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STATEMENT ON THE OPENING OF CONGRESS by The Urban Coali t ion Janu ary 12 , 1968 As the new year begins and the second session of the 90th Congress convenes , The Urban Coalition reaffirms its call for recor,nition of the compellin g ne e ds of the people of ou r nation's cities and for imme diate and positive action to meet those needs, No lon ger can this country tolera te the serious unemployment , housing deficiencies, educat ional dispar i tie s and urban decay which pl ague ur b an America . The Urban Co a lit i on c a ll s upon Ameri c an citi ze n s to ins i st that this session of Congres s e n a c t t he l egi sl ati on n e ce s sary t o res to r e health to our cit i es, The n ati on can ~o l on ger i gnore t he in t o l erable cond it ions of life whi ch cripp l e t oo many of our f e llow citizen s and induce t he widespread di s content and d i .s orde r wh i ch have erupte d year a ft er year, warning Americ a th a t i t is not me eting its re sponsibilities t o its own peop l e. The Urban Coalition, b r oa dly re pres ent ative of American busi ne s s , l ab or , re li gion , c i vil r i gh t s and loca l government, pl e dr,es its fi rm and con tinued s upport f o r a re-ordering of nat ion al prio r ities and a commi tment o f nation al re s our ce s equal to mee ti ng t he s e r e s pons i bilities . The substantial number of communities forming counterpart Urban Coal it ion s all over the country is strong evidence that the ci tizens of our urban areas share the Urban Coalition's concern and its commitment. With the commitment of its citizens this nation has the capacity now to resolve its urban problems o �