THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 1980
Members of N.C. Advisory Committee to the U.S. Civ- Greensboro, Ann Hooper of Beaufort, Dr. Tommie commission, E.T. Caldwell of Asheville, Robert Man-
il Rights Commission present for release of report Young of Greensboro, the Rev. W.W. Finlator of Ra- gum of Pembroke and Floyd McKissick of Soul City.
Wednesday were, from left: Margaret Keesee of leigh, Bobby Doctor, regional director of civil rights Finlator is holding copy of report
suggested strengthening the city's affirmative
action programs and the Human Relations
The N.C. Advisory Committee to the U.S.
Commission on Civil Rights Wednesday
called on Greensboro's leaders to "acknowledge that racism does indeed exist" in the city
and to work to "ameliorate its persisting
The committee, meeting in Greensboro to
release its oft-delayed report called
'Black/White Perceptions," concluded that
"Greensboro is polarized" with white residents emphasizing the city's racial progress
while blacks experience many remaining
problems.
The committee could find no consensus on
the status of relations in Greensboro but did
conclude that perceptions were based on race.
Whites, the committee said, "see the Greensboro glass as more than half full" while blacks
perceive "the glass to be almost empty."
The committee vowed to monitor the city's
progress in race relations, perhaps for several
years, and indicated it may take steps to try
to get the federal government to withhold
money from Greensboro if the progress isn't
enough. But committee members emphasized
they think city leaders will follow the advice
voluntarily.
The committee recommended that the City
Council abandon its longstanding support for
electing council members at large and pass a
resolution calling for a ward system. It also
The recommendations are similar to those
in the reports of the Human Relations Commission and the Citizens Review Committee,
which also studied race relations in Greensboro in the aftermath of last year's killing of
members of the Communist Workers Party.
The committee forwarded a draft of the
report, minus its conclusions and recommendations, to city officials several weeks ago and
delivered copies of the final 56-page document
to City Hall two hours before releasing it to
the press. City officials, however, were out of
town or unavailable for comment late
Wednesday.
Committee Chairman W.W. Finlator, a
Baptist preacher from Raleigh, said the history of Greensboro is a "tale of two cities."
Whites grasp tightly the reins of decisionmaking while blacks are without political or
economic strength, he said.
"This lack of communication breeds mistrust and, eventually, hostility," Finlator
said. He suggested the city immediately retain the Citizens Advisory Committee as a
"civilian" adjunct to the Human Relations
Commission to promote dialogue between residents and city officials.
Finlator's group also suggested that the
council grant the Human Relations Commit-
tee the power to investigate and process com
plaints of civil rights violations in Greensboro.
Essentially the same suggestion was contained in reports recently released by the
Human Relations Commission and the Citizens Review Committee.
Finlator's group also found that the present
at-large system for electing members of the
City Council "has clearly resulted in concentrating council membership from the predominately white and affluent northwest quadrant
of the city" and perpetuates the dominance of
"one group . . . over other groups."
The result, the committee and other groups
have concluded, is that minorities feel disenfranchised, dampening interracial communication and aggravating the gulf between whites
and blacks. The committee, recognizing the
defeat of past ward system referendums and
the opposition of Greensboro's affluent,
strongly urged the City Council to take the
lead in ensuring that a ward system is passed.
Finlator's group also found that minorities,
including women, are underrepresented in
decision-making positions on the city payroll
and instead are concentrated in clerical and
menial jobs. The committee also found disparity in pay between men and women and between blacks and whites who work for the
city.
The group found a similar pattern of discrimination in the police department, although it noted improvement in the last
several years. "Blacks and women are still un-
derrepresented among higher-ranked department personnel" and concentrated in the
lowest paid categories, the group said.
To correct the problem, the committee
gested the city and the police department try
more creative approaches to recruitment,
training and upward mobility. "The overall
objective is not merely to meet numbers on a
chart but to achieve a city police force that
would be seen as genuinely reflective of the
populace."
Finlator said the November killings could
have happened anywhere but "the point is it
happened here." He pointed to the black-
white confrontations at N.C. A&T State University and Dudley High School in 1969 and
the sit-ins in 1960 to suggest the city has
deep, unexplored racial problems.
"The climate is all-important," said Finlator, a member of the commission when it
studied the A&T riots, in which a student was
killed. "Things happen where the climate is
propitious." But if Greensboro follows the
group's recommendations, he said, "the city
could break this vicious and too familiar cycle
of cause and effect."
The commission based its conclusions on
Feb. 26 public meeting in which minority and
city leaders as well as spokesmen for the radical left and right participated. It also interviewed city residents before and after the
meeting.
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