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! Cientlemen, I bav the honor. privilege ano r spon ibility of erving a.a Mayol" of th leadin Southea tern City of Atlanta, Ci orgia .. Atlanta has a City population of li htly over 500, 000 ople and a m tropolitan population lightly over 1, 100, 000 peopl • Th,e 500, 000 peopl that make up the central City of Atlan consist of 300, 000 whit c:itizen and sli htly ov r ZOO, 000 Ne ro citizeiis.. In gel'J; ral, Atlan 60% whit and 40% Ne ro. i Nowhere i _ the probl mot th bwtwe limin tion of di . crimination the race mor pr v 1 nt th.an it is to the local el cted offiei ith nd solv tbi - probl m creat d by circ who must wre tle b yond bi control and n ignor d by th r 1 nd deliJ.lition to the olution. brought into foe I peak ,o f the problem i nor d by th Pre ident and Congre F c d daily ,t,h th i- definition or We c h re of th t b lp vin hould b en nd then en rally United S ~ th Feder t ,. Couts, loc • of the Uni d Stat tio who almost un•olvabl probl m 0£ th · imination of di crimina.tion a, dir eted often wond rtie pon ibl by Supreme Court d ci iona tanc s ln th • luti offic l• m · t atan in offerla& of th molt dlfilcult t loo wit amu me.nt ••• U ot au.a tional elo ••• • d cial �Page Z of the Supreme Court and offer no relief to the dilemma that local official$ are confronted with in carrying out these decisions. You gentlemen must be conscious of the fact that whereas President Kennedy \ has made two appointments to the Court and there are Eisenhower appointments and

Truman appointtnents and Roosevelt appointments. only the Senate of the United States has as an lected body the continuing function ov r the yea.r ,s of approving 11 the e appointme11ts. o{ What I an'l sayin • gentlemen is ... This is your Court that ha.a brought into fo.eu d it overall makeup through the y~ar • could have chan 0£ our conviction , feelings or emotion in the matter Re ardl of racial discrimination,, th sbnple fa.c ts. this problem and only you Th s tim has come h n e must fac ither .. -· w mu t elimiaat facts a.r \1P to radal discrimination or you must provid a legal m ans for a two - CJ ·•te sy tem d c rry out thr,o u h 1 in thia country to d l with au.ch probl m hen it e11bta in v ~, atat· in You loc 1 succ aa • ystem. m rlc ve d Yo al nactment for local officials cannot contl :u to y t t this ia local ll:I early very city ln America -- 1n n rly -- and all c,:oae th N tion. b J:' to iv . you the r ve p obl m . ck ro d o( Uan ' B · sicaUy · ccepted th in vita.bility f e Go r t'a y �P age 3 decisions an.d attempted to solve them by local cooperation. It hould perfe~tly plain that the solution in every instance granted to the b Negro citizen rights which white American citizens and American business had previously reserved to themselves as speci l privileges. privileges have been carried out by a multitude of local and The e jtt/,tk/lvUtd statewide ordinances that providcid for segregation in every conceivable form. instanc I make it perfectly plain to you gentlem n that in not single bav we enhanced or retained segregated privileges where we have. dealt with thi matter. F ollowing a s d courses and bu e of r a onable desegretation such s in the so• , Atla.nt s golf took the follo in m jor step in the e r ly 60' s : D te Are A ction 9/61 School Cou rt ord r 10/ 61 D 1:tm n t vari ty lunch c unt r l / 62 Ci ty Facilities 5/ 6Z 5/ 3 6/ 63 /63 ' 3 nd arta th. No ro fir m n bir d wimmlng pool• 1 leadi hotel tot s vol untary a c tion • vol un ry (city official•) tre s vol'Wl ry • ohm r y (clty o£ficiala) Court or ~ - vol ta.ry d ciaio 'to o pool (city o!ficiab) ry

y • \ �Page 4 In each instance voluntary action consi ted of coo 'J: tiv action between. operators of affected business.e s and respon ibl Negro 1 adership. \ You can r adily see that in some instances this has been under Court action and in other instances has be n voluntary prior to Court action. In ch in tance it has r ulted in the .vbite citizen givini up pecial pdvileg s which h enjoyed unde.- a re ·u1ted in th. N gro ditizen gr g ted society and ha ing given rights which U other ople d and which he did not pr viou ly njoy. It would be transition h in ven d b 11 for m n and ho t this tixn • egre atio-n conventions to little ct it th N Out of hu.ndr d f cts 1 n to you how limited thi xpl ro citizen ean of r hot 1-, th Ne ro citlz n Uj abov The hotel plan i don oes bav be n • a whol te taurants in Atlanta, s than fUty of th m . d lthou b promin nt Ne rtici ldom aho cc pt d in e v r 1 up. With ZOO, 000 N aro citiz ne ln Atl n • on or Atlanta• le: ding r s urabta th r d •ixt e ot them to dtne/lbiti. durin th Cir t w k o! it d gJ"e ation d h&a not of economic doea ot in lo e, eco d y inc thi day. All of thl • aentl me , i d it ehould be r mem i-ed t y w y indicate that lt will be udc 1r u.pa. a q etio t th right tc u•e eomethi • d 4t or mhua d by t �Page 5 The bove tatements concern th actual change in .Atlanta' elimination of diacdmination. May I now ubmit to you my per onal r aaons why w think Atlanta ha resolved some of these probl ms wherea cities. the solution ha se m d to . \ in oth r Southern impos ibl and trife and conflict have re . ult d. It t for m ould be delegation from a gr t E st rn city that 600. 000 conai tin of in xc c e to Atl w r ta to determin enjoyi a to de cribe a r c nt vi it of an offici Negro population of ov r by w They h d gon furth r with ucc t conomic: pro perity wher r popul tion. of ZOo/• of their whol d they vin unlimit d racial probl m . and un mployment rate of approxima ly thr e tim • 1 m not r cial V of t Atl ce bl' OD to e eonomic pr.o pertty. that How ver, in Atl lf d polltl th ita Ne ro po ln.t r t • th two tf.on. 1 do ot d carried out by the City Gov rnm nt maelve• wlt u ffort to aolva d ould rdly b lie ts of Atlanta hacl int ey are c;onvinced that all ol our c;lvlc bodl • inter •t rily r f rring tlcm im y did not und r tand ln ••• civic c: med it c th r. Thia dele c . •• U ve eked by tly tU yet p&1 le ve d.aily c:o ce:rn d r grave•t problem -- N d that i �--------- P ge 6 race relation • Gentlemen. Atlanta ha not sw pt thi omctimes under Court order - Step by st p - the rug , t any point. sometimes voluntarily moving cad of pre and many tim v clums~l,y - w que tion und r ur - soDletimes tri d to find a droitly - olution through an gre ment betw en th effected whit ownership and the Ne ro l · d r hip to ach of th se probl m • To do this w have not ppoin't d a huge bi-i-acial eommitte·e that atop-gap for every cone ivable q11.estion, but on th oth r band becom ch tim th probl m come into focu , own rs to deal with the top N gro 1 r e have .... or hotel owner the top N gro le dere • or voluntarily c rtain r th th top Negro 1 dr c 0th r ded w r they ha tor Morri• ro

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why I thin r N ro due tion in the e bay. orld. . d Collea • loca din id o r Th y are Atl 11ta UDiveraUy. Clark Coll•g • Mor Colle lt aometim a f 1 d. ' Tbet ar •ix gr at Negro Univ raiti • Chy limit•. d ch an amic ble olutio • · to xplaln to yo cent . r of big tlanta. l• taurant owner ve work d. qually aa hard and in many lnsta ces hav fail d and U 1 ould U •ucc to de l with d rehip , and by developing the line . of community bility, we have been bl cut • ppoln d the tre , • Spelman Colleae a 4 a 1 • t umber 0£ in lli1 nt. re • Uy. A1 a eeult ,f \ �pg 7 high r e ducation t bu ine y have bad th capacity to de community. lo lop a great N tla.nta it con i ts of financial in tltutions like bank - building and loan a ociation - lif insurance companie • lik, th Atlanta Life Insurance Company • cha.in drug tor In fact, th y ha.v · d velo dealer·s . tlanta there i a tron daily N gro n £ mily • tlley o But it 1 nte chain of No ro citi and busin a community that c: rri cltb la. T ord "con · rvatlv d c:onomic y simply realie •• righte tbaD it le to er d of obtatnln th a rights them el Atlanta Daily ck d by !ts voice to the • iroua of adclitlonal civil Amelie paper - T tron ! ct.or. per with ve ted inter . ta Do not be mbl d by th d anoth r ly and w ekliea thl'oughout th country. atl'ength of ducated r U o i promin nt Ne ro 1 mily - dl Scott Own d and oper t d by World. . - r al e tat d, I beli ve, in almost evei-y line of cknowledg d Am dean bus in s • Then th r In ro · •· ir a th y ar · raonal ri ht• any t it :la mor impoJ'taAt to d monetrat1 •· And it i t th y con tantly ddr •• \ �