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i I -L ) PRESS RELEASE Yarch .31, 1967 Dr. A. M. Davis, President Atlanta Branch of the .NAACP 522~0791 er 524-8054 We are presently faced with the need t o publicly express our problems t • the vast populus of Atlanta. We have tried previously to ir9n eut cur fi •• diffixulties with letters and ether approaches, but to no avail. We refer specifically to the urgent pressing problems relative t o public housing location and our efforts tc settle some of these problems with the r-"ayor, the Atlanta Housing Authority and the H111using Res ources _ Cemmlttee. Atlanta new has 9,394 public housing units (C ampletted and under c1nstruction). Of this number, the ge ographic l ocati on ls as follows: &J; ~? i~ Northwest - 4~902 (43,56%) Southwest - 3,681 (39.18%) Southeast ~ 1,621 (17, 26%) --~-- Northeast ... 9,394 100% This reveals that nearly 83 percent of all of the public housing is l~cated en the Westside of Atlant a while there are none in existence in the Northeast sectlcn, This example of racial segre gation ls indeed ~PP?_1iir_o~, This, of course, ls not as demoralizing (as bad as it is) as the new information we have received . There ls a new project under consideration in the Skipper Drive 1Harwell Rcad-B~nkhead Avenue area whi ch will further saturate the already saturated area. �\; -2- In addition to this, there are other project sites under consideration which will include the same geographic area. The NAACP has sponsored 2 Housing conferences trying very eagerly to aid in the disposition of numerous problems relative to the housing program. At the :first conference we invited the Mayor, Cecil Alexander of the Housing Resources Committee and representatives from the Atlanta Housing Authority as well as members of the Federal Housing Administration . as called. The FHA representatives responded Ma lcolm Jones, representing the Housing Resources Committee c ame a nd helped where he could but wa s unable to re a lly answer for the Mayor or the Housing Authority. Our s e cond conference repe a ted our attempt to get answers to our que stions a s well as interpre t the attitude s a nd thinking of the Negro population. Aga i n, we were unsuccessful in getting "in- per son" representation . We, in a "las t res or t at t empt" , wr ote the Mayor a l e t ter (Sent copies to Housing Authori ty a nd othe r ass oc i a t ed a gencies ) i nf orm,;. ing him of our p ositi on and ma de a despera te plea f or a c onference with him so we could better interpret these attitudes. We wrote the letter on March 21st and as of this da te, March 31st, we have not been provided the courtesy of a reply. The Negro citi zens are impatient to this "slow - to- respond" action and when turbulence transpires every one wonders why. �I 1 i L -3- Atlanta cannot continue perpetuating the existence of ghettos. Congestion prevents revitalization. The housing market must be fully open; with an ample supply of low-cost housing available throughout the city. Millions of Americans have been trapped in the "seamless web" of past and present discrimination. We all must recognize, Mayor and all other officials, that the ghetto system itself is the root evil which inevitabl ~ denies I basic freedom and results in physical, social and psychclogiaal damage to the entire society. Dispersing is essential if eradica- tion of the ghetto is to be a reality. The "racial strife" of last summer has been attributed to the influence of Stokely Carmichael. If any disturbances occur as a result of disproportionate location of these public housing units then we'll have to attribute this to the impurvi~u s attitude o~ Mayor Allen. The NAACP will probably be branded as "irresponsible"now just as all other Groups are "branded" when they dramatize the serious proble ms prevaili ng in our community. ,' ' We can accept the b r anding ,., JI'\' , if n eed b e for we fee l our obl i gation is to t he r-feg or pe ople . Our purpos e a nd aim s t a t es : 1) To improve th e p olitical, educ a tional, s oci a l and economic sta tu s of mi nority groups . 2) To eliminate racial prejudic e and 3) To keep the public awar e of the adverse effects of racial discriminati on. �-4- We must and will insist that the Federal government assume its responsibility in insuring that the local housing authority and all urban renewal agencies stop using public funds to entrench snd extend segregation. Rev. Amos O. Holmes As a result of our concern over these serious problems, we are requesting Mr. Weaver, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, to withhold all funds to public housing and Urbnn Renewal Programs until all discrimanatory practices are eliminated and a balanced dispersion of public housing units are accomplished. Further, we are requesting the Secretary to withhold funds of the Model Cities Program until Atlanta officially adopts an "open occupancy" ordinance. We consider city-wide planning important in the dissolution of many problems in housing, school sites and the prevention of "sophisticated ghettos.: Adequate planning must include citizens participation by law, and voter approval of any proposed plans . Therefore, we are demanding ordinances which will structure the kind of planning that will -meet the approval of the majority of citizens in this city. �