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- Multi-Media Collection
Role and meetings of the Citizens Interracial Committee, 1967
The meetings were moderated by CIC Executive Director Carroll Waymon, and his voice is often the first one heard in the audio recordings of the meetings.
This session began with further discussion over which individuals and organizational representatives would be most valuable in furthering the aims and ideas of the group. It was emphasized several times that members of the Board of Education and Board of Supervisors, with too few in attendance, were desperately needed to implement new policy within their respective organizations. Furthermore, the presence of greater numbers of public officials was considered to be crucial by virtue of their extensive connections within the community, and broad capacity to reach out to and persuade the public at large about the necessity and merit of new policies. It was agreed that the group should be expanded to include members of the Council of Churches and the Central Labor Council, and that all those invited to attend be leading members within their organizations in order to effect significant change.
After some deliberation, the group broached the initial problem of how members of minority groups were perceived within the community, and how this perception affected their ability to find employment, housing and fair representation in San Diego. The group debated the position of the press in providing a healthy medium for discussion in the community, that it was perceived to be largely in the hands of the white majority and used to spread fear and misinformation about minority groups, often pitting one side against another in order to maximize readership. This was especially the case for non-white green-card carriers (temporary residents), who were perceived by whites to be cheating "true Americans" out of work, and keeping the minimum wage down by not participating in strikes. The prevalence of this view of immigrants was of great concern to many members, who saw the consequences to be an increased number of deportations of non-violent people, and the breaking up of families, neighborhoods and businesses which had been established in San Diego for decades. Members agreed that while the blame should lie with those responsible, the first task to combat this mode of thought should be to allow minority voices to become more prominent in public discussion, and to educate those in power of the harms of current policies.
Many in the group voiced their frustrations over the slow pace of the meetings, and a motion was passed to further discuss what action to take when conflicting views cannot be settled, and to put specific problems and areas of focus onto the agenda two weeks from that point in order to gather all necessary information and experts to find a solution. The group agreed to begin next weeks' session with discussion of the transit system, and that time for dialogue should be limited so as to allow more time for problem-solving.
- Multi-Media Collection
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