Southern Changes Article

    !rSPr*t Up- Dentpn

l-<-f*---'rel-ar-
- =:nSas Su-n I liking F:rs Strom Thurmond's
rnorron ,rf e rhree billion dollar plutonium blender-

'ctor el South Carolina's Savannah Biver Plant where
ree reactors already produce the weapons grade
rionium that goes into all US \uclear warheads and
nbs. "I believe that this reactorvill be important to
r nation's production of weaPons ial and an asset

he state of South Carolina," saYs T "provided
,t environmental concerns sre pro[
' ppily, Thurmond'e cautionary quibb

addressed."
no new

nd concern for ecology but comes as a lsalve
the embarrassingly unpatriotic di res of two
lanla Catt*titutiatt rewrters that residenb near the

,vannah River Plani have a much higher thil normal
lidence of Polycythemia vera, 8 rare blood $isease
,ked to radiation exposure. \,.
Other Southern congressmen have also begun to\oat

, the rising pragmatic tide. SenatorJ. BennettJohnsftn
t-ouisiani a Democratic member of the Appropriation\.

'rmmittee, offers the Multiple Launch Roctet System, a\
,,rbile Army weapon that fires adozen rockets a minute
' targets eighteen miles away' He seeks as much of the
,.rr billion dollar systcm for his state as he can swing'
In Florida. SL Petersburg's Republican Congressman

ill Young, noting that the bikini swimsuit was a spinoff
the atomic testing once done in the Pacific, has

'oposed that a five hundred square mile section of the

.r'erglades National Wilderness be set aside as a testing

.nge for the new generation of weapons' His eye, and the

es of several Florida retailers, are fixed on the job-

tating and commercial possibilities of the inevitable
shion aftershock. Already, designers are toying with
'ototypes of the "Everglaze," a kind of permanent rain-
rd swimwear fused to the skin.

Even North Carolina Senators Helms and East are

"We like to close all our shows with a sacred
rmber." So spoke the leader of minimalist roc nd Po'

hite Noise one recent night as it rolled th Atlanta
,rrn Japhct, Georgia, lingering in a
rough to deliver the lyrics:

bar long

I'd nrl.her di,e a red lizard's deulh a limh
Thun oacutd in lhut h eloud.*

l,uckily, Scnator Nunn and
,:rdership ncver hcard thia chcap
'isaffected bunch of street jere iahs. In the land of
romise, I w&y was opening, was the growth
,rrlustry of the 80's and M h the final index
,f productivity. The bacon
oost.

ld yet come home bo

"Lizard On A Limb," in lieu of copyright, Sqttare Root
\Iusin, 1982,

Disarmament Calendar
JanuarY 22

Montgomera, AL. State-wide Conference on the Nuclear
Weapons Freezei skills and issues workshops; economic
impact of the nuclear freezei focus on Alabama/Mississippi.
King Memorial Church on Dexter Avenue, 10:00 a.m.'4:00
p.m.
Contact:

January 2
Atlanta, G4. National Jobs ith Peace Conference:
strategy planning for comi year; plans for April Jobs

With Peace Week; skills issues workshops.
Atlanta University Comp{ex.
Contact Jobs Wi National Conference

c/o A.F
92P Avenue, N.E.
Atl GA 30303

Don Slocum
35 Gaillard Drive
Tuskegee, AL 36083
(205\ 727-8300

586-0460

February 4-6
p. Nuclear Weapons Freeze National
strategy planning for coming Year;
aining; skills and issues workshop.
rersity.
Nuclear Weapons Freeze Conference
c/o A.F.S.C.

win Mississir
ultimately l
population m.
even the excr'
consideration
Congressman
in the newly '
Robert Clark

Robert t'
campaign. In
Mississippi l.
eerved with
Education Ct,
brought to tl
earned trust,
organizations
leadership thr,
(twelve hund:
attributable t,

The Distr,

t't. 
(

sr. ',.4,

Con f
Orga
St. Lou
Contact:

\;;ffi;;;t Avenue, N.E.
\tl"nt", GA 30303

t\) sao-oaoo

from every Con
people to press the Ho

)mpromising mood-as a kind of living, flami Nuclear Weapons F reezei
onument of the sort Representative McDonald
,r'Etowah Mounds.

Contact: Karin Fierke
rg
at

'ashington, D.C.
March 7-8
ational Lobby for a U.S./Soviet

Nuclear Weapons F ; goal to have at least one Person
district; gather thousands of

of Representatives for a

ining program.

Nuclear We reeze Clearinghouse
4144 Lindell Bou rd, Suite 404

St, Louis, MO 63108
(314) 633-1169

ou/ clccte.d Southcrn
*y'o[ of a rrong frorn thitr

Delta Politics and
the Almost Possible

a'

By RIMS BARtsER

During the recent redistricting process, black leaders

felt that it would be impossible for a black candidate to

Rim.s Barber is projecl director firr the Childrens' I)efen"se

Fund in, Mrssfssrppi. He i.s a nemher of the Southent
Regirm.ul Cwreil antl has been. u.ctit,e in citt il righis isruea

in Mi"ssissippi lor eighteen aear$.

I

Southern Changes

(1,
Ar
I\'
(.r
(:1,

C.

llr,
H.,
Hu
rts
Le,
L,"

'(7
January/February 1983 January/Februarl



I

i w-in Mississippi's Second Congressional District as itultimately came to be drawn. The narrow black
population majority makes victory a very long shot for
even the exceptional eampaign conducted with careful
consideretion of racial relationships. yet when Delta
Congressman David Bowen chose not to seek re-election
in the newly drawn district, black stat€ representative
Robert Clark ran and almost won. .- -:'--j:

Robert Olark was an ideal candidate for the
campaign. In lg6T he became the first blsck elected to the
Mississippi legislature since Reconstruction. He has
served with distinction as Chairman of the House
Education Committee. Clark has name recognition. He
brought to the campaign political experience that had
earned trust, solid relations with education and tabor
organizations and a claim on the white Democratic
leadership that few could match. The closeness of the race
(twelve hundred votes out of f46,000) was in large part
attributable to the qualities of the candidate himse*.

The District is 68.4% black in overall population.

Black voting age population is forty-eight percent.
Estim-ates of registered voters sho* blacli strength atforty-four percent. This means that it wili tat<e a solid
black vote, at or neer record proportions, and a high white
crossover vote for a black Democratic cendidatc to win. In
Mississippi, black candidates under most circumstances
may expect to garner only two to three percent of the
white vote. Clark reeeived twelve to thirteen percent of
the white vote.

- Considering the closeness ofthe race, almost any shift
of counties during reapportionment would heve made asignificant difference. Hed the district not beengerrymandered to preserve the incumbency of First
District Congressman Jamie Whitten, Tallahatchie
County could have been traded for the two whitest
counties (Choctaw and Webster) and Clerk could have
won. He lost these two small counties by more than the
difference between himself and the winner, Republican
Webb Franklin. In similar fashion, Franklin won
Waren County by more than the final difference

I
I

I

i
r!

l

]

Ii-

{,,

r -- 1.... \'.I 1L:'1 :o":1""#q;
r,ii *:*i
l*--- /

r4osl -/--
YArOO /

."-i*f ,

ffE
)o" lr*l v'-

i--'d' I of,

h":jt.ttl;,"*, $.-, 1,9!a5,J ,.

#.qr,i;

ffi
ATIAI.A

The Second District

BLACK POPULATION

c1 :-L. .. . . .l

I i iJrirUd : :/' 1t 33Ol..)--.-

BLACK POPULAT1ON AS A
PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL

POPULATION
.

Pcrccnt
tt.9
10.9
56.0
65.? ',

62.0
5?.3
73.0 ., 37.1
55.6
19,6
5t,1

County
Attale
Boltvrr
Crrroll
Choctaw
Coahomr
Hinde
Holmes
Humphreya
lccequcnr
Lcflore
Lcake

Meps end tablc

Pcrccnt
39, I
62,t
15.3
28. I
64.0
15.1
7l .l
65.6
55.6
59. I
3,1.8

County
Mrdiron
Montgomcry
Qpltmrn
Sharkey
Sunflower
Trllehrtchic
Tunico
lVrrren
Veshlngon
Web,cter
Yazoo

prcpared by MarSe Manderson of thc SRC rtcff.

January/February 19g3 Southern Changes



between the candidates. A splitof Warren,similar tothat
made for state legislative districts would have shifted
enough votes, as would a trade that put a small portion of
northern Hinds into the Second District.

Victory in the spring, 1982, Democratic primary was
erucial. Clark won without a runoff although he had little
more than one thousand white votes. A runoff would have
been disastrous: there would have been little time to
mobilize additional black voters, white support that
appeared in the general election would not have
materialized for the runoff, and further racial polarization
within the party would have occurred. There is a high
probability that Clark would have lost a runoff and that
blacks would have bolted the Democratic party.

The November general election attracted the second
best black voter turnout ever; the highest occurred in the
1980 Presidential election. This time the vote was
approximately ninety percent of that record turnout,
with between 65,000 and 67,000 black voters. It was
thirty percent higher than the turnout for the last off-year
election, in which Charles Evers was the drawing card
for the black electorate. Approximately forty-two
percent of the voting age population of blaeks turned out
while in 1980 it was forty-five percent. Anything over
sixty thousand is exceptional in this geographical area.

The black vote went overwhelmingly for Robert Clark
by a margin of ninety-four percent, slightly less than the
ninety-six percent bloc vote that Jimmy Carter received
in 1980.

There were however, some areas of black weakness.
Five counties, historically low in turnout, had less than
forty percent of their black voting age populati<ln to vote:
Coahoma, Sunflower, Tunica, Warren and Washington.
Sunflower had the lowest at twenty-eight percent. These
five counties contain about forty percent of the black
voting age population in the District. Clearly, there is
need for voter registration work.

There was a strong white turnout, about ten thousand
more voters than had been predicted. As a percentage of
the white voting age population, the turnout was about
forty-eight percent (compared with fifty-seven percent in
the 1980 Presidential race). Approximately 81,000 whites
voted (compared to 95,000 in 1980 and seventy thousand
in 1978). Doubtless, racial overtones helped the white
turnout.

Robert CIark received about twelve to thirteen
percent of the white vote. This varied from over twenty
perccnt in counties like Attala and Wobster to five and six
percent in Coahoma, Leflore and 'Iunica. In the l{ill
counties, it appears that Clark received a better white
vote in rural areas than in the towns. In the Delta, Clark
did better in towns than in rural areas. The work of
otlucation unrl lnllor groulls tn(l th(t I)cnrocrntic pnrty
palrl oll wl[h rigrrlllcllnt nurnlxrrt of wlrll.ru votlng for Iho
candiduto regtrrllorx of rrtcrr, 'l'lrlt wtx r ltruvrr llrtt ttop
for rcvorlrl l,hountnrl wlritc votoru.

The white vote in the District, however, has become
increaningly Ilepulrlicnn over the Jrunt few yertrs.'l'hir hts
been moet pronounr:cd when thcre han been t high white
turnout; almost all of the adrlcrl turnout hts becn
Republican. llistorically, the ratio of Democrats to
Republicans among white voters has been one to two.

Over the last half dozen years, this has shiftcd to one
Democrat for every three Republican whites. And in
i982, half of this diminished number of Democrats voted
Ilepublican.

A close contest is painful to lose and prompts a lotof
second guessing. But the challenge in the Second District
of Mississippi is to build the coalition that can bring
victory and adequale representation for the District's
peoplF. Certainly, some factors would heve made the
difference in November's outcome:

o Had the District been constituted with a slightly
higher percentage of black voters.'

o Had the black voter turnout matched the record of
two years ago (and it might in 1984 if Reggan runs for re-
election).

o Had the black bloc vote been just two percentage
points more consistent.

o Had the white vote not been stirred by the opponent
and voted in such strong numbers.

o Had a greater number of whites been ableto leap the
racial barrier and vote their usual Democratic pattern.

Other factors, not so demonstrable, could also have
made a difference: had there been a stronger Democratic
party structure across the District; had the coalition
across racial lines been built more solidly; had there been
less fragmentation in the campaign; clearer lines of
communication, less conflict over Btrategies; had there
been more clear Democratic programmatic alternatives
consistently put before the voter; had more effort been
targeted at the weak black turnout areas.

The fact is that the election was so elose that almost
any favorable change in reapportionment, registration,
turnout or Democratic party loyalty could have altered
the results. Of particular importance, however, is a
strengthened and deepened partnership with blacks and
whites in the campaign. There are questions to answer
about campaign strategies: How can white and black
staff,be better coordinated so that both races feel a
participation and ownership in the cause? Can campaign
appeals be made to one racial community without
agitating the other-would a traditional black rally to
increase voter turnout scare off potential white voters?
How should time be budgeted to produce the best
results-how much time ought to be epent on the ten to
fifteen percent of the white vote that a black candidate
might get?

Across the lines of race there is, at present, I growing
sense of interdependcnce in Missiseippi's Second District.
Both blacks and whites are understanding that the kind
of education provided thcir children makes a difference
to everybody; that health care, from Medicare to the
building of hospitals, makoa a differenco to evorybody;
that ocotrontic dcvrrlopnront fln(l tho rurvlval ol farmlnf
nttlks tl rlifflrottcc l.o cvorylxrrly.

Orrt of llolrnln (lrrrrrrt,y in tlro Sr,corrrl l)lntrltrt ln 1082
ctrnc bo[h tlrtr lidrlic Crrthan trial and congresaional
candidate Robert Clark. Carthan's case stood for recent
bluck attcnrpt* to gtin krcal grolitical powe r in thc face of
thc long hintory of whitc Bupre macy (see,,Black Politidal
['nrticigration nnd the Challen,re of Congervatism,', in j

Soulhern Changea, August/September 1g82). Clark'sl
candidacy gave hope for a new future of inter-racial'

I

t.
ll
I
A

tt
I

.).

tl
p'
I
h,

f(

Ct

i,
it

jr
tl
tir
cl
Ct

y(
tli
tt.
Sr
U:
hr
m

s
1,,

iri

It
of
lrt
l,!
lr,

lir,
A,
i tr.
Olt

Ja

I

.ri
,1

,t

Southern Changes January/February 1983



politics. For a while, past and future came together in
Holmes County. In a room of the county courthtluse, the

Carthan csge was suspended one day so the election could

be conducted. As things turned out, Carthan w&s
acqu itted and Robert Clark lost by one percent of the total
vote. Clark saya he is "inclined to try again." I

;l

,(l

I
e

'll
l1

rf
'e

'S

n

it
,d
'r
k
:t

rt
ro
.,
-it

l()

te

rI

I,

rl

The L982 Lillian Smith Book Awards
The Southern Regional Council's a\nual Lillian Smith

Awards Luncheon was held in Atlantd'in November as a
part of the SRC's annual meeting. The \wards recognize
the year's best fiction and non-fiction p<loks about the
South. The 1982 winners were John Ehle'for The Winter

year. This is a heartening sign to those of us intefested in
the Southern arts. But only a few of them everyfear have
that undefinable quality which makes thgi'n Lillian
Smith Award winners. Both of this year's wir/ners struck
us immediately as having that quality, that rdlevance and
humanity in abundance. This is a quality which brings to
mind and keeps alive the life and work of Lillian Smith.

Lillian Smith's fame came with her first novel,
Strange Fntit, a small town story of a trdgic black-white
love affair. It sold three million copies antl was translated
into fifteen languages. It made her a spokesperson to the
world on Southern sins of race. I{er Killers ol the
Dream, a psychological analysis of the Southern system
of separation became a classic of sectional understanding
and a ringing demand for the liberation of Southerners,
black and white, male and fcmule, rich and poor from thc
bonde of segregBtion and sexism. Altlrough L,illian Smith
wrote many more bookg, I think LhaL Killera of the

People (New York: Harper and RoQ and Harry
Ashmore for Hearts and. Minda: A Histo)a of Rac'iam
from Booseoelt to Reagan (New York: IvftGraw-Hill).
Following are excerpts from remarks at th\uncheon.

Mary Frances Derfner ',

Lillian Smith, Georgia thinker, activist, authpr and
Southern Regional Council Life Member, died Sept'qmber
28, 1966, concluding a career of a Southerner whdrsaid
that she never wanted to write about race, just a\out
people. The Southern Regional Council created {re
Lillian Smith Awards shortly after Miss Smith's death (o
honor her life, her work, and her commitment, and ti1

recognize in her name those who, like her, haver, ,

contributed to our understanding of or given us new l'
insights into the Southern region, its people, itsstrengths,i' \

its problems and its weaknesses. i
The Lillian Smith Awards are given annuallv. Fi/e

judges receive from fifty to seventy-five entries and ju{re
them seeking a certain quality which is something,'fike
the Supreme Court's definition of pornographylyou
can't define it, but you know it when you've seen jt. The
committee receives many good, even fine, worl{s each

i
Dream is her best,,/the one which spotle out moet
specifically and clearJ$ what I call Lillian Smith's "whole
ball of wax" theory:fhe theo.y that the Southern system,
dominated as it iqf and was when she was writing, by
wealthy white mtrles, invariably discriminates against
those who are bL6k or female or poor or a combination of
the above. An{rthe system, said Miss Smith, would work
only so long,As those wealthy whlte males could keep
women and placks and poor folksfrom joiningforces with
one anothe/ 

:

,i Tony Dunbar . i/
.lnt/, nnt" couldn't be with us today. Lastyear's Lillian

Smit6 book award winner for fiction was Pat Conroy, who
wal'out of the cou ntry. Joh n E hle, h is publisher tells us, is

in-the country and it's reassuring to know that there bre
.f ll p1".". in the South so far back that even someone 88

.$ersistent as Mary Francis Derfner can't dig them out.
; Those of you from North Carolina may know the man.
He has been a writer of merit for twenty'five years and a

, champion of the arts in a state best known for tobacco and
l.its residue: the politics of Jesse Helms'
\ ttro book we're honoring today is called The Wintet
Reople. It's unquestionably his finest work. In a better
w[rld ruled less by literary fashions and megabucks, this
b<i$k would be a popular classic. Maybe today we can help
it i\ong in that direction.

\he Winter People is set in the North Carolina
moufitains during the Depression. It is a story of love and
violer\ce, two human capacities frequently associated
with {ountain life. But the book is something,more than
that. I\ shows us an Appalachia before there was coal,
before tlhere *ere social programs, before the world
outside tneant very much. The forces at work in Ehle'e
mountaiis are Scoitish and Irish clans who measure their
power in'1the quantity of children and the number of
timbered icres they possess. The pageantry of warlords
in homespun elothes reminds us of tales from across the
water like Lancelot, but these people in John Ehle's work
appear real to us, not mythical. Their devotion to family is

overriding and it takes no great leap of imagination to see

the body and soul of today's mountain people in Ehle'e
wonderful prose. In giying us this firstglimpse, I think, in
fiction, of the peoille who pioncered our Southorn
highlands, Ehlc has given us the year's most original
work of Southern fiction.

!1)

,,f l
rrt
rtf
irl
in

ii's
j rtl

r83

Mary l'rttn,'ae [.)erfncr ix Viar-l)rtaidenl tf tht
Soul.hern lltgtttnttl Couneil anil choirperxon ollhe Smith
Au'artle Committce. Other comntittee ,lacnrhcrs fir lg82
included Tury llunbar, John I'ophum, Wilma Dykentan
and Lottie S hackeLford.

Llarry Aehmore
A few weeks ago I encountered one of your former

executive directors, Leslie Dunbar, and was pleased to
find that he had rcad Hearte and Minde - or at least

January/February 1983 South6rn Changes