They would not provide more recent figures or dollar amounts. The ad campaign and other actions of Citizens Trust have caused some grumbling by officers at other banks, although none offered any criticism for the record. That's the American way of doing business. Russell did hear some criticism, although not by name, from City Council President Marvin Arrington. I would have to give First Atlanta's board a pretty good mark.
Blacks have much money in the city's large banks and savings and loans.
Currently little of that money is in the two black-owned institutions. The July 5 motorcade with megaphones and banners will start at Paschal's on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and wind into downtown. It won't stop at any large banks for withdrawals, but it will stop at Citizens Trust on Piedmont Avenue and around the corner at Mutual Federal on Auburn Avenue. Organizers hope to have at least 100 black and Hispanic ministers, business owners and individuals announce they are placing money in the two black-owned institutions. There has been a debate in the black community about the wisdom of a boycott by any name.