Southern Black Elected Officials: Impact on Socioeconomic Change

Abstract

Although this is an exploratory, descriptive analysis based on perceptual, not objective, data, several general conclusions are suggested. First of all, most black city officials claimed, and a sample of white observers agreed, that they have helped provide improved services for Blacks, especially streets, water and sewage, and recreation, and to a lesser extent, police protection and public employment. These basic services are considered to be some of the most pressing problems in most black areas. Yet black officials felt severely constrained in their ability to deal with politically sensitive private sector services like housing and employment. Of greatest importance, however, are the most symbolic kinds of benefits that these officials believed they had provided. These benefits included representing black interests and needs in the political process, encouraging other Blacks to run for elected office, modifying racial steretotypes, serving as role models, and educating Blacks on how to become more politically effective. In addition, many knowledgeable whites felt that black officials served to improve race relations in their communities and sensitized white officials to black problems. This ability to effect mainly symbolic, rather than substantive, changes reflects the limits of black politics when such officials are politically inexperienced, constrained by a white council and a predominantly white electorate, and feel ineffective in improving private sector services.