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JET MAGAZINE November 2, 1967 URBAN COALITION: NEWEST WEAPON TO FIGHT SLUMS NEW ALLIANCE BETWEEN DIFFERENT By FREDERICK GRAVES While the long, hot summer of 1967 is now a part of the past, concerned persons are attempting to pool their resources and reorganize their thinking and values, hoping to prevent the predicted long , hot summer of 1968 from becoming a part of the future . To accomplish this monumental task a new alliance between leaders in civil rights, religion, business. labor and local governments was formed . It is called The Urban Coalition, and some look upon it as one of the last measures available to save our cities. On August 24, after clean-up crews in Newark and Detroit had begun to clear their rubble-filled streets, Urban Coalition leaders held what they termed an emergency convocation. One thousand delegates attended the session at the Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D. C. , and they represented all groups that have strong interests in the survival of the cities. GROUPS COULD SAVE U. S. CITIES The Urban Coalition is co-chaired by Negro labor leader A. Philip Randolph, president of the Brotherhood of Sleepi~g Car Porters, and Andrew Heiskell, board chairman of Time, Inc . At the emergency convocation they were joined by rights leaders Roy Wilkins and Whitney Young Jr. The business community was represented by Asa T . Spaulding, president of North Carolina Mutual Insurance Co.; Gerald L. Phillippe, board chairman of the General Electric Co., and Henry Ford II, board chairman of the Ford Motor Co. Labor representatives included Walter Reuther of the United Auto Workers ; George Meany, AFL-CIO president, and I. W. Abel, United Steelworkers president. From the religious community were Rabbi Jacob P. Rudin, president of the Synagogue Council of America; Archbishop John F. Dearden of Detroit, and Dr. Arthur Fleming, president of the National Council of Churches. Local government was represented by the top men-the mayors : Richard J . Daley of Chicago, Milton Graham of r . ,:.,f . In Wa shington 111 H ei sk ell t alks w ith Lindsay ; in Chicago, Lincoln , Neb. , Mayor Samuel Sch w artzkopf and Saginaw, Mich ., N egro Mayor H enry Marsh . After session, Johnson joins chat with · {l - r / Bishop Ja mes w. Montgomery, Chancellor Norman Parker and Mayor Daley_ 15 14 (MORE) �JET MAGAZINE (cont.) November 2, 19 67 ··- l -.... ,. {,.,orkshop p~~elfst; i~~luded such Negroes as Bo!frgeois {l) and Mrs. Williams and Dr. Deton Brooks who aired views. ' Panelist Henry criticized city governments. John Cardinal Cody congratulates Naftalin after speech. Urge Forming Local Coalitions To Solve Problems Phoenix, John F. Collins of Boston and Joseph M. Barr of Pittsburgh, president of the U. S. Conference of Mayors. Keynote speaker at the session was New York Mayor John v. Lindsay who told the 1,000 delegates that local coalitions must be formed to help raise the standards of housing, education, job training, welfare a~d raise the employment rate. No time was wasted on isolatmg the problems ; everyone there knew quite well wh~t. prob 1e_m s exist in cities. Also no time was wasted on decidmg which groups in the cities this new coalition program should help . The answer was obvious: The same alienated, po~r people who had used molotov cocktails to destroy th_e business establishments of unfair merchants and their own rat infested homes in sub-standard buildings. _ Convocation delegates left the one-day meet charged with the responsibility of returning ~o_ their urban c~n:munities and establishing local coaht1ons between civil rights, labor, business, religion and governmen~. The national Urban Coalition promised help and advice when16 ever needed. Urban Coalition headquarters in Washington , D. C., said it does not plan to dictate how local groups should be organized. Officials there said each urban area has its own personality and it will be more practical fot' each city to do its own mobilizing of force·s . But t he national group did offer one strong bit of advice to the local coalitions: Poor people-Negroes, Puerto Rica ns. White Appalachians-should be included in local groups, along with militants. As part of the mobilizing of local groups, the nation a l Coalition sponsored a one-day meet last week at the University of Illinois' Chicago Circle Ca mpus. It was attended by 250 persons representing areas that were attempting t o form their coalitions. There were representatives from 46 cities. Although they were from most parts of the country, there were more Mid-Westerners t han any other geographic group. Because of this the Washington office plans to hold three other such meets to make sure every urban area has a chance to benefit from the advice of experts. The opening general session of the. Chicago meet was 17 {MORE) �JET MAGAZINE (cont.) iJovember 2, 19 67 Meaning Of America Is Urban Issue, Publisher Says presided over by JET-EBONY Publisher John H. Johnson, co-chairman of the national Coalition's Task Force on Communications and Public Support. He helped set the tone for the day when he told the registrants : "We are engaged here .in creating a will that speaks not so much to Negroes but to the fundamental issue of the meaning of America. Whatever we do, we must not deceive ourselves. The decision before us now is not a decision about the Negro but a decision about America. It is not a decision about civil rights but a decision about the future of the city." Lindsay Randolph One of the main objectives of the Coalition is to organize a force strong enough to move, sh ake, push 8:nd prod Congress into passing much needed legislation which can alleviate some of the problems faced by cities. These include retraining programs, the Model Cities plan and adequate welfare financing without strict, inflexible rules which prohibit funds going to those who need it most_. At the Chicago session registrants attended a senes of workshops which included pan els composed of top-flight Negroes in governmental agencies and social ":'elfare groups. They included Vernon Jordan of Atlanta, dir~ctor of the voter education project of the Southern Regional council ; Melvin Mister of Washington, D. C., director of the D. C. Redevelopment Land Agency; A. Donald Bourgeois, general manager of the St. Louis Model Cities p_rogram; Mrs. Frank Williams of Indianapolis, representing the League of Women Voters Education Fund, and Clifton w. Henry, a community services representative from the U.S. Mayors Conference, Washington. Henry said that up 'ti! now there has been no will on the part of cities to deal effectively with their problems: One of the big questions is, "Will The Urban Coaht10n be able to get cities to stop playing politics and start planning creative programs to help their ghetto residents become a part of the predominant affluent society?" In short, "Can America be saved?" Ford Rustin .... Wheeler Different cities are handling the mobilization of local coalition in different ways. Chicago, for example, is not planning to make an effort for such action. Its mayor, Richard J . Daley, said the city has always had such a coalition between business, labor, religion, etc. Then Daley ticked off a list of city agencies and commissions which h e said encompass all walks of the city's life. In Minneapolis, Minn., Mayor Arthur Naftalin admitted to some failures in his city and said members of the militant Negro community should be consulted and asked to take an active part in local coalition groups. "If we can't close the gap between young militants and the established community, it will destroy us," h e warned. 19 18 �