ENPages
1
December 5, 1969
Dear Sirs:
The excellent article (NR, December 6, 1969) by James David Barber and David R. Mahew omits one fairly new organization which, while not trying to move "From the Streets to the Polls" is at least trying to move disenfranchised Southern poor black and white people from the sharecropper's shack to the courthouse.
This organization is the Southern Elections Fund, a nonpartisan, independent political funding group whose board - and dispersing agency - includes Hon. Shirley Chisholm, Hon. John Conyers, Dr. John Ca[illegible]in, attorney Charles Morgan, Dr. Channing Phillips, and myself.
The fund's purpose is to help finance the campaigns of those Southern candidates for public office who meet the qualifications set by the Board. To date, we have aided successful candidacies in Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, South Carolina. We have supported losing - but worthwhile - candidates in Tennessee, Virginia, and Texas.
We have chosen to concentrate largely on non-urban campaigns, and on campaigns below the Congressional level. This means, of course, that we are involved with funding candidates who may spend less than $500 in a victorious race, and where the Fund's contribution may mean the difference between victory and defeat.
New Republic readers who wish to contribute or learn more about the Southern Elections Fund can SEND contributions or inquiries to the Southern Elections Fund, Inc., Freedom National Bank, New York, N. Y.
Sincerely,
Julian Bond
The Editors
NEW REPUBLIC
1244 19th Street, Northwest
Washington, D. C. 20036