In Search of a Black Strategy

The meetings have been quiet, some of them almost secret. The participants have included virtually every important black leader in the U.S., among them Julian Bond, Carl Stokes, Charles Evers, Jesse Jackson, Poet Imamu Amiri Baraka (LeRoi Jones) and the 13 members of the black caucus in Congress. The purpose: to develop a black political strategy for 1972, especially in order to influence the selection of a Democratic presidential nominee. But after more than half a dozen meetings--most recently a full-scale conference of black elected officials held in Washington --that strategy is still to be defined.

The basis of black strength lies in the mathematics of the 1968 campaign: an estimated one of every five votes received by Hubert Humphrey was cast by a black. As a result, they make up one of the largest elements in the Democratic Party. Democratic National Chairman Lawrence O'Brien has promised that 20% of the membership of all convention committees will be black. The problem for the strategists is how to use that strength most effectively. A national black political convention has been called for late April or early May to decide the issue finally.

Two Camps. For the first time, black voters and politicians have real political power in the Democratic Party and the luxury of several options on how to wield it. When preliminary meetings began last spring, black leaders were divided into two major camps. Georgia State Representative Julian Bond led a push to nominate black favorite-son candidates in each of the states where chances of increasing black delegate strength looked good. Bond and his supporters argued that state delegates committed through the first ballot to a black favorite son, combined with black delegates from other states, would present a formidable bloc of votes in bargaining with potential presidential candidates.

Scrappy Note. Michigan Congressman John Conyers Jr. and several other members of the congressional black caucus favored running a single black candidate in the Democratic primaries. If a black presidential contender won some or all of the delegates in several states, that would both swell black strength at the convention and withhold some black votes from white candidates during the primary scramble. The Conyers group's choice for the national candidate: former Cleveland Mayor Carl Stokes.

But while the men debated and drew up memorandums about which course to follow, their indecision created a vacuum. None of their reckoning took into account New York Representative Shirley Chisholm. Chisholm, 47, the first black woman ever elected to Congress, announced in September that she would enter at least four primaries in quest of the Democratic nomination. She began her campaign on a characteristically scrappy note: "Other kinds of people can steer the ship of state besides white men. Regardless of the outcome, they will have to remember that a little 100-Ib. woman shook things up."

Most shaken were her black political colleagues; those 100 Ibs. now stood between them and a unified strategy for '72. Although Bond's favorite-son tactics were still workable with Chisholm in the race, supporters of the Stokes plan for a national black candidate now found themselves with a candidate not of their choosing. Said one black Congressman: "She's a disruptive woman. What business did she have to do that?"

Below Expectations. There was more than pique in the reaction to Chisholm's sudden decision to jump into the campaign. She could indeed divide the black vote, particularly if the national black convention next spring nominates someone else. One of the primaries she plans to enter is California's. Her presence on that ballot could seriously undermine the growing power of California's black legislators and local officeholders. The winner of the California primary gets all 271 of the state's delegate votes. If Chisholm is beaten, blacks could lose much of their influence in the delegation.

There are other cracks in the supposedly unified black front. Mervyn Dymally, a state senator from Los Angeles who is the most powerful black politician in the state, has served notice that California's elected blacks do not want to be bound by a national black strategy, regardless of who devises it. In addition, last month's state and local elections revealed that blacks do not necessarily vote as a bloc. Stokes' hand-picked successor in Cleveland was defeated, as were 233 of the 284 blacks who ran for office in Mississippi. Moreover, black voter turnout was far below expectations in many areas. Some black politicians have concluded that a national campaign is premature. They would prefer to see the funds and energy spent on grass-roots organizing --voter education and canvassing, and turning out the vote on Election Day.

The first attempt to synthesize the conflicting strategies came in Washington, D.C., last week. The Rev. Walter Fauntroy. Washington's nonvoting delegate to Congress, announced that he would run as a favorite son in the District of Columbia primary--with an unstated agreement that the bulk of Washington's 15 delegate votes would go to Chisholm.

Fourth Party, Whatever happens at the black convention next spring, black leaders plan to impose a set of demands on the Democratic Convention. They will map out a political program for inclusion in the platform. They are considering a list of potential black Cabinet members to force more than token representation in a Democratic Administration. And some are prepared to lead a boycott--perhaps even a fourth-party movement--if the nominee is unacceptable to them. Despite the disagreements among black leaders, Democratic Party officials cannot discount their probable impact on the convention. Says Missouri Representative William Clay: "If blacks did not support the Democratic Party, we would leave it in shambles. The Democratic Party needs us more than we need them. It is we who should establish the criteria for black support. And it won't be based on how many black babies a candidate kisses."

*Jackson resigned last week from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and its economic arm he once headed Operation Breadbasket. His resignation came after a long-running dispute with Ralph David Abernathy resulted in Jackson's temporary suspension as Breadbasket director. Jackson will form another economic and political organization in Chicago, built in part around the old Breadbasket staff, all of whom quit with him.

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