Press Release by Political Associates Concerning the 1970 Census and Election, [Dec 1970]

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1970 DEMOCRATIC GAINS MAY BE BLACK LOSSES, BOND WARNS

"The 1970 elections may spell a long-term loss for black voters nationally, despite impressive gains, primarily in the South."

That is the conclusion reached by Political Associates, an Atlanta, Georgia based research group headed by Georgia State Representative Julian Bond.

Bond noted that the November 3rd elections, generally considered a victory for the Democratic Party, and the results of the 1970 Census "indicate population shifts and political trends and changes that may not favor black voters."

"While black voters have been almost slavishly devoted to the Democratic Party since the Roosevelt era, and while the Democrats will in most instances control state legislative and Congressional redistricting due in 1971, the nine states where losses occur far outweigh the five states where gains result in terms of black ability to influence the mood of politics and elections." Bond said.

North Dakota, Iowa, and Wisconsin will lose one House seat each, but black voters are a negligible factor in these states.

In New York and Pennsylvania (2 less seats each) Ohio, West Virginia, Tennessee and Alabama (one less seat each) black voters stand to lose influence.

Last edit 5 months ago by TeeTwoThree
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Pennsylvania's two-seat reduction, for example, is expected to come from Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, where blacks have played an important role in Democratic Party politics, despite the fact that Quaker State Democrats control both houses of the legislature and the state house.

In New York, a GOP controlled legislature with Republican Governor Nelson Rockefeller back in the state house for a third term in expected to slice New York State's 41-men House delegation by two by eliminating Democratic controlled districts in Manhattan, a center of black political power, and the Bronx.

Only California's five-seat gain is clearly expected to reward black expectations, with the clear possibility of additional state legislative seats for black representatives and perhaps one more black Congressional seat.

Texas, Colorado, and Arizona also gain one House seat each, with Houston, Texas probably being the seat of a new black House seat, and Florida will gain three, but Bond cautioned that "growth in these states - unlike California's quick increase in black and white population, represents a migration of 'Middle Americans' away from the crowded cities and so-called 'black problem' of the East Coast. These new citizens of Florida, Colorado, and Texas, like the new white citizens of California are running away from the kinds of problems that affect black people most.

Last edit 7 months ago by DAHaraldson
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They are not likely to be sympathetic, nor are the new Representatives they elect, Democratic or Republican, likely to hold any real sympathy for black aspirations" Bond warned.

"The Democratic Party may have won in 1970" Bond concluded, "but black voters, in spite of our allegiance to the Democrats still face the prospect of political impotence in the decade of the 1970s".

Last edit 7 months ago by DAHaraldson
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