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BLACK EXPO: DESIGN FOR UNITY
O'DELL

of discussions centering upon the role that nearly ten million black voters will play as an independent force capable of cementing a broadly-based coalition for political and social change. These discussions drew heavily upon the wealth of hard practical experience gained especially over the past decade of involvement in what is called "the political process." Central to this discussion, in the political workshop at Black Expo, was the fact that black voters gave the Democratic Presidential Candidate in 1968, twenty percent of all the votes  received by the Democratic Party in that election, yet black delegates were only two percent of the total in the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. That kind of relationship will not be allowed to continue in 1972. It was also necessary to give serious attention to the possibility that the Democratic Party convention would present the American people with a sorry Presidential ticket, one so lacking in popular appeal as to only have the effect of guaranteeing Richard Nixon's re-election. Given this possibility, a necessary part of a sound, overall election strategy is to have a viable independent course of electoral politics designed for the post-convention period if confronted with that necessity.

It is easy to discern in the recent November elections (1971) a drift to the right and a political polarization along racial lines as reflected in the election of "law and order" candidates in Philadelphia and Cleveland. These victories on the right, it must be recognized, were aided by serious tactical mistakes made in some instances by black candidates in these elections. Fortunately, a constructive atmosphere has been set by the spirit of "coming together" which enables us to examine our campaign experiences and identity mistakes and do so in time to prevent their being repeated in other situations. Unless we do this within the Movement and take the initiative in making assessments of various electoral experiences and interpreting results for the larger national electorate, we will find the political opinion makers among the establishment interpreting our experiences for us and using the opportunity to undermine out efforts. A case in point are recent articles in the Washington Post* which trumpeted the idea that the black vote had failed to show any cohesiveness and had, in fact, turned its back on elected officials who have been trying to build a unified black political thrust. To support this interpretation the usual superficial analysis of the election results was presented designed, of course, to sow confusion and pre-

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*See Washington Post, November 4, 1971
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