King Supporters

Ten Harvard students gathered in the Freshman Union last night to express support for Boston mayoral candidate Melvin H. King.

A spokesman for King addressed the meeting, sponsored by the student-run Mal King Support Committee, urging the students to become involved in this campaign as well as the entire political process.

"Pulling in students is at the top of our agenda," said Juanita B. Wade, head of the Boston Community Coordinating Committee, which supports King.

Waded added that King, the campaign's only Black candidate, has a strong chance of winning the October 11 preliminary election.

She explained that many former non-voters have registered to vote. Approximately 60,000 Bostonians are registered to vote, said Wade, adding that a third of these are from the Black community.

"This is astronomical," she said, explaining. "We're going for first place in the primary--we want [candidate David I.,] Finnegan to understand whom he's up against."

Wade and some of the students present at the meeting explained that for a long time, Boston minority-group members have been urged to "go for what's feasible" because Boston was supposedly too racist to elect King.

In this case, Wade said, people are looking at issues and who can do the most for their community.

Melissa A. Milligan '84 said that King's campaign is "getting Black people interested again," She added. "A lot of his strength is in newly registered voters. They've registered because they've finally found a candidate who isn't just blowing a lot of hot air."