Seeking a Share of Power in Charles County
Washington post

As number of blacks increase in some counties,they want to participate more in their counties’ affairs.For example, in Charles county population has grown 25 percent from 2000 to 2003. Now there ,the African American have formed 30 percent of the county’s population , according to census.
In comparison to past, the blacks in this county are not bonded to a certain neighborhood. Edith Patterson who has come here 31 years ago satisfies this fact. However , in political issue, this county has never had a black county commissioner or state legislator, so the county’s black leaders intend to clear the barriers.According to demographers and census , the face of Charles county has started to change.Many new families who have come here are professional. More than half of black households have incomes above $50000. Seventy percent of them are married couples with children. The demographers say that blacks came here to avoid poverty. Most of them want bigger houses, better neighborhood,good schools like any middle class people.Also the African American seek for higher political position not only in county and state but also in government.For example,a democrat delegate, Van T. Mitchell resigned to become deputy secretary of the state Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. A controversy on replacing him happened among commissioners.The blacks accused the white member of county’s commission to bias a white for election but Patterson, herself as candidate for the position, called this claim absurd, because in some communities like school board and party control committee have some black members.
Yet,the Ku Klux Klan rally among themselves to plan agaist blacks to make barriers for them not to get more power.
It remindes old black figures the time when they were being blocked from some public places or picking up by school bus and …
One of them says: “ Things haven’t changed that much here.I see them ( The KKK members ) kind of going backwards.”