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64 Black Political Power in America

Two unanswered questions about black political power are 1) What are
the political circumstances that in 1965 enabled New York City, with an 18
per cent black proportion, and Los Angeles, with 17 per cent, to have one
black Congressman each among its Congressional delegation, while twelve
other cities, all with proportionally larger black population, have none?
(Baltimore, 38 per cent; Cincinnati, 24 per cent; Cleveland, 34 per cent;
Dallas, 21 per cent; Houston, 23 per cent; Indianapolis, 23 per cent; Kansas
City. 22 per cent; Pittsburg, 21 per cent, and St. Louis, 36 per cent.)

2) What combination of racial cohesion and political organization en-
abled the Detroit black electorate to elect two back Congressmen in 1964
with a black proportion of 34 per cent, while five cities with larger black
proportions were unable to elect even one?

Part of the explanation for the absence of black Congressmen from
Memphis, New Orleans, St. Louis, Baltimore and Kansas City are the
Southern traditions and orientation of these cities. Black voters have yet to
exhibit the fierce independence and black pride that would unleash a black
leader who would whip ambition together inot a phalanx of bloc voting in
exchange for black spoils--i.e, a Congressional seat.

But the election of black Congressmen is only one facet of black political
power in a city. Black state senators and representatives, black city council-
men or aldermen, black city and state judged, black head of city depart-
ments (commissioners, etc.) black members of boards of education, black
key figures in the state and city political organizations, and other honorary
appointments that recognize the individual power and importance of black
community leaders comprise a more accurate measurement of the ethnic
group's political power.

The first law for measuring the political power of an ethnic group is that
there must be a direct relationship between the proportion of its vote in an
election or its proportion of the population - whichever is higher - and its
proportion of all political jobs and elective offices.

This is the theory of proportional equality, and, as will be demonstrated in the chapter "The Irish, the Italians, the Jews, and the Poles," practically
every other ethnic group in America has been able to develop political
power at the national, state, and local levels commensurate with its propor-
tion of the population.

Stone's Index of Proportional Equality

Political power can be quantified and measured by the proportion of
elective offices and jobs in specific areas. Stone's Index of Proportional
Equality establishes minimum standards for measuring the political power

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Measuring Black Political Power 65

of an ethnic group. There are six factors, which include the proportion of
the ethnic group within a city in the following areas of political activity:
1) U.S. Congressman; 2) city councilmen and aldermen; 3) state repre-
sentatives; 4) heads of municipal departments; 5) judges (at the city, state,
and national levels); and 6) members of the board of education.

Again, as will be proved in the chapter on the four ethnic groups, the
Irish, the Italians, the Jews, and the Poles have all developed political con-
trol in several cities where they are numerically strong by dominating in
all six areas. A political canon of the Irish when they first became active in
politics was: "It is better to know the judge than the law."

The reason all city departments are included in this standard of measure-
ment is the tendency for black appointments of department heads to be
concentrated in the weaker, or "human relations" and "welfare," depart-
ments. Black people are rarely appointed as heads of the departments that
control finance, real estate, construction, city contracts, public works, build-
ings, and taxes. Instead they saturate the departments of welfare, human
relations, and education. There is little political power in these departments.

Thus, if black people constitute 10 per cent of the vote or 10 per cent of
the population and are given 10 per cent of the jobs and elective offices in a
city and state administration and if this 10 per cent is concentrated in the
lower-paying positions or unimportant elective offices, then black people in
that situation do not have political power.

As of 1967, negro political power at the Federal level was insignificant,
with the exception of two appointments, Housing and Urban development
Secretary [[Robert C. Weaver]], one of the twelve members of the President's
Cabinet, and U.S. Supreme Court Justice [[Thurgood Marshall]], one of nine
Associate Justices.

But using the black national proportion of 12 per cent for 1966 as a base
index, the relationship of this proportion to negroes' total political participa-
tion in the Federal legislative, executive, and judiciary branches of govern-
ment can be assessed. It is important to keep in mind the national propor-
tions of 11 per cent in any kind of analysis of black political activity.

U.S. Congress, 1966

Of 435 U.S. Representatives elected to the 89th Congress in 1966, only
siz, or 1.3 per cent, were black. (Compare this proportion, for example, to
the number of Jewish Congressmen. In 1966, Jews comprised 3 per cent of
the population -- 5,600,000 out of 200,000,000 -- and also constituted 3 per
cent (15 Jewish Congressmen) of the Congress.

Of one hundred Senators, one, or 1 per cent, was black (the first to be
elected since 1881).