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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 13, 1968)
iitniiiii'iiiiiitiiiituilllRWHiiftiiitniMum Clyde DeBerry-Second in a Series Racial Crisis in Cleveland—A Diagnosis Killtor’s Note: The following Ik a column submitted by Clyde DeBerry analyzing Cleveland's racial crisis. It I* the second Installment of a series on the Congress of Racial equality's Target City Project in Cleveland. The remaining Install ments will appear intermittently within the next two weeks. DeBerry is director of the School Desegregation Training and Re search Center at the University. He Is also chairman of the Kugene chapter of CORK and is the Western regional director of CORK. Cleveland’s racial crisis can bo analyzed along two dimensions. First, there is the basic crisis in the functioning of the city, the malfunctioning of community insti tutions, and the* deeper-rooted crisis in political-social relations Secondly, there is the crisis in finding a way out of the situation. The short-run problem here can best be described as ineffective tension man agement The long ranged problem, the one that needs to be a focus point for change is the absence of crisis resolv ing processes. Due to the inadequate organization of reform elements in both the white and black communities, and the lack of insti (uionalized processes for creating local resources necessary to change, Cleveland has thus far been unable to deal with the underlying conditions that threaten the security of the whole community. Malfunctioning Institutions First of all. as presently organized, the institutions which have been set up for dealing with community issues that di rectly Involve Black people interests have been totally ineffective. report in mi? v-irvriaii'i rress on ,-sai urday, June 17, for example, stated that among out-of school Black youth, the unemployment rate was 58 per cent. This condition of high youth unemployment has continued to persist and worsen over the past few years despite frequent warnings from various commissions that immediate remedial action was needed if the, tinderbox of frustration among young Blacks was not to explode into violertrc. Yet, even after major violent con frontations occurred in the Hough area of Cleveland during the last year, an effective program remains to be devel oped that will reach the most alienated, hard-core ghetto youth with jobs and opportunities or convince them that there is a future for them in American society. Urban renewal is another immediately pressing problem area in which an ade quate program still needs to be devel oped. Boor Blacks in particular are beset by considerable insecurity regarding the program since it is they who will lie dis placed by Urban Renewal, and it is they who have the least power at present to alfect the decisions which are made con cerning the direction of the program. Moreover, underlying the ineffective ness and mismanagement of the program, and the general unresponsiveness of the city administration to Black fears and concerns seems to be a calculated policy of "containment” of the Black popula lion within a defined geographical po litieal houndary. Despite intensive pres sure from the federal government for re forms in the local program, and despite widespread criticism of the program among both Blacks and responsible white civic leaders, efforts at change have thus far been ineffective. A third critical area where an effec tive program has yet to be developed is police-community relations. The tragedy of the Black’s experience with Cleveland's political institutions is most clearly attested to by the fact that although the city has 11 elected “r.egro” members on the City Council, four "negro" judges, and five “negro” rep resentatives in the state legislature, the “negro” community, to date, has been powerless in affecting changes in dis criminatory police practices. These practices involve a blatant exer cise of dual standards for whites and Blacks in which, for example. Black youth get incarcerated for minor offenses for which white youth only get mild repri mands. Such dual standards are highly visible and are common knowledge among all elements of the community. They are a wide-spread source of bitterness toward police and a cause of tensions between Black and white youth. i uinmunuy iw-iaiions i risis To date, however, the city administra tioti has only demonstrated what can most kindly be called insensitivity to this, the most sensitive of community issues. Underlying this crisis in the commu nity at the institutional level is the far deeper crisis in social relations both within the Black community and he tween Blacks and other ethnic and so cial groups within the city. The old arrangements which placed Blacks on the lowest rung of the status, economic, and political ladders within the total community is no longer ac cepted by Blacks. Particularly among the younger generation of Blacks, who have grown up during the period of civil rights ferment, the norms, values, and institutions within the Black community which were constructed on the implicit or explicit assumption of the Black in feriority are being totally discarded These youth are coming to adulthood at a time when the old standards for be havior are no longer viable, but where a new community order based on com mon pride, responsibilities, and a deep rooted “we-feeling” is still in an embry onic stage. This lack of a well-developed “sense of community” among Blacks is parallel ed by a lack of solidarity between Blacks and whites. The uncertainties and disorder that have gone with the creative changes in the Black community have produced vio lent defensive reaction in the members of other ethnic groups in Cleveland who have interpreted the upsurge in Black militance as a threat to their positions in the "ethnic hierarchy." Suspicion and fear has (sic) been the response of many of these groups to the social changes in which they have not participated but which they have felt as a threat to their security. In the absence of large scale coopera tive activities between Blacks and other ethnic groups that would create an order based on the concept of racial equality rather than ethnic hierarchy, tensions will continue. The solution to the insti tutional crisis of the city requires as well the implementation of steps design ed to reconstruct social relations both within the Black community and be tween Blacks and whites. Movement Disorganization These steps, however, are not being taken in part to a crisis in the internal organization of the civil rights move ment. The local movement today is high ly fragmented—common programs and supporting activities are virtually non existent. This situation is due to the difficult problems encountered in developing al ternative solutions for issues that could not be resolved through simple non-vio lent protest and moral fervor. It should be noted here that the rise in frustration among young Blacks lo cally has closely followed the blocking and frustrations of the once effective local movement in creating appropriate strategies, methods, and structures of in volvement for bringing social change in the ghetto. With the indicated investment of ma jor resources in Cleveland by CORE, SCLC, other national civil rights organi zations, and supporting foundations, the possibility of creating a city-wide move ment, a new coalition of urban forces, which will be as effective in solving the basic dilemmas of the ghetto as non-vio lent protest was effective in breaking the color line, looms as a distinct possi bility. So far, however, no steps have been taken to link up the activities of various groups into a coordinated system. tension uanagcmeni i risis The second dimension of Cleveland's crises concerns the handling of "crisis situations" produced by the conjunc tion of the malfunctioning of city in stitution, increased militancy among Blacks, the growing polarization between Blacks and whites, and the certainty of prolonged periods of tension as a new coalition of community forces directs it self to overcoming the political and eco nomic powerlcssness of the ghetto and solving Cleveland’s basic urban prob lems. Situations involving a potential for vio lence by either Blacks and whites will continue to be endemic to the city until the urban crisis is solved and a new set of arrangements established between Blacks and whites. Indeed, at this point in history, virtu ally any heated controversy that involves Black-white relations, or any incident in volving the police and the community can be the match that lights the flames of chaos. Yet, the city administration seems to have learned very little from either its past experience or that of other cities that will prepare it to deal with persistent community tensions in the fu ture. The previous mayor, for example, per sisted in labeling the racial outbreaks that have already occurred as the results of “outside agitators” and "communists.” This attitude has served as an obstacle between the city administration and re sponsible Black leadership, preventing the development of meaningful dialogue on deep-rooted problems that require ex tensive cooperation from all parts of the community for their solution. The most recent example of the pre vious mayor's attitude was his publicly declared belligerence toward Martin Luther King, whom the mayor had re fused to meet with and had labeled an "extremist.” A serious educational program must be directed at the mayor and the top leadership of the Cleveland Police De partment in the art of tension-manage ment if his intransigent belligerence is not to produce more fuel for violent con frontation. The problems of effectively handling crisis situations, how'ever, is not simply confined- to the city administration. Local community leadership, out of fear and lack of training in the dynamics of com munity crisis, have demonstrated throughout the country a lack of under standing of the dynamics of the dilem mas they have faced. In their conclusion, blunders typically are made which only exacerbate tensions. Yet, nothing has thus far been done in Cleveland to educate responsible commu nity leadership, both black and white, in “tension management” as a matter of daily routine. The only program dealing with this problem in the entire city is that conducted by the police department which stresses exclusively the weaponry and organization of police activity in riot control. There is virtually no recognition of the basic fact that violence control in community conflicts can best be secured through effective leadership arrange ments, rather than through the techni cal organization of the police department to control an outburst after it has oc curred. The definition of intergroup ten sion control as primarily a military prob lem is. at best, only a stop-gap measure in resolving disputes, and at worst, a positive agent for a future conflagration. Lack of Processes for Change Finally, and most important, there is a lack of institutionalized processes for creating resources ncessary to change. The leadership, the knowledge, the stall', the motivational and financial resources necessary to change arc not being gen erated on a regular basis within the city. While individuals at the local uni versities and institutions of higher learn ing, and among the professions, have been actively involved at a personal lev el in the civil rights movement, there has been little demonstrated effort by those institutions responsible for the training of skilled personnel to orient programs directly toward the solution of Cleveland’s pressing racial dilemmas. While the people of ghetto and civic leadership desperately need skills and in formation on a regular basis, this is not being provided. Thus .in the absence of the formulation of non-violent alterna lives for change, a social pattern oscil lating between violent outbursts and apathy becomes more probable. Emerald Editor: •Facts’ Corrected Kmerald Editor: I would like lo correct some of Jerry Norton's "facts” about the war in Vietnam. First of all. Dr. Howard Rusk found no napalm victims in the hospitals because it is American policy to "escort” such visitors on their tours. This means Dr. Rusk only saw the things the U S. Army wanted him to see, things to make him think we aren’t burning babies and that we’re winning the war. Another reason Dr. Rusk found so few war casualties is that moat of them, who live in small hamlets, never get to the pitifully small number of hos pitals in the cities. Mr. Norton’s next “fact” is that we fly over hamlets warn ing the inhabitants lo get out before we bomb. How humane of us! These people will not leave their homes because their religion ties them to their fam ily gravesites, but as long as we tell them first, we don’t mind bombing the hell out of them with napalm. And if they aren’t killed, we “pacify” their vil lages by burning everything to the ground and then sending them to "relocation camps” no better than concentration camps. No one can deny this. The United States is so un ashamed that anyone can see it on Hunt ley Brinkley any night of the week. And we don’t call off bombing raids when civilians are involved. Barbara Demming. who spoke here Inst year alter spending time in Vietnam, saw the Americans bomb a leper colony, chase the prisoners into caves and then bomb the caves. About our allies, Mr. Norton. When Saigon was attacked sev eral days ago, why didn’t the ARVN soldiers help tight when called by the American forces? Why did the South Vietnamese Army have a 21 -year-old draft limit until a few weeks ago? And why are so many young South Vietnamese between the ages of 18 and 21 fleeing to Cambodia now that they’re drafting 18 year-olds? Could it be they don’t really want us there? If everyone forgot the so-call ed 'facts'' and tried to he a hu man being, this war would soon be over. How would you like being bombed every day by an “enemy" you couldn't under stand, Mr. Norton? How would you like having to leave your home in order to stay alive? How would you like being maim ed by napalm or killed by bul lets that shatter the capillary system little by little? If every one turned this “abstract” war into a personal conviction against the slaughter, maybe the United States could be a decent country. Dianne Fallon, Graduate, English Defiance Emerald Editor: v With reference to the ad vertisement submitted in Mon day’s Emerald by Mr. I). V. Clark on behalf of the creation ists I should like to point out that God defies the law of gravity simply by being up there. David I’olieansky Graduate, Biology 'if "-■fc The Officers and Crew of the fc.S.S. Pueblo
