St. Paul recorder., 1959-09-18
NAACP Moss
Meeting Topped
Report Continued
CONTINUED from Page u

form of act we do not feel is cor,
rect or conducive to the position
that beholds, report those Incl,
dents to the NAACP, III confirm
in writing and we'll arrange tc
see to it that such steps necessary
to correct it are taken. That's
number one. There's no sense in
one person after another getting
up and saying an officer did this
or that and what have you. We
might just as well make up our
minds that we'll use the tools that
we have to try to correct some
thing which we find wrong.
Number two. Frank Smith re-
ferred to this and I have to make
some observations in the same dir
ection. A few years ago they clear
ed all the housing between West
ern and Rice, Rondo, Iglehart, Car
roll, Central and st. Anthony. Not
all the houses on Iglehart. In so
doing a great number of people
were not replaced. The housing
market is not and has not been
opened to Negroes to purchase
homes where they wish or to move
where they wish and as a result
crowded into the section between
Western and furtherest toward
L Lexington. Further congestion
which was already somewhat Of a
problem. This area was cleared
under the guise of a redevelop-
ment which was going to bring
about our neighborhood low rent
housing It is still vacant. 1t has
been sold for very, very substan-
tal sum of money-Sears Roebuck
and various other enterprises. The
NAACP, Urban League. most of
the ministers and most other agen-
cies supported the redevelopment
program because it was going to
bring new, better, low rent housing
for them-the people suppressed
in the area.
The city council did not main
tain good faith with you and did
not bring this into reality. Let's
face it. We moved ahead from
there and it was determined that
a highway should be routed on
Rondo and St. Anthony Avenues
displacing an additional ATS FAM
lilies. No place to go and what was
the normal reaction, they crowded
more into the same existing hous-
ing, primarily between Selby and
University, Western and Lexing-
ton, with the few that escaped out
at Wheelock.
CAt this point the entire audi
ence laughed).
You may think it is funny but
it really isn't funny because the
same Illustrations and problems
which are creating the ghetto is
creating the Little riot which is
creating this attitude toward the
Police Department to a large de-
gree is brought about by the frus-
trations by the housing in which
you are living. There is no real
good reason for a man to want to
go home if he has to sleep in a
room with five or six other people.
That exists on Rondo, st. Anthonv
Iglehart and Carroll. Where is he
going to go. Obviously he's going
into the street. When it gets hot
in the summer he is not going
to stand inside of one of these
taverns, he'd rather stand outside
on the sidewalk and we do protest
lettering because it's bad It looks
bad and it is also conducive in
some Of the crimes that we have
had. The people normally resent
police officers trying to herd them
inside or off the street The prob
lem still remains up above-the
housing. You can't get away from
It. We tried to bring about a law
in the city-we tried it on a state
level The last one was in the CITY.
Just to make 1t possible-we never
said that we had four hundred
families moving in there. we said
we wanted law to give YOU the
right to move II you chose to do
50 and after three, almost four
years the city attorney ruled It
unconstitutional Now what hap
pened during these four years.
The mayor Of the city of st. Paul
appointed a twenty-one man COM
mission to determine discrimina-
tion in housing but somewhere af-
ter the appointments and after the
names were shown in the news
papers 1t died. Now we have moved
ahead from there and they said
no, we can't touch open occupancy
this year because it's an election
year. This Is too controversial an
act. The forces seeking this kind of
law said alright, well go along
with you wen hold It I'D for
another year. A year later Frank
Marziteln left the city council and
they argued four months down
there to find a successor and they
said we can't do anything till we
get settled. So, we waited again.
In each instance we have been
agreeable to wait. trying to get
cooperation from the city author
tiles.
In the year 1859 we grew tired
OF waiting. We said we have to
push this thing one way or the
other so we did. II took us nearly
five months to get a hearing before
the city council. It involved letters
to Mayor Dillon that were un-
answered. It involved phone calls
to his office that he wouldn't re-
turn. It involved the threat of
bringing thousands Of people to the
city council for him to send out a
notice that on May 22nd a hear
ing will be held. don't know II
we could have gotten a thousand
people but we told him we could.
We had a hearing on May 22nd
and the proponents far outweighed
those who opposed this type Of
legislation. We made such an i'm
pact that 1t was generally be-
lieved that you were on the verge
Of passing a law in the city Of
st. Paul which brought the forces
OF MINNEAPOLIS and nthar rlacas