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Agenda For Racial Harmony 10-Point Individual Plan Illustrates Ways to Help By NAT WELCH �This article was written at the request of the editorial staff of the Atlanta Journal and was published on its editorial page. The Community Relations Commission believes that this IO-point Plan is worthy of wide distribution in the Atlanta com munity and has made available this reprint for use by civic , church and service organizations . Dr. Samu el W. Williams, Chairman Community Relations Commission

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mAbout i the Forum Writer II I " tiv:~}:'cf!rC~f istheexe~~: ! lanta Community Re/a- ;i,;, tions Commission which @ is charged with the re- =t M sponsibility of fostering f: t! f~: fl, I: :.: \:::.,:::~:<1:dt:· 1 ~ THE JOURNAL F,ORUM ibt.Atlnnfn 1!aurnnl Saturday, May 17, 1969 �The foremost problem America faces at home is the urba n crisis . Regardless of where I make that statement in Atlan ta , few disagree with it. The urban crisis is rea.J. It is m ?re tha n deteriorating buildings and open spaces. It is a human condition. Atlanta is known as a proVISIT THE Hungry Club at gressive city. It has attained the Butler Street YMCA. This a favorable national reputais probably the mo?t stimu)attion because its people have ing luncheon club 1~ the city. been willing to change , espeSpeakers since the first of the cially in regard to race relayear have included Mayor tions. The city is now fa ced Ivan Allen, form er Gov. Carl with the challenge of improvSanders, Julian Bond, local ing on t hat r eputat ion or fallNAACP President L o n n i e ing a way from it. King, Dr. John Letson , Human relations must be SCLC's Andrew Young and improved between white peoDona ld Hollowell . ple and black people-not

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only on a group basis but as DRIVE THROUGH some of an individual. An individual the upper income Negr o r esiusually has a feeling of good d e n t i a I areas as Collier will toward his fe llow-man Heights and P eyton Forest in but has little knowledge of t he Cascade area. You will what helpful role he can persee that Atlanta has a subform to make it a visible stailltial nwnber of m iddle and reality. upper income Negroes w~o Here are 10 specific suggestake pride in home ownership tions : just as any other comparable group . BE INFORMED on what is

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happening in regard to local ENCOURAGE YOUR busiurban problems. ness or professio na\ organizaREAD THE Report of the tion tc, expand its Negro Natio nal Advisory Commism embershi p. The A t I a n t a sion on Civil Disorder s. We Chamber of Commerce took need to understand m ore t he initial step some ten about the problems. This is yea rs ago . This wa y lawyer s one of the most important get to . know la wyers a nd presidential Commission reteachers get to know teachers ports ever made. If you can't as persons and prejudice wade through the severalfa des. hundred page paper back ed!* tion, an excellent 30-page diLEARN TO pr onounce t he gest is available. word "Negro" correctly. The word is pronounced "kneeTAKE A tour of some of grow." This is d ifficult for a our economically depr essed white Southerner who has a reas and let the local resigrown up saying "Nigra." If dents tell what they are doing you can' t pronounce it r orto improve t heir lot. These rectly, just say black since tours are sponsored by Ecoboth are accept~ble. The term no mic Opportunity Atlanta fo r " colored person" is old hat. individuals and groups. ArProper titles are also very r angements ca n be mad~ by important. calling Mrs. Mary Lou MitchVISIT ANOTHER church. ell ,at 525-4262. Four members of the Commu-

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nity Relations Commi ssion are outsta nding ministers. They are the Rev. Sam Williams, pastor of the F r iend~ ship Baptist Church ; Rabbi Jacob Rothschild of the Temple · Dr. R. E . Lee, pastor of the ' Lutheran Church of the Redeemer · a nd Dr. J ohn Randolph 'T aylor, minister _of t he e n t r ,a 1 Presbyterian Church. Visitors ar e welcomed as in other Atlanta churches . ATTEND A . lecture or concert at the Atlanta University Cente r , E mo ry University, Georgia State or one of Atlanta 's severa l other institutions of higher learning. Become exposed to some new ideas a nd new people. The two most interesting lectures my wife a nd I hea rd last year were those of John K. Galbraith and Walter Heller at the Atlanta University Center. And when the Atlanta Symphony was doing a spec ial series at Spellman College, a friend remarked, " They m ight as well be play·i ng at Dahlonega as far a s most Atlanta ns are concerned." JOIN AN inter-racial disc ussion group . This sma ll m ovement was sta rted last year by Dr. a nd Mrs. Joseph A. Wilber. Four white couples a nd fo ur Negro couples meet once a month fo r a n evening of discussion . The host selects the subject which might be a community problem or a personal prejudice. One participa nt rem arked, " These are pretty fra nk discussions. After three or four sessions, you don't look on each other as white or black but as individua ls." There are now over 100 persons in Atlanta involved. After a year the group splits up into two or three groups. c THE PLACE to sta rt improving human r elations . is where you are- your neighborhood, your school, your church, your business and the organizations with which y~u are a ffili ated. If a person 1s trea ted with genuine dignity and respect, he will respond in kind. If trea tment is second class, this is what ca n be expected in return. A homemaker can start by paying domestic help the m inimum wage of $1.60 a nd seeing tha t the employe's qua r te rly social security fo r m is fil ed.

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WHAT ELSE can be done?

One institution that needs to be revived in Atlanta is the neighborhood orga nization or group. We have lost the " neighbor hood cohesiveness" tha t is so impor tant. White m iddle and upper income neighborhood groups tend to becom e defensive mechanisms to insulate t he · neighbor hood from the rest of the city. In so doing we tend to develop sterile neighborh o o d s. The neighborhood needs to relate to the city. The disadvantaged nei ghborhoods a re m aking substa ntial progress by strengthening their neighborhood groups through local leadership with t he help of EOA, Model Cities, and the Community Relations Commission.

THE GRANT Par k area is an encoura ging example. It was selected by CRC as the a rea in which to initiate their 1969 Town Hall meeting program . The usual procedure _i~, first , a m eeting with the c1t1ze ns to get their idea s on what their problems a re a nd , then a follo w-up meeting in . which City Hall officials re) port on actions taken in res ponse to the citi ze ns. The fir st meeting was on a cold Ma rch night with a rather slim crowd a t the Jerome Jones School in Gra nt P a rk . The public offi cials almost outnumbered the ci tize ns. The crowd tr ipled at the fo llow-up meEtin g held r ecentl y. A to tal of five alderm en two sta te represe ntative; , eight city depar tment officials and five members of CRC pa r ticipated in these two m eetings.

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THE CALIBER of leade rship shown by the Gra nt P a rk citizens impressed m e tremendous ly. Both white and black citizens and white a nd black elected offic ia ls showed dignity a nd respect for one another and an earnest desire to move on with solving the community problems at ha nd. Cecil Alexa nder, head of the Mayor's Housing Resources Committee, has stated, ":'- l· lanta no longer has the choice of beng a white or a black cily. The choice is either to be a bl ack city or a n mtegrated city. " These two Town Hall meetings pro duced stron g ev idcn_c e th at the citize ns . . . wh ite and bla ck . . . have made their choice. Grant Park is their , home and th ey ar e going to stay there_ and bt~ld a great commumty agam. Model Cities, assisted by CRC is m aking a valuable cont;ibution in helping deve lop this indigenous leadershi p. ,:, * * LET US hope that as other neighborho ods move into transition they will foll ow the exampl~ of the r esurgi ng leadership in Gra nt P ark. �Dr. Samuel W. Williams, Chairman Vice Mayor Sam Massell , Jr ., Ex-Officio COMMISSION MEMBERS Mr . T. M. Alexander, Sr. Mr. R. Byron Attridge Mrs. Sara Baker Miss He len Bullard Mr. R. J. Butler Mr . Mik e C he a tha m Rep. Jam e s E. De an Mr. Robe rt Dobbs Re p. C. G. E zzard Mr. L. L. Gellers tedt , Jr. Mr. Charles Hart Dr. Robe rt E. L ee Mrs. F. W. Patte rson Rabbi J acob M. Rothschild Mr. Paul Shie ld s Mr. L. D. Simon Mr s. Ma cy Ste phe ns Dr . J. Randolph Taylor Rev . J. A. Wilborn Mr. Willi a m McGee, Ex-Officio Atla nta Youth Congress Mr. Nat We lch Exec uti ve Director C ITY OF ATLANTA C OMMUNITY R E LATIONS C OMMIS SION ME MORI A L DRI VE ANNEX BLD G . 121 ME MORI A L DRI VE, S. W. 5 22 -44 63 �