA). Moreover, two
Packs were elected to fill seats pre
B' held by blacks: Kweisi
(D-MD) succeeded Parren
II, who decided not to seek
aon, and Floyd Flake (D
feated Alton Walton, who
had become the first black
•sent the 6th Congressional
of New York.
L. Hannon
ounces
andidacy
While in Raleigh recently, Dr.
>" Hannon who ran for Gov
-—* in 1983, announced his can
' 9Maey for the office of Lt. Govern
Jlhnk". He is presently an
te member of the Joint Cen
ter for Political Studies program,
j#hich has its headquarters in
Washington, D.C.
Dr. Hannon’s ten topic platform
details his campaign issues indud
'to
■H A 120,000 starting salary for
beginning teachers. Other teach
ers and atata workers salaries
raised by ten to fifteen percent.
- 2. One hundred percent against
hhy type ef merit system designed
to rate teachers' efficiency.
'I 8. Improvement of highways
for the farm and industrial
growth, aa well as for transporta
tion in general is a must.
! 4. An expanded effort to create
Job employment industries within
pis state, and to continue to seek
put of state industries by providing
jlocal and state competitive incen
tives.
■ 8. An "all out" effort to help in
crease the number of successful
minority businesses throughout
pis state.
; 6. An expanded system of day
ears centers in the eastern parts of
■ the state and elsewhere that shows
a need for such centers.
7. Adequate fond* for improv
ing the "Black Image" of our pre
dominantly black public universi
| ties of the UNO system.
'■ Dr. Hannon's press release was
carried by tbs Associated Press
land UPI. He stated that hs would
release foil details of his platform
at the time of paying ths official
filing foe.
Democratic Celebration
There are seven blacks who
hold statewide office and 410 who
serve in legislatures. At the munic
ipal level, there are 3,219 black
elected officials, including 2,485
coundlmembers and 303 mayors.
The number of black mayors in
cities with populations over 30,000
increased from 28 to 34.
The geographic distribution of
black elected officials clearly par- -
allels the distribution of the total
black population in the United
States. The South has 53 percent
of the country's black population
and 62 percent of all black elected
officeholders. The second largest
concentration of black elected offi
dals, 19.2 percent, is found in the
North Central United States,
where 19.8 percent'of the black
. population is located. The North
east, with 18.5 percent of the total
black population, has 10.6 percent
of the black elected offidals; and
5.7 percent of all black elected offi
dals are found in the West, where
8.9 percent of all black Americans
reside.
There is a direct correlation be
tween the black voting age popula
tion and the number of black elect
ed officials within an area. For ex
ample, Mississippi, which has the
largest number of black elected of
'ficials (548), is the state with the
largest proportion of voting-age
blacks (30.8 percent). Voting-age
blacks compose 66.6 percent of the
total voting-age population in the
District of Columbia, where 67.8
percent of all elected officials are
black. Conversely, there are no
■ black elected officials in Idaho,
Montana, and North Dakota,
where blacks compose less .than
.05 percent of the total populations.
Although blacks continue to moke
political gains nationwide andjat
almost every level of office, they
still hold fewer than 1.6 percent of
all elective offices in the United
States, while constituting 11 per
cent of the total voting-age popula
tion.
Copies of the 16th edition of
Black Elected Officials; A National
Roster. 1987, which contains de
tailed statistics and data and a
complete listing of blacks in elec
tive office, can be purchased for
$29.50 from the Joint Center for
Political Studies, Publications Of
fice, 1801 Pennsylvania Avenue,
N.W., #400, Washington, D.C.
20004,(202)626-3500.
CRC May Tip Balance Of Pow^r
Continued From Page 3A
stereotyped.
It will be interesting to see how
these young men and women ma
ture politically. Will they view pol
itics as merely a business proposi
tion for improving one's network
and net worth. Perhaps some will
become ideologues who renounce
their civil rights heritage. Some
will mature into pragmatic states
men who are empassioned about
educational and economic oppor
tunity and who skillfully work to
ward those goals with leaders of
both parties.
The OOP and the county has
nutch. to gain from the latter
grpup, A party sensitive to the as
pirations of African-Americans
should by all rights be the majority
party. If these young people can
expose their peers to what Repub-'
licans really stand for and sensi
tize fellow CK« at the Wake s, Car
qlinae andlWkes to economic de
velopment orfeouth African policy
options, they will have dona the
county a great service and their
school proud.
. When I took on the teak of club
. .advisor, there .were no guarantees
that the club would last for one
year. It looks as if maybe, just
maybe, they will be around for a
while. And if just one of the states
men discussed above emerges
from the activity then the effort
will not have been for naught
Some of the students have laced
derision and hostility from their
peers, had their signs ripped down
and events cancelled by mysteri
ous callers but have always kept
their cool and marched on.
Tvs always felt that the 1st Afri
can-American President of the
United States will be a Republican,
as were the first members of Con
gress. News item: early 21st Cen
tury....thi President swung
through Winston-Salem briefly
addressing a group of students at
her alma mater.
You just never - know about
21st Century NC PAC
Chairman ‘
Yard To Speak At Conference
Molly Yar0, Preiidant of the
National Organization fear Wom
en, will be thekeynote speaker at
the North Carolina NOW confer
ence, Saturday, September 19,
from 8,10am until 5pm, at the
Winston-Salem YWCA, 1201
Glade Street $ie conference title
is "Taking the Power," smd this
theme will be addressed by Ms.
Yard in a 9-10am workshop on
taking political-power by electing
good women candidates.
. ; V
There will alsy be a panel of fe
male elected officials who will talk
Cbout their decisions to run, their
campaigns and their experiences
serving in elected office. Patricia
Ireland, VP Executive of National
NOW and an attorney, will dis
cuss the current legal situation of
American women.
Molly Yard will hold a press
conference at 2pm, following the
12:30pm luncheon and keynote
•peech. Appointments for fcidivid'
ual interviews with MsiiSed can
be made by calling MauraPaYlon
at 919 288-7184. VC
Rustin: Modern Day Hero
u>ntinMd From Fag* 2A
James Baldwin wrote of that day
in August, 1963i^That day, for a
moment, it almost seemed that ws
stood on a height, and could see
our inheritance; perhaps we could
moke the kingdom real, perhaps
the beloved community would not
forever remain that dream ona
dreamed in agony,*
While the days,of late August
call to mind memories of that won
derful moment, they also call to
mind simpler memorise: of young
people going back to school. And I
find myself wondering whether
America's young people will have
the opportunity to learn about
Rustin and about other leaders
who shaped our society by partici
pating in the conflicts and contro
versies of their times. Bayard Rue
tin was, as the Atlanta Constitution
declared, "a hero for our times."
But will our young people have
the opportunity to learn about
Rustin and similar heroas and he
roines?
When I read the articles that ap
paured about Rustin following his
death, it occurred to me that so
much about his life is inextricably
linked with events and concepts
that have been banished from our
textbooks - or, at the very least
stripped of their excitement and
emotional impact. Rustin was bom
illegitimate; he grew up in a small
town in formsyivania where racial
discrimination was a daily reality;
a former Communist, he later be
came a fierce critic of Soviet totali
tarianism; a committed pacifist, he
warn imprisoned far refusing mili
tary service; a dedicated practi
doner of civil disobedience, he wee
arretted countless time* for refill
ing to obey laws he considered uA
The self-appointed cantors of
our nation's textbooks and self
styled protectors of our young
people's virtue would shield stu
dents from reading about ths ideas
that distinguished Rustin and his
life's work; yet I, for one, believe
that young people would be in
spired to learn that this man and
ths movements he advised have
had •o great an impact upon our
history.
Not only have history textbooks
underplayed the controversial
chapters of history in which acti
vists like Rustin played so inspir
ing a role, but civics textbooks
have down-played ths very idea of
controversy itself. As a recent
study by People For ths American
Way revealed, civics texts all too
often are lifeless descriptions of
ths institutions and processes of
government and neglect to men
tion the role which individual dti
icns and activist movements can
play in promoting their ideals.
Ftam the civil righto movement to
the Religious Right, the civics texts
fail to depict the excitement of ths
causes and controversies that have
transformed America.
Bayard Rustin, of course, was
controversy and activism personi
fied. During a public career that
spanned almost half a century, he
championed causes from the
plight of Japanese-Americans dur
ing World Wkr II to the prospects
for democracy in Haiti in the poet
gee Textbooks On Page SA
The
Charlotte
Post
more than
a great "
newspaper
11 -
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