Williams Calls for Minorities To Strive for Political Unity

"The time has come for blacks to make a major thrust in the political arena," Eddie Williams, president of the Joint Center for Political Studies (JCPS), said yesterday in a talk to about 15 people in Leverett Junior Common Room.

The JCPS analyzes the extent of minority participation in given areas as a means of quantifying and documenting the impact of minorities, Williams said.

"We demonstrated conclusively that it was the black vote in 16 states that gave Jimmy Carter his decisive victory," he added.

The black vote is concentrated in key urban centers which carry large numbers of electoral votes, Williams said, adding that the electoral college benefits minority groups.

He said the JCPS also provides the training and technical assistance for black officials who often have no previous training when they enter office.

Williams added there is much potential which must be utilized before blacks will have the degree of "political clout" they need.

Williams called for the development of a "black common cause," which he described as an organization, funded and controlled within the minority community, to provide minorities with a voice in Congress.

"It's no longer good to be loud and proud--you have to have your computer print-out like everybody else," Williams said, adding, "Political participation is the new cutting edge of the civil rights movement."

One of the great weaknesses of the present civil rights movement is that there is no strong forum for dealing with impending legislation, Williams said.

Williams spoke as a guest lecturer for Mayor-elect Ernest Morial's seminar on Urban Policy, Inter-Governmental Relations: A Mayor's Dilemma.