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ECONOMIC OPPORTUN I TY ATLANTA, INC. 101 MARIETTA STREET BLDG. ATLANTA, GEORGIA 30303 525-4262 C. O. EMMERICH AOMINIST R ATOR September 12, 1966 CONFIDENTIAL Mr. Dan E. Sweat, Jr. Director of Governmental Liaison City of Atlanta City Hall Atlanta, Georgia 30303 Dear Dan: A committee called on me this morning along with representatives from one of our projects suggesting ways in which our city might help quieten our people. Rev. Albert R. Dreisbach, Jr. and a young Negro Baptist preacher were the ones that did most o f the talking. The first thing they said probably the Mayor should do is to quit playing the part of a hero. They are afraid he might be hurt and it could cause a real riot. They suggested that the Mayor quit telling the m about our great city and what we hope to accomplish. This calls for a high degree of reasoning on their part and at the present the people are acting from emotional upset and fright . They said the Mayor s hould stop calling on the Summit Leadership and several l eaders such a _s Re v. Borders a nd Rev. King, Sr. He claims the young people are not impressed and assume they are speaking for the white people . They further sugges t e d that the police try to be less aggressi v e. �Mr. Sweat -2- September 12, 1966 They also wanted to know why the Georgia Baptist Hospital was not used to help the boys in trouble. They also suggested the Mayor quit blaming all of this on SNCC as there are a lot of people that also dislike SNCC that are emotionally involved and the more he persecutes SNCC at this time the more these people will come to the aid of SNCC. At one time they even suggested that they wished Carmichael was out of jail. One of the main ·stories they were fussing about was that two Grady ambulances came to the rescue of the police but almost ignored the Negroes that had been shot. The nex t thing they pointed out is that the Mayor has not e xpressed great concern about the second Negro that is wounded. This is what is bothering the community. Some think he has died. Frankly , these are things that most anyone could tell y ou, however, when I pressed them for positive things they could only suggest five ideas which they think may work. 1. Have the Mayor report often b y TV, radio and newspaper on his concern for the second wounded Ne gro. Give as much proo f as possible that he is still doing well, etc. 2. Have the May or make himsel f available for some of the members to come in and gripe to him . They feel at this time some of these people need to ventilate (?) on t h ei r own . It would only mean the Mayor would listen to some o f these peop l e and really let th e m te l l t he t h e sto ry . 3. Have t he May or i n vestigate why th e ambul ances did n ot a rri ve to pick up t he Negro b o ys (i f t hi s is t r ue) . 4. Try t o p ick up some quick succes s s t o ri es o f t h i ng s that are b e i n g ac complished right n ow . 5. Have repo rts come o u t o ft e n o n the det e ctives e fforts on trying t o find the murderers . Let it b e known by all the pre ss media that eve ry effo rt is being made . �Mr. Sweat -3- September 12, 1966 I realize there is not a thing said here that you are not aware of already, but since this was the consensus of the group I thought I would send it on to you. Under separate letter I am giving you a report on some of the things we are now doing. Sincerely yours, C. O. Emmerich �