TToUsfi - Freedom Archives

6 ZkmibrHe/tj^
The Chicago Mayoral Election:
A No-Win
This past April, after a two month campaign
marked by racist hysteria — described by one
observer as being "like one long, continuous Klan
rally" — Harold Weishington was elected as
Chicago's first Black mayor. The city was
thrown into turmoil as 80% of the white
Democrats crossed party lines to vote for tfie
white RepLfoUcan candidate, Bernard Epton, while
an unprecedented number of Black voters, along
with a large coalition of progressive/left white
groups and individuals, turned out to vote
Washington into office. The national Democratic
party threw its weight behind Washington, while
the local Democratic machine balked at the idea
of a Black reform-oriented candidate and
supported Epton.
The Washington campaign and election had an
impact far beyond Chicago. The depth of white
racism that was displayed drew national
atteitkjn. Washir^jton's vkrtory has sparked voter
registration drives in Boston srid other cities, and
progressive coeilitkms are forming to campaign
for Black Democratk: candidates. 3ssse Jackson
is conducting his Southern crusade for voter
registration (meeting with the lUcss of George
Wallace) and promoting the idea of a Black
Presdential candidate.
While many have hailed Washington's victory as
an advance for the Black struggle and for all
progressive people, it is our opinion that the
campaign was in fact a blow to progressive
stri^gle. l*4ow that the election is over and the
smoke has cleared somewhat, Chicago is left
with two big problems. On the one hand we
now have a significantly more organized and
more blatantly racist white commuruty. And cn
the other hand the Blac^ community and the
pn^pessive white movement is now united behind
a strategy of seddng to bring an end to racism
and exploitation through the electoral process —
through working within the very system which
thrives on the oppression of Third WorW people
and the e^qploitation of all working dass people.
A BREEDING CSROUND FOR THE fCLAN
Situation
Radst propaganda distrixited by Chicago polioei
spurring on the racist offensive. Aldermen
treated the existence of a Black Democratic
candidate as a crisis and opted for the white
candidate. Since Washington's election the
"Machine" has continued its fight for white
power and for the ability to maintain their
extensive patronage system that Washington is
threatening to dismantle. Twenty-nine white
Democrats led by "machine" leader Edward
Vrdolyak formed a hloci< to attempt to control
the City Council. At the first City Council
meeting that Washington presided over,
Washington adjourned the meeting prematurely.
The "Vrdolyak 29" then took over the council
and appointed their people to all of the
important chairmanship positions. The 29 had
COB
Chicago is now a fatile breedff^ gromd for the
KKK and other white stpremacist a-ganizations.
It has maffiy white 'ethnic' neighborhoods which
have stayed all-white throu^ a combinatkxi of
official police vfolence, city government policies
and vigilante attacks. Last summer three Black
men who dared enter the all-white neighborhood
of Bridgeport were attacked; one was
deliberately nn over by a car and then brutally
beaten with a baseball bat. A week later when
a small groip of Black and white demonstrators
marched through Bridgeport to protest tills racist
attack, over one hundred white Bridgeport
residents came out to wave posters that the
Nazis had handed out which said "N-»--r
Beware" and "White Power." There have been a
number of white power rallies in Chicago in
recent years. There are several KKK and Posse
Comitatus chapters around Chicago and
throughout Illinois, and Nazis and a neo-Nazi
groiq> called the "America First Committee"
operate openly. In southern Illinois the
"Christian Patriots Defense League" has a
paramilitary training camp and has trained
hundreds of white people in preparatton for "the
coming race war." These groi^ have done tiieir
best to promote racist hysteria around the
Washington election and are taking advantage of
the opportunity to recruit new people to their
organizations.
In the face of this right-wing onslaight, many
white peopte took to wearing Washington buttons
to symbolize their opposition to the racism that
was sweeping throt^ their communities. Otfiers
were moved to join Washington's campaign.
Altho^ ttie motives briiind tiiese actions were
well-intended, it is unfortunate that the
anti-racist sentiment was expressed in support
for Washirgton, for there is no evidence that the
election of a Black mayor will bring about any
significant progressive change.
Four hundred years of violent repression
against the Black liberation struggle has diown
us that if Harold Washir^ton's election was any
significant threat to the status quo then we
wcxild not have seen his victory at the polls.
We would not have seen the constant parade of
Democratk: national bigwigs like Mondale and
Kennedy coming to Chicago to lend their support
for Wa^ir^ten. Were Wadiir^ton fvmdamentally
challengir^ the system that denies Black people
their humjin rights, then Chicago's business
community would not have endorsed his
nor would the leading local
Democratic primary, masses of white tife-lor^
Democrats flocked to Repii>lkan headquarters to
carr^jaign for Epton. As the campaign developed
there appeared tiroughout the white communities
many different racist flyers that urged white
people to vote for Epton. Some of these flyers
were from local Denrxjcrat precinct captains who
referred to Epton as "our great white hope."
Others appeared to come from organized white
supremacist grouos like the Klan and Nazis:
these referred to Black people in derogatory
terms 'such as "baboons"), degraded Black
culture, and warned of the terror that would
stafl< the stteets of Chicago if Washington were
elected. The slogan "Vote White - Vote Right"
appeared on t-shirts and posters. Shortly after
the primary, some psteons of a white southwest
side bar huig Washington in effigy. A niob of
Epton supporters, aUong with a contingent two weeks later. Ir^^^i^«s* ade bar
: orrlelection night the patrons ^^^te