Negro Demands And Vietnam Poll Issues

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31521, 8 November 1967, Page 21

Negro Demands And Vietnam Poll Issues

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) NEW- YORK, November 7. Millions of Americans across the country will vote today in local elections against a background of increasing Negro political awareness and desire for power.

Negroes are expected to turn out in unprecedented numbers in an attempt to unseat officials they regard as unsympathetic and gain toeholds in local offices. The main focus of attention will be on the industrial Middle West cities of Gary, Indiana, and Cleveland, Ohio, where Negro politicians are trying to become the first members of their race to hold the post of Mayor in major centres. Racial violence is simmering below the surface in Gary where there have been charges of faked white voters’ names on the rolls, and Indiana National Guardsmen and State police are standing by ready to move in. San Francisco will vote on whether United States troops

should be immediately withdrawn from Vietnam—the first such referendum in a major American city. Officials predicted a turn-out as high as 82 per cent of the 317.000strong electorate in the municipal elections, which have an anti-Vietnam war proposition on the ballot paper. The controversial proposition, which calls for “an immediate cease-fire and withdrawal of United States troops from Vietnam,” has attracted widespread attention as a test of voter reaction to President Johnson’s policies. Known as Proposition P. the measure would have no legal force if approved, but would place the people of San Francisco on record as being in direct conflict with the Administration’s position. In the first such referendum held in Dearborn. Michigan, a year ago, citizens voted against withdrawal by

a handsome majority. Supporters of Proposition P have conducted an intensive and well-organised campaign in its favour, but there has been no such co-ordinated drive from its opponents. Among those in favour were 100 “San Francisco Chronicle” editorial employees, a majority of the staff. They bought a “vote yes” advertisement in their own newspaper, whose editorial policy is against the proposition. A group of 125 inter-nationally-known figures, including the Beatles, John Lennon and Paul McCartney and Jean-Paul Sartre, the French philosopher, have also endorsed the proposition.