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Ladies and gentlemen welcome to the second conference of the borough president of Manhattan on a plan to revitalize the home and he saw one community in this room. Ob from ability as wide a representation. Of. The Holman New York communities as you could get and at this time I'd like to introduce Manhattan's first citizen I woman who has survived blackouts and strikes and a dozen other difficult problems during her administration but with it all she has been able to keep our eye on the ego and attempted to get some of the disadvantages areas of Manhattan in step with the future and with your help I'm certain that. She will be successful ladies and gentlemen the borough president of Manhattan. Mrs Parsley Baker Mark. Thank you very much George bright bright. And light essentail woman. I welcome each of you know. Public officials and said the sun lead us to the SO I CAN BORROW presidents come for us of community leaders on the reclamation of Harlem. Senators Javits and counting. Mel Lenz saying Congressman Ryan and Congressman Paul have each gracious way accepted my invitation to address this meeting today and well being here. Mal lends these presence is evidence of the five. That the objective of the first conference held on September the twenty ninth nineteen sixty five has been achieved. At that time one hundred leaders of the hollow Camilla they met at my invitation in the city hall. Where you are now must lay adopted a seven point program for the revitalization of the area from one hundred and ten straight to one hundred and fifty fifth straight from Brevin to river. With a similar lifeboat and to secure a commitment. From the two major Merrill take candidates that if elected. They would implement all program. These commitments were secured. Thereafter. I requested the Senate planning commission to include in its capital budget the fiscal nineteen sixty six sixty seven and the four succeeding is the sum of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars for the development of a mast apply. For the area generally the scribe to follow. The development of such a plan was the first of our seven points. The request was denied by the city planning commission but subsequently grass. In the form of that item which now appears in the draft capital budget on the under the heading Meadows office and in which there has been twice the sum of seven hundred thousand dollars a local area of planning and clothing Harlem. Without the community wide support which are I say and without the support of the. I believe that the original the law my all of my requests would have remained New York's and the hollowness bid to become once again and enter both thought of the bar of Manhattan having received a local government's commitment in the form of an appropriation in the council budget today we seek a commitment from our representatives and let Congress and from them. That they will now seek federal assistance for the realisation of all goals. Consequently the conference today will focus on existing federal lands and additional support which may be required at the federal level. But local governments commitment to the proposition that the area which the Dutch named shall be reclaimed as a part of the Borrow was the imperative without which we could not now look to our federal government now is the time to make clear what is meant to be achieved here is the upgrading of Harlem and its desegregation in the process. In my view column can never be integrated unless it is rehabilitated on such a scale as to create a virtually new community. The segregation of Holland must be involved in this upgrading process since the time has come for government to face candidly the necessity for desegregation of the end of the city we now live in a legally segregated society and so the time has come also for Negroes to elect between the security of the ghetto and the challenge of the Open Society. The white community has no choice. Lots has demonstrated that the survival of the whole society depends upon government's determination to reclaim the endless setting Holland has been abandoned for more than a quarter of a century by both government and private enterprise this policy must be reversed Consequently I do not see. Seven point program to gild the ghetto in my judgment there is and parent and come out ability between the existence of racial ghettos and the achievement of equal rights for Negroes and unknown. I have fought long and hard for desegregation in the south I shall not now. And I know off on the other hand I do not advocate a wholesale remove of all Negroes from the area and the levelling of east of Harlem and East Harlem to the ground a large part of the area within our general and not rigidly fixed boundaries is integrated the area from a hundred and ten street roughly and Riverside Drive north one hundred twenty First Street and East to Broadway is largely white. Moreover rehabilitation and we know all for that area is already being planned what we see is similar planning for the rest of the area. This upgrading should not be wholly in terms of new housing but should include new public buildings no commercial and industrial areas new cultural and educational institutions and new parks the planning must be done by the city in conjunction with committee planning boards in the area. These boards are composed of local residents who live or work in this area local planning with locals but this a patient is the only kind of planning we are talking about opportunity for local businessmen to participate in new businesses is one of our seven points employment opportunities for local residents is they must prevention for de segregated relocation and the improved housing circumstances of those who may be temporarily or permanently displaced is another one of our seven points. However today is not the day to discuss all of the seven points today is the day to review point number three and find those existing tools and AIDS which federal housing and related legislation. Have already made available to us for reclaiming column. And today. We must explore the necessities for additional assistance from the Congress. It is my hope that out of this meeting today there will emerge some specific proposals for federal legislative action in addition to a careful cataloguing of the financial and other A which play now be available. Future one day conferences are planned for discussion of other points in our program that task ahead is massive There are some who will say it is too massive I disagree completely and what I am to costs. The first part of my answer is that this city this state and this nation have committed themselves to the abolition of racial discrimination. These commitments alone have been of him from them and coverage meant to two hundred to twenty million Negro Americans and serve to allay the dissatisfactions and tensions which breed this asked for us riots these commitments constitute a creed by which we was all live and cannot now be abandoned the second part of my answer is that this is the nation which tamed a world in us from the Atlantic to the Pacific. This is the nation which sacrificed immense human and economic wealth to maintain this union this is a nation which accomplished the military Americal of fighting major was in two hemispheres simultaneously This is the nation which developed the marshall when Truman doctrines to protect civilization and revive the economy of Western Europe this is a nation that has provided billions in assistance to other countries in the last twenty years this is the nation which has reached a new pinnacle of prosperity this is a nation which will put men on the moon by nineteen seventeen. To ask whether America can be segregate the inner city and reclaim the ghettos is Maly an exercise in rhetoric of course it can what is needed is in President Johnson's words to be bold enough to change always there are enough to us new dangers and if the dream is there enough to call forth the limitless capacities of this great people. Let us hear a no. Zero Lemon less capacity thank you very much. For her for her the phone. Thank you Madam President I'd like to introduce to you at this time. A new friend of Holland who knows about this community and has been up and down inside St and whom you supported in the last election and who are tremendous more support from all of us in this ladies and gentlemen the mayor of the city of New York Mayor Menino. First of all I'd like to say that to. Our president not late. That I pray she ate very much her. Putting together a meeting of this kind under her auspices and inviting toward a number of people who some of whom are newcomers to the field of public office and others whom of whom is changed from one one area of endeavor to another and it's also a pleasure for me to be here in the same room with my former colleague in the United States House of Representatives Representative William Ryan a man who I consider a first class representative. With. No I had to originally understood that. What was to be done here was for those who have the responsibility of government on their shoulders to listen to what. People of the community were going to say which suited me fine. As I am still relatively new to the job of mayor I've only been in for three weeks and I'm prepared to do a lot of learning and a lot of listening and at the same time. I do want to however positively to acknowledge the goals that Mrs motley holds out for the Harlem community. I believe that the principle of those goals is sound and that it is a if properly implemented will be a mark of progress for New York City as a whole Mrs Motley is interested in a number of things including the construction in the Harlem community of a public building or buildings I think that is right proper correct and sound I think it should be done intelligently and wisely. And I'm pleased that her work has been acknowledged by the city planning commission. To the extent that the city planning commission has included in the planning budget room for this kind of a physical development in the community Secondly. I want to say that part of my work in the restructuring of the government of New York. Will include much attention to the business of housing and construction. As it will to. Do less ten Jubal matters. Many of you have noticed in the newspapers. That there are coming to New York two gentlemen who are well known in their respective fields and who I think can help us. Head off in the right direction one is Mitch is Mr Mitchel spirit off presently the poverty director in New Haven. Acknowledged by many to be certainly one of the most effective in the country and in terms of corralling and directing federal money has been the most effective in the amounts of federal money proportionately that he has energetically. Been able to apply in the New Haven community he came out of the labor movement as you know and then became superintendent of schools in New Haven and is now director of their poverty program. He of course is one who believes that any work in the area of poverty must have goals connected with it and included in those goals are jobs and education neither can operate in isolation from the other. Then in another area. Well I should say this Mr spared off comes to New York under a Ford grant for a foundation grant which leaves him free to bring in others from other parts of the United States consultants and other talents and resources that the present structure of the city government of course does not permit there is not that flexibility in the structure and he'll be doing this for a period of four months. Examining our system our structure and making recommendations for reorganization and that reorganization ultimately looks towards the creation of an administration on human resources which will be able at long last to bring some sensible coordination to the work of the welfare department Youth Board youth activities in general. The aims and goals of the poverty program. At least the city share of it or the city responsibility in it and its contribution. And so forth and the other side which is housing. There is coming to New York Mr Edward Logue of Boston formally also of New Haven. A mover and a doer and admittedly a powerhouse in the field of of housing and development of. The physical aspects of living and which includes the intangible aspects as well because one does not separate. The human equation and human resources. From the construction of buildings whether it be houses or libraries or schools or. Anything else for that matter site selection is included. Mr Logan is dispirit off fortunately have worked together in the past and know the relationship between human resources and development of communities by the construction of of new edifices Mr Lowe comes to New York under the same auspices. Ford Foundation grant which leaves him free to bring to New York a number of people from other parts of the country which he will be doing from San Francisco Chicago. And a couple other places in between and his task is the same in the space of four months to recommend the ultimate reorganization of the governmental structure and approach towards this and to do it in the space of four months. Whether these gentlemen stay with us. For the long pole remains to be seen that's an unanswered question that even they are not sure of the answer to at this moment. Those I think are are our explorations and movements that I think are all to the good. They recognise as I do that in these fields nothing is to be taken for granted. And that everything is to be questioned and re-examined as much as we possibly can in while. I do want to say that I look forward to listening a bit as I gather there will be further expressions and again I wish to express my thanks to Mrs Motley for her invitation to be here today thank you. So without further ado I would like to introduce to you obviating senator from New York State the Honorable Robert Kennedy. ERA Lindsey smartly Congressman Ryan ladies and gentleman I know that there's been a good deal of discussion about. Problems that. You are meeting with a meeting about today and I know that there have been many suggestions and. Recommendations that have been made. I feel very strongly that we need some changes and that the time for a change in the way we've been proceeding in the past the time for a change is now. Just as it has been time for a change since the first Negro stepped off the first slave ship onto the American soil the time to change is now. That I come here not to say now but to ask how not to say what should be done and what must be done but what will be done to make opportunity like the Constitution truly colorblind to turn rhetoric into action and dreams into fact the place to start is here here in the center of this great northern city here in the center of all the northern cities here in New York here in Harlem here in Bedford Stuyvesant it is the great urban centers that most Americans live and will live in ever increasing degree in the coming years it is to the great cities that Negro Americans have come in search of the dreams that we all share for ourselves and for our children and it is these great cities that are threatened with total dislocation. By the problems of employment and education housing and health and safety that accompany the negro throughout the United States I'd like to interrupt if I may I see in the back gentleman who I said that I'd meet here which is Burke Marshall used to be system turning general in charge of the Civil Rights Division thank you thank you. He said that he'd come make sure I said the right things and. I also want to express as he's coming up my appreciation for the mayor for being here for a few moments I know how busy he is and that his schedule might very well take him out in the middle of any of my remarks so I just want to express my appreciation for his remaining here at least for a few moments I know how many responsibilities he has I want to say while he is here that I have some suggestions and recommendations that I make regarding what could be done and that I want to work closely with him he has a deep responsibility and in meeting that responsibility he deserves the support of all of us a matter whether we be Republicans or independents and Democrats and as I've said before he'll have the support of me as a United States senator as I know he has the support of Senator Javits and other political figures throughout this day. And it is these great cities that are threatened with total dislocation by the problems of employment and education housing health and safety that accompanied the negro throughout the United States for these problems are intensified by the concentration of the growth in the cities by areas of hundreds of thousands of people with abnormally high rates of unemployment. Of poverty and the other afflictions which you know all too well in the long run we must break down the ghettos these huge concentrations of a single racial group and as I said in a speech yesterday we must begin to do so immediately but we must recognize that this is a task of years and perhaps of decades if we seriously intend to solve our problems we must accept the fact that all the Harlem's will be with us for many years to come what we must refuse to accept is the proposition that Harlem's problems are not soluble Where then do we begin clearly the most important problem in Harlem is education of every Come on fathers must learn job skills and mothers must learn to buy food economically students must learn to read and little children how to speak and teachers must learn to teach and employers how to hire thanks but our educational efforts have thus far not been sufficient but this there have been many reasons which by now are familiar to all of us segregation lack of stimulation or stability in many homes lack of preschool preparation lack of adequate resources in the schools themselves lack of effort in the schools which have not been determined that all children must learn all the shortcomings exist all are destructive and wasteful and all must be changed. But we will only be deluding ourselves if we look just to improve our schools as a solution to the problems of the ghetto the most ambitious preschool projects that have yet been devised for example do not reach children before the age of three and those we have carried out do not reach below the age of four or five yet even by three children have a have been so damaged that any compensatory program can only make up part of the potential that has already been lost we can improve the schools at every level yet not reach the parents of even our youngest children and these parents must be reached if their children are to have a full chance of life and reliance on integration of schools in the center of our cities would mean the virtual abandonment of these children now in school for true school integration depends on desegregation of residential patterns. More fundamentally better schools do not automatically produce better or more dedicated students or perhaps the greatest barrier of education in Harlem is simply lack of hope a lack of belief that education is meaningful to a negro in the city of New York the proof can be found in one fact that the most important factor is the dropout rate is not principally the state of a student's family nor is there early schooling nor whether he attended preschool classes. Or had a guidance counselor the main determine the dropout rate is the opportunity for employment in the area this after all should be no surprise children whose fathers are without work for months or years on end are not likely to learn the value of work in school or elsewhere high school soon seniors who see last year's graduates standing on street corners or working part time in menial jobs are not likely to be impressed with the value of a school training. So students slack and their teachers expect too little and the students slack even further they must stay in school until a given age because a lot commands it regardless of their interest and discipline thus becomes impossible the net result at the school simply do not educate the children so if we are to break out of this cycle if our education programs are to work we must move immediately to provide jobs for all those willing and able to work this of course we have tried to do in the last five years we have increased the general rebel level of employment and we haven't instituted many training programs to help people qualify for jobs but these efforts diligent as they might have been have not been enough I turn now they have four to a realistic program for jobs a program for all of our Hala Mz a program for the United States I might say to all of you I have. My original speech is in a good deal more detail and I will give here today but I didn't want to take too much time of this conference as group so I will summarize some of the points but those of you are interested the speech in a longer form and more detail regarding some of these points will be available to you first let us as a beginning stop thinking of the poor of Harlem the unemployed the dropouts those on welfare on those who work for less than the minimum wage as liabilities idle hands for some sort of occupation must be found let us think of them instead as a valuable resource as people who can make a significant contribution to themselves their families and this nation. And second that as if there are jobs that need to be done that if there are jobs that need to be done in Harlem in New York City in New York state across this country in the state of the Union message President Johnson said that whole areas of our cities must immediately be rebuilt Indeed it is the national policy since one thousand nine hundred forty nine to provide and I quote a decent home and a suitable living environment for every American family but there are in New York City at least one and one half million people living in totally inadequate dwellings cold rat infested dirty and overcrowded the Medicare bill is already generating pressure for a new hospital and nursing home construction and even before Medicaid New York's commissioners on hospital. Said that stated that the city owned hospitals alone require fifty million dollars worth of rebuilding in each of the next ten years our school classrooms are already overcrowded indeed. And in the next ten years we must build thousands of more classrooms here in the city of New York to teach the children now being born the College of the city of New York is becoming more difficult to enter each year principally because it is without adequate classroom space in fact the inventory is almost infinite parks and playgrounds to be built the beaches to be renovated the subways to be refurbished if we begin as the president said that we will to meet these pressing needs it will be jobs enough for all of our people but let us not make the mistake of regarding these as just jobs and let us not erect buildings just for their own sake our needs and the programs we will now undertake to meet them are in fact an opportunity to make every government program and many private efforts more effective than ever before in any program of rebuilding now begun therefore I now urge the following first that priority in employment on these projects should go to residents of the areas in which they are undertaken. Thanks the fathers and young men of Harlem need work and this is the best kind of work that we could possibly afford them but this is man's work where this which is dignified which is hard and exacting which is at the same time rewarding to the man who does it and we warding to the community around him let's give our people that kind of work. Much of it is work which can now be done by unskilled workers who now have the most difficult time finding jobs but in such a program there would be jobs for all kinds including those requiring administrative and managerial skills creating these jobs would say to the residents of Harlem that there is hope that there is a future that all of us are truly determine to change the conditions under which they live in my judgment it is not too much to say that the ready availability of jobs in Harlem would make a major change in the entire environment in which the young people grow up in this part of the city at the present time let's begin that kind of a program. Second public and private training programs should concentrate their funds and their efforts in on the job training on these projects third our conventional educational system should be directly integrated with the rebuilding effort for many of our most serious educational problems there is a real hope for solution within such a problem program the central problem of motivation for example would be directly confront if any high school student so desired whether for financial or other reasons could be allowed to leave school to work on such a project. The schools would maintain jurisdiction over the students and they would as a condition of employment be required to continue schooling at least part time until the requirements for graduation were met in fact all jobs on these projects should require part time study to remedy educational deficiencies and then spent on the job should be directly related to school credits gain just as it is now in the armed forces without the need to discipline unmotivated students the schools would find it far easier to educate students who wish to learn and the young man who worked on such a project will learn that the ability to read a blueprint or a specification is worth returning to school in order to acquire that skill. Indeed let me say it would be possible to up open up new opportunities for education at every level a young man showing supervisory abilities for example could be encouraged to study business or public administration at the college level either part time or full time straw bosses should be able to become superintendents and perhaps receive engineering training appropriate branches of the city and state universities could be established in the immediate neighborhood to allow maximum participation in this process for the rebuilding should be consciously directed to the creation of communities the building of neighborhoods in which residents can take. Neighborhoods in which they have a stake neighborhoods in which physical surroundings help the residents to create the functioning community which must be our goal we should for example make provision for condominium ownership of low income apartments at another level we should engage in as much rehabilitation as possible. Saving all of the old that is economical and. We should build in stores and workshops and play space and the beginning of the neighborhood should from the outset involve the people of the area so affected. If present social service programs particularly welfare should be integrated with the rebuilding effort for example the rebuilding program should focus in significant degree on unmet social needs such as by constructing clinics and physician group practice facilities in the ghettos which are notoriously short of medical services six using the building program as a base occupational opportunities and training should be opened up in all related areas as building takes place for example some should learn and then operate building supply businesses small furniture manufacturing establishment or restaurants in which the workers can eat as health clinics are established young people should be trained to work in them both as clerical and medical aides building should be decorated embellished by art students housing you could taint facilities in which the students of Music and Drama could put on entertainments. Seventh an essential component of any program for the generation of the ghetto will be the active participation of the business community in every aspect of the program in a partnership of shared cost and effort with the government for example one of the ghettos most serious problems is the poor quality of goods that is sold in local stores. And related to that is the ignorance of many housewives that better goods are available at lower cost elsewhere I would like to suggest therefore that the government work closely with private industry cooperate with private industry to establish demonstration stores in Harlem and in Bedford Stuyvesant stores in which quality goods of all kinds of food clothing and appliances would be sold at prices comparable to those in large discount stores downtown and in the suburbs. Thank them bond with consumer education programs now underway in the poverty program such as could be both schools and yardsticks against which all the stores could be measured the government operates the electric power plants of the T.V. A So the buyers will have a standard against which to measure the cost of private power slum residents should have the same yardstick against which to measure the cost and quality of their daily needs. Equally essential is the full participation a private groups especially of labor unions and of universities labor unions should furnish training and supervisors on the job and instructors in the training program unions should also be encouraged to establish and administer neighborhood health and social service programs similar to those they now operate for their members and they should also be encouraged to organize the workers in these programs. I appreciate the activity gave us all a rest. Universities should be invited not only to establish special educational programs will lend their expert knowledge in the planning and execution of every part of the process. Schools of architecture. Schools of architecture could contribute design and planning assistance to neighborhood groups wishing to participate in the community planning process medical schools could help to train medical aid and to instruct the population generally about hygiene and sanitation law schools can furnish legal assistance to projects and to individuals business schools could have a special training class and consultation service for small business men night the full participation of the state and local government authorities is also vital together with active and imaginative leadership from state and city government everything is possible without such cooperation our efforts will remain fragmentary and their outcome problematical what is called for in short is a total effort of regeneration an effort to mobilize the scale and the resources of the entire society including above all the latent scales and the resources of the people of the ghetto themselves for the solution of our urban dilemma. Thank you. This is a lengthy list and yet it is even so and complete it does not deal with the changes that will be necessary in our manpower and Education Program to assure an adequate supply of administrators and teachers doctors emplacement and lawyers to make our ghettos into a fully functioning community it does not deal with the needed the necessary step of strengthening Title seven of the Civil Rights Act It does not deal with questions of access to public services established for the benefit of the poor or the need for improving the participation of the people of the slum in the political decision. Which affect their lives all these matters are on our agenda and should be on our agenda all were require the same imagination and Efron and willingness today as will the program urban regeneration which the success of our other efforts depend but what has been demonstrated is really the great opportunity that lies before all of us the chance that we have at the same time for new opportunity for employment new meaning for education new cities to live in and in a new sense a come new community for all of our people that's what we're interested in and if we dedicate ourselves that's what we'll accomplish. I have left until last what might be the most important element in the success of any program that leadership shown by the men and women of the Negro community none of this can happen unless you will it to happen unless you can and do make sometimes hard and unpopular decisions which come from responsibility it is easy and popular for example to attribute our housing problems to the greed of landlords and the indifference of the city and to seek even more drastic penalties for failure to make needed repay is or ever more drastic protest against incomplete and Forstmann certainly there are many landlords who are profited shamelessly from the people of Harlem but to seek the solution for our housing problem in even more rigorous code enforcement is irrelevant for after a generation of trying it should be clear to all that we simply do not have the legal and administrative resources to chase every landlord in Harlem through the courts and the boards whenever the heat fails or a window breaks. What is needed is to put these buildings in the hands of the people who do want to keep them up. But we have not done what we could do this in Washington D.C. for example one small group has shown that it is possible to buy slum tenements to put them into acceptable repair and using the labor of the tenants and of volunteers to do so without raising rants this is no easy task but it is possible yet how many of us have organized groups to do this kind of work how many civil rights organizations or poverty programs have attempted to use available federal funds for such ends the answer is too few I do not mean they were underestimate the value of protest protest for redress of just grievances is the right in the duty of every citizen in a free society but protests must not be allowed to distract our attention from the job at hand nor need nor May the need or protest be used as an excuse for our own inaction so it is you leaders of the Negro American community who know what must be done better than white Americans can ever know better than I can ever know you must take the lead you must take the first steps using what is available and showing what is needed but not available on us all of us is a heavy responsibility. Oh let me make this quite clear what is at stake is not the fate of the Negro in America at stake is the fate of all America. What is at stake is the legacy of the past but what is more important is the promise of the future. The can is the con of our country in which all of our children will grow depends as much on you as any man and women in this land and one last note this is no small plan but neither are the problems small Let us not fear the challenge but he the words of Daniel Burnham Make no little plans they have no magic disturbed man's blood and problem probably themselves will not be realized make big plans aim high and hope and work remembering that a noble logical diagram once recorded will never die but long after we are gone will be a living thing asserting itself with ever growing insistency. Such a noble diagram was the dream of liberty and equality set in our constitution one hundred ninety years ago never completely fulfilled yet always the law still asserting itself with ever growing intensity to work to bring it closer closer to fruition is the highest task in which we can engage let us get on with the job thank you. I'd like to thank. You for taking time out. And I know you want to express your thanks to him again so would you. I'd like to introduce a man who has fought for control disarmament for a sensible foreign policy for enforcement of civil rights and the protection of civil liberties for federal aid to education for Medicare and for more low and middle income housing and the economic means to help the less than rich get employment and get the economy really moving he is an outstanding leader in the fight for liberalism in the Congress and his willingness to fight when it counts in Congress long before the final vote has been acknowledged throughout the country ladies and gentleman the representative from the twentieth Congressional District William Fitts brah. Borough president Mott laim commissioner Gregory distinguished chairman of local planning boards nine eleven and other distinguished community leaders and legislative Ours is this flight our represents the mayor of the city of New York here all of those who have gathered here this afternoon at this very impressive gathering and this very important conference to chart the future of this community and I think it is very true that life in many of our cities is perilously close to being B. still as problems of housing and unemployment and education and poverty mount solutions sometimes seem further out of reach a sense of frustration even defeat as it times grip those who live in our cities and those whose responsibility it is to deal with these problems but I believe there are ample grounds of hope for hope that our cities can be reborn and become viable pulsating centers of commerce and culture to nurture all of our people this conference today is a concrete expression of that hope it is dedicated to the proposition that given the goals and the tools we can cure the blight of poverty and hopelessness and segregation and Harlem and establish a blueprint for every other decaying and problem ridden community in this nation every city across the country should watch what happens here and focus on what you are doing and coming together today to chart the future. The seven points outlined by borough president motley last September and unanimously supported by the first borough president conference of community leaders point the way I strongly supported the borough president's request to the city planning commission for planning funds to implement Goans that can lead to the revitalization of Harlem and East Harlem I'm delighted that there's been set aside the seven hundred thousand dollars I don't cation to begin to plan if we take our stand here on the streets of Harlem working with the residents and with the community leaders we will have achieved one of the great breakthroughs of our time I must say that I also based my hope for the cities and for this community on President Johnson summons last week in his State of the Union message when he summoned us to make both new advances to deal with the pressing problems of our cities the president said to the nation to some of our in some of our urban areas we must rebuild entire sections and neighborhoods containing in some cases as many as one hundred thousand people working together private enterprise and government must press forward with the task of providing homes and shops parks and hospitals and all the other necessary parts of a flourishing community where people can come to live the good life I believe the president's remarks were further evidence of his deepening personal concern with the quality of life in urban America and the recognition that the federal government has a wider role to play in bringing about a rebirth of our city's. Let us today resolve to seize this proffer to help let us call on the federal government upon the president and upon the Congress to embark on a truly massive program to aid the cities let us formulate I politely a program for urban America as we have done for rural America I call on the administration to provide the tools that will enable us to achieve our goals in rebuilding the Harlem and he's taught them communities the structure of the newly created Department of Housing and Urban Development is presently being formed I proposed within that department a division to plan and administer a total program for depressed urban areas coordinating all available federal programs housing health unemployment Public Works transportation parks and recreation facilities to uplift and rebuild our urban cores this division would administer a new federal aid program aimed specifically at eradicating the ghetto and the conditions which result from the segregated housing patterns and the years and years of deprivation if we are to overcome the social sickness of our ghettos in Harlem in East Harlem in Chicago in Watts federal funds must be channeled directly into this urban Appalachian a program I suggest the federal government spend nine out of every ten dollars That is the federal financing would be ninety percent of the city financing ten percent. We must have adequate funds for housing Although housing alone is not the answer we must have adequate funds for education although education alone is not the answer we must have adequate funds for job training although jobs alone are not the answer no one single program will cure the social sickness of the ghetto It will require a bold creative plan for human as well as physical renewal for too long a time the Congress dominated as it is by rural interests and parochial concerns has been guilty of bearing its head in the sand when it comes to meeting on any meaningful scale the problems of our metropolitan areas the decay and blight of our cities and the terrible social problems this deterioration brings in its train did not happen overnight it is the painfully long and dreary history of cruel want and neglect of widespread indifference and a continuing and systematic lack of vision halfway measures will not be effective massive federal participation is needed by any artistic you want to employ unemployment rates family income welfare costs Harlem any time are depressed areas in every true sense of the phrase yet Harlem is not eligible to participate in the deep breast areas program authorized by the federal government in the Economic Development Act of one nine hundred sixty five that's the act which was the successor to the original depressed areas long your graphic portions of cities are made us apologies are not eligible New York City as a distinct political entity does not meet the tests of persistent unemployment or low family income to qualify for inclusion in that aid program. I believe that this action be amended so that Harlem and other comeback urban communities densely populated with low incomes and persistent and not substantial amount of unemployment will be entitled to federal aid under the Economic Development Act of one nine hundred sixty five a total of five hundred million dollars was authorized annually for a period of four years but none of our important cities can participate even though New York Chicago Los Angeles and Washington D.C. which really are the economic and cultural backbone of our nation even though they contain neighborhoods which are an alarming economic distress through direct and supplementary grants economic development actually could result in assistance for badly needed public works projects in these areas and pay up to eighty percent I have introduced legislation in the Congress to amend that act so that parts of cities are municipalities which contain more than fifty thousand people would be eligible under the program public works construction pays off in a number of ways the initial and most immediate result is that such construction provides jobs this is justification enough for applying this law to such areas as Harlem but beyond that improve public facilities enhance the community and in turn attract private investment to the community which in turn of course generates more jobs in this way Iceland is brought back into the mainstream of our by life this I believe it's terribly important and relates to what the borough president said earlier about bringing cultural institutions and civic institutions educational institutions into this community. I might point out in referring to some of the existing federal programs that there are many valuable tools which now exist and can be employed in pushing back our Urban Frontier Unfortunately these programs have not been applied effectively in Harlem and then he started if we look at some of the weapons which are relevant for dealing with the problems of our sick ghettos I think we will realize that there has been neglect in using what is presently available of the many ills of our cities nothing cries out for action more than that of people trapped in substandard housing and the miserable social conditions that slum housing breeds do in encouraging a degree the Housing Act one thousand nine hundred sixty five passed by the Congress last year does provide a promise of fresh thinking at the national level however it should be noted that the funds again are not sufficient to meet the housing crisis in New York City alone not to mention the rest of the country federal funds have been made available for housing in New York City regularly you might realize that from January sixty four to October sixty five the federal government approved some twenty five projects for the city with a price tag of one hundred nineteen million dollars urban renewal grants open space projects public housing but what percentage of these amounts I ask you and I think you know the answer was channeled into the Harlem community very little title one program is a program with what you're all familiar I certainly shall not dwell upon it at length yet this could be used imagines of like bowling to face up to the whole question of how we rebuild and redevelop our cities among the new emphasis now taking place and housing thinking are programs aimed at rehabilitating and conserving. Neighborhoods this is important it's a shift away from the traditional concept which we used to refer to as the bulldozer concept again one of the most promising new programs which we have available is one which allows grants to cities to carry out programs of code enforcement in the chair writing areas a two thirds federal payment one third city payment this can be crucial in arresting the decline of whole neighborhoods utilizing these funds every slum lord who cannot or will not maintain his buildings must be hounded right out of the city to good rehabilitation aids that can be employed one which must still be funded by Congress or the red supplement program and also a program which will encourage scattered public housing only last week the president repeated his pledge to fight for funds for the rent supplement program under this program as you know a low income family pays twenty five percent of its income towards housing unspecified nonprofit cooperative housing while the remainder of the rent is paid by the federal government this can be used in both new housing and rehabilitated housing a second tool which is now available is one which permits local public housing authorities to lease or to buy and rehabilitate if necessary units and existing buildings for families eligible for public housing this again and be very valuable in finding a large enough space for large families all of these programs are designed to get away from past solutions of massive public housing complexes new housing should be dispersed and with the dispersal of new housing with different income ranges we can begin to desegregate our communities. Also there is available under the Housing Act of one nine hundred sixty five programs for open space programs which will permit federal funds to be used to beautifies city streets with trees better lighting and varying away from the Housing Act The Department of Interior the outdoor recreation Act which was passed by the Congress in the past year or two provides funds for developing parks neighborhood parks larger parks less pocket parks these should be taken advantage of in total planning I think we're aware of some of the experimental programs which are now in process the one in the Bronx eleven bird foundation project and here on one hundred fourteenth Street the project which is funded by the Federal Housing and Home Finance Agency and the Office of Economic Opportunity all of these programs can be utilized as tools in building the future of this community we cannot of course ignore the other facets of federal programs the other needs. Which accompanied the housing needs the education of our children the opportunity is now provided under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act which we passed last year which for the first time makes large amounts of federal funds available to schools in deprived areas and when we finally as I suspect we will this year fund the teacher corps a new bowl concept of training teachers in our schools that also will begin to help in the total redevelopment of this community there are federal programs for jobs manpower retraining programs programs which need to be expanded greatly and we cannot ignore of course the need to create the jobs so that when the training is completed there is a job ready and waiting for the individual who has been trained. In the final analysis of course much depends on how we face up to the problems within our community much depends on the participation of everybody in formulating the plans and then in bringing about the kind of community cooperation and support which is necessary to build a new we can talk about the needs and how we can talk about what the out of poverty program has brought to our community it's certainly through the Community Action Program offers unique opportunities to involve grassroots participation in the redevelopment of Harlem I'm sure you are familiar if not perhaps later in the afternoon we can talk about some of the opportunities there but under this program we have seen the Neighborhood Youth Corps we have seen the Job Corps we have seen Community Action phases such as some of the higher you act programs which really begin to reach in to our communities and of course the Head Start program is one of the most promising one of the most challenging programs which has been devised under the federal anti-poverty program for there we are reaching the youngsters the young boys and the young girls before they ever start school and giving them a chance giving them the break which they haven't had all of these programs of course represent only the first halting steps in what must be a massive assault on urban problems and that total approach greater Pons must be made available for existing programs arbitrary ceilings and restrictions is a restriction of fifteen percent on the amount of public housing funds available to any one state these restrictions must be eliminated so that the city of New York which has such pressing problems can be properly funded. In all of these there must be also if we're going to carry forward federal programs there must be a total commitment on the part of the local city administration programs must be administered locally with a relentless determination to meet the long neglected needs of our city Harlem Bedford Stuyvesant and other deprived communities of our city must be first on the agenda for action by any city administration which asked for and expects to receive the support of the people of the city. And this is a question which the entire city must face not just the residents of the deprived neighborhoods for years I have spoken before the City Board of Estimate before the City Planning Commission and other ways and other forums about the failure of the city to develop a comprehensive master plan for the whole city unless this is done unless we do create this comprehensive master plan and regulate our communities one to the other then our purpose will not be achieved housing for people who need it must be built throughout the whole city new programs must not be used to create new ghettos but the foster integration there must be decent housing for anyone who is relocated through any redevelopment plan this master plan must visualize the construction of a civic center with new public buildings in Harlem to serve the entire city This will also stimulate as I said before bringing jobs and business into the Harlem community we might write off start thinking about locating the Manhattan Community College here. Baroque School of Finance or other institutions so as to make people aware of the Harlem as a center of cultural and academic pursuits but last anyone think that the revitalization of Harlem can be accomplished simply by rebuilding the physical structure of the community let me assure him that this is only part of the task the half billion dollars which has been spent on housing schools and hospitals in the last ten years has only scratched the surface without the development of programs which will provide economic and social opportunity for every resident of Harlem without a deep commitment to root out the dependency on the hopelessness that are in damage all of the bricks and mortar in which we invest will be lifeless symbols without real power to change man circumstances the appellation or program I envision for the cities would release the energies and talents of those who have the requisite vision of the magination to truly transform the cars of American cities it would only use the community's great economic potential for the benefit of all those who live in the cities in Harlem and East Harlem and above all would deeply involved every man woman and child and helping to change his own destiny both the economic and human resources are abundantly available for this great task a nation that can undertake a program to send a man to the moon has the resources to get rid of poverty and misery and Harlem. With vision and determination are slums to be made into attractive well planned communities but all present federal programs all right charades. A delusion unless genuinely massive aid is authorized for poverty stricken pockets and all of our cities are low income provide the model of what can be done by a far reaching federally financed program while we must look to long range solutions we cannot wait for final answers but a seized today the chance for significant help on the national level let us join together to call upon the new secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the you know city administration to begin at immediate demonstration program and heart on many stardom let us make no small effort let us be bone this is a great challenge perhaps the severest test we have faced at home but it is a challenge we must meet here which the federal government and the city government must meet if our cities are to be rescued from the hopelessness and the despair with which they are surrounded thank you very much for the opportunity to be with you and participate in this very important conference. Ladies and gentlemen I have that whole question but just a while because we have two more because this meeting is unusual in that everyone who was asked to speak here today Cain. And I think Jim has said this is a tribute to you because I think everyone of you know that each and every one of you the leader in your own right that gravitating around everybody in this room and twenty or two thousand people. And then respect for your prompts them to come now the next speaker whether he's walking the streets of Harlem or advising the president of the United States or managing Congress or fighting for you. Or bending an elbow with us. About playing basketball continues to be the great ladies and gentlemen congressman Adam Great thank you for the. Well as we say in Congress Jack and Val I would like you to consider the preface my remarks. Read because. I think that comes of places that had a little bit too much talking in too many conferences. And I think the major thing is when you do ask questions to see what's on your heart and mind. That's an insult black Baptist preacher for someone to say you can hear me on the and. I want to. Lead my remarks in the say that. After John Lindsay hired a Bernie was. A graduate to be his photographer on poverty funds I don't want to hear any more criticism how you act. I haven't seen it yet didn't press and by that she's actually is a nice looking I'll hire on my staff in Washington I thought that. My father always said that I want one as old as she looks and a man is all when he stops looking at. Madam President and I do I was a friend Judge Gregory who played basketball together years ago and he was captain of the Clinton. And then went on to our American from university this is important for me to be here because I just celebrated this past November my fifty seventh birthday. Nothing but technically distinguished about reaching age fifty seven except the president of H.G. Heinz corporation sent me a box of fifty seven varieties as a present. I mention the fifty seven years but one reason because I have lived in Harlem all these years. There right here and still here one twenty West hundred thirty eight street that's not a voting address that's where I live in a rented room. I brought my mother and father to Harlem when I was six months old. And I've lived a lot of work preached politics and played. And Harlem Harlem is my past my present and my future we are one and externally bound up with each other. God loves of the spectrum of colors goddess of the shades of differences we are hollow. I can think of no group of people in this world whom I have greater love greater respect than the people while I'm alive as I don't power and I am home when I walk the streets at night and go by mittens play house. Some of us aim to go. Dr Bennett cam bases and well. Ben that out of all maybe joys of the web may bend an elbow is a my people know I'm part of you and you look and see me standing here. Shannon the most important committee and Congress in the field of domestic legislation I'm here because you put me here you are the president made me now and my fifty seven years thirty six in public life I've been attending conferences and holding them too on what can be done to revitalise home we are the most conferring people I know. And also the most studied on this van new man is going to bring a team in from all over the United States to study New York I hope some in that grows. Because you know when you want to ask what chu about what's he suffering from you've got to ask one who lived in the ghetto of Wausau if you want to as an Englishman about his tribulations you gotta ask someone who lived during the London blitz if you want to ask about what act people are thinking you gotta ask us no black man can speak for Senator Javits. Open like man can speak for Harold's and lose the prime minister of England. And no one man can speak for me. And I don't have wholly isn't how close a friend is to Maine couldn't present and state they can talk to me and get my advice and they can tell me what to do the difference there every time we have a crisis not only have a conference. Even have conferences when there was no crisis. They can still have an extremely useful purpose at the poses presented or acted upon I do not bring with me today any magic blueprint know that our man or two senators they can do what we can strands for model overnight some kind of social logical fairyland problem expression very much. But what I do have I have is a strong and urgent demand that we create an open society in Harlem I mean that kind of community a. Way out proud of where we live even if it's a basement apartment that we work to make our schools better and we use the facilities of the small but the ministration one encouraging small business is that we take advantage of all the acts that have come out of Congress including the forty seven ACTs passed under my chairmanship in five years which I will bring before you in a moment and most important of all to vote nobody has a right to protest unless they have a registration card in their pocket and I don't get it we have vote for Harlem is not a closed society and it's not a ghetto I'm proud of Harlem. I'm proud of it because of what we have done with all kinds of obstacles. This congressional district we have the loose family income of any congressman in New York State. Out of the seventy two Congressman this is the lowest median family income right here we have the highest number of the lap of dated and deteriorating housing forty two percent of our housing is elaborate in dearie deterioration we have the highest percentage of job hole is in the menial and unskilled categories fifty one percent of those who do work in Harlem work in the on the scale of the men you're categorized we have the highest concentration of dope peddlers in Harlem we have the highest rate of dropouts in Harlem and west of all we have a sorry ass percentage of voters in Harlem and that's your fault. So that's create an open society in Harlem we can't get into that great to Saturday unless we have an open society we neighborhoods Let's keep on holding conferences let's have conferences that will start action well all the big politicians and dignitaries make their annual pilgrimage to harm the pound their breasts and rend their garments but in the end Harlem still is the poverty stricken Cinderella but the stroke of midnight is coming and I guess step is going to fit us one day. Is open society will bring back in the Harlem both black people and whites who have not only fled Harlem but fled New York might even cause Bobby Kennedy and Jack Javits or members of a staff to decide to live in Harlem. It's a good place to live and you know I love it I love it and you guys walk the streets of Harlem let this be heard by you who are white here today whether Jost as much confidence that you're going to walk the streets of downtown New York. In fact the F.B.I. and I'm going to quote a statistic which is absolutely shocking the F.B.I. Bureau of Crime Statistics tells me that crime has risen in the suburbs of New York more than in Holland in the past two years twenty eight percent more crimes in the suburbs where the people have fled. Now there's federal legislation on the books which can be you I pick up a day and a news. Williamsburg Congressman Rudy's district is getting more money than the home that's off. Right in oh I've got to do is move in and start taking advantage of all this the federal aid to elementary and secondary schools but emphasis on schools in low income areas came out of my command that's available the war on poverty that's available and in Congress with the president last Thursday he told me he's not going to decrease the funds for the war on poverty but in his budget message this coming week the funds for the war on poverty will be increased by approximately two hundred million dollars. And the past five years the legislation in education training and labor at my committee has totaled already fifteen billion dollars And coming next fiscal year will be five billion two hundred million dollars a year the same that's being spent on the hour not X. and Space Administration want to announce today but the first time and conference with the secretary of labor when we're it's Sargent Shriver in my office it lasted two hours after I had seen the president the day before. Way are going to take all these job training programs and put them together and one massive thrust because all we black people need from a teenager in the street to the unemployed men and women over forty all we need is jobs we need some green in our pocket that's all we got jobs we can take everything. That we're going to take the manpower development training Act The vocational education not the higher education and minimum wage increases the coming through registration of migrant workers all these We're going to put together and one massive thrust. Out now to see that our young people on our own employable old people are trained for jobs because what we have done so far seventy six percent of those who are unemployed of all before the manpower development training Act are now employed this is the open society I'm talking about. Here we are fooling around I haven't even finished column hospital that's been building seven years now every time I go by that the skeleton increases but the beds don't. Rise as a plan for action let's have a push for a large urban renewal that Zimbabwe has really gone showed he's a new growth. Not Negro removal but urban renewal for black people. Because when you go to the other big cities that have urban renewal that means black removal. Let's have a massive inundation of the manpower administration program we can set up on the job training projects in they can stuff. An electronics project training twenty people can be set up in a vacant store this is falling is most critical problem. Unemployment This is why we have the largest welfare budget in the world one half a billion dollars a year the United States employment office and or don't clock is handed a chief investigator I want that investigated as of yesterday heavily subsidized by federal funds but not finding jobs for black unemployed people this is true all over the nation. Aired we must provide for the real entry into poverty of our young men who are now whether out their consent in the armed forces. And for whatever reason it may be in Vietnam collapses there will be a reentry into public day of our teenagers now serving in the armed forces and I will have that legislation ready for my committee within the next two weeks to present on the floor of Congress. I'm going to say some other things that you may not like but I don't care my pensions paid for my income taxes all saddled my. I'm I got the higher status symbol of a place the gross head I'm the courts find me a half a million dollars never in the history of it had a black man been fined a half a million dollars to status Emma so I donated think a status symbol pension income tax all taken care. We got a cut out cultural and social freedom. All of our federal programs and all of our social life and. I'm sick and taxation of same but people go down to the world of a star in the Mark Carney on school on the fifty thousand dollars on a lunch or not I've done a. Lot of it. Makes thing we've discussed already and the legislation doesn't come out of my committee comes on the Public Works Committee we are going to try to I man the present laws of distressed areas and depressed areas to include localities within a city why should home with half a million people not be declared a distressed area after this transit strike when a state like South Dakota about two hundred eighty thousand can be declared one. Shot Stone is here from my staff we have had conversations every day since the state to settle with the secretary of agriculture although Freeman who said to be glad to send surplus food into this community an army trust White can't declare a distressed area an existing law and you know when you when a black man gets behind one week that's one week in his pay he can never catch up again. Because. The president lost public Lloyd in nine one three six as the one you want to amend all of these programs together Education Labor training urban renewal and Public Works still immersed Spanish in the sea of Harlem trouble. What we want to do in Washington and what I hope you will cooperate with here in New York is to change the splices into Wades. Only in a concentrated century coordinated effort. Out of mismarked is office for example with the necessary big dose of federal funds to implement these programs to revitalize Harlem. Nothing else is going to change this picture because I love him so dearly I want to see her grow and prosper want to see how to become an exciting and pulsating community I want to see hon become a wonderful place which all God's creatures can live and work and worship want to sit IP places but one congressman or two senators and I do this you the people must be the catalyst for the change as grassroots leaders and I hope you are really the grassroots leaders and if you're not shame on you. And we're in trouble if you know the real grassroots leaders you must stimulate arouse the people of Homs to care about what happens to Harlem to worry about one problem is becoming and to rise up and demand of the most thunderous voice possible do something now and do it quickly. Brothers will trespass against they go and tell him his fault between the and him. And if he will not hear them then take two or three that out of the mouth of two or three witnesses every word maybe established other words people at the where he is speak out for our grievances lest the black people care about themselves nobody's going to care about us unless black people care about themselves nobody's going to care about it as I said there's a few years ago on the corner one twenty fifth Street May seventeenth. I say it again I say it without any anti white feeling that I do not have it although I call the races and incidentally the New York Times with his customary accuracy called this building today the Young Men's Christian Association. Another way let the people. Out Sam here you know that the nicest past has a future. For our of what you our came from and then you know we are gone. If you have no vision of what this community can be they were all going to fail because none of us can rise any higher the Middle East of us go up. There is no vision the people perish. With Laden vendetta. I want to hear the great. I'd like to have this time to do. A man upon whom we all depend. As one of the great towering liberal voices of this country I'm proud that. New York state and that I was aware. Of on pregnant. Oh wow. A moment here I said like. Alabama Georgia. I could write you I like you. I don't like I don't like him no. Bar really really. Are more foreigners. Doing. Yeah. Right. Here when Senator Levin and Laurie. I'd like to say. Congress five hundred thirty three members. When. Mr Chairman. Congressman Ryan Congressman. Man And ladies and gentlemen. Adam Clayton Powell as you know leaves nothing on set. There's only one paw Adam stay one minute I want to say something about you as only one point that I would like to. Make of a difference between myself and Adam. He knows I love him and he's a great friend of mine and my wife to. Adam said that as I recall his pair aeration but no one would care about black people unless they cared about themselves I would like to change that somewhat I don't know I think I My credentials are pretty good don't you agree with that. I would like to change that the say that because black people care about themselves and I think have shown it so noble a a narrowing place certainly in the last ten years America is beginning to care about. I thank you. And he's in a position to do it as a chairman. My friends you had a great deal of fine speaking to have heard from number of my colleagues and it would be a work of assuming. For me to repeat all the things they've said and I don't intend to. But let me first compliment Mrs motley on doing what she's done the interesting thing about life is that many people do many things they seem to be the same things and yet they work in one case even though they may not have worked many times before. And though there have been many conferences about Harlem very much of the same character as the one you're having now I think that the mere fact that everyone did respond who was invited is and. Constance of the fact that there is a chance if we play our cards right that what you have initiated will at long last bear more fruit than of a similar efforts in addition I think the climate is more congenial than ever before I appreciate the rousing sentiments of Adam Clayton Powell but it is a fact that there is a deeper understanding of what this whole problem is about. Both in the Congress and at city hall and in Albany than there ever has been before none of these things guarantee results but they are at least the beginning Now one thing that's the staying wished the Negro community in my judgment within the last ten years it has stopped being satisfied with preachment and as demanded delivery and it has judged. The assertions made by individuals especially in public life far more on the basis of what they have done than on what they have said and the community itself has deserved that because with the dignity. Unbelievable dignity only attributable to a tremendous heritage of dignity. With which the Negro revolution has been carried on in the nation has the legislation now written upon the books which is the basis for everything that we're going to try to do been written in the way that it has and been implemented with the sincerity that it now I would like to in the few minutes that I shal take be very specific because I believe that it's essential if we're to make progress in this planning session to be very specific one I endorse fully Constance your seven point program. Thank. You. I think it's logical I think it's appropriate and I think that it does the it it states the principles which must be followed and respect of help to this community now it's going to take money and it's going to take law and it's going to take will. Primarily it's going to take money Adam Clayton Powell is absolutely right about that it's going to take public money and it's going to take private money people have to be employed and be able to rent quarters and spend whatever is required in a personal sense and governmental entities have to have the money and with which to do the things that you need done now right now we have a great program in the Congress which is already in legislation which calls for a new type of approach to the housing for a low income families and that is using existing housing rather than building new public housing and supplementing the rental payment through public funds that's called the rent supplement program unfortunately but Congress refused to appropriate money for the rent supplement program in one thousand sixty five a minimum of some thirty million dollars is involved that money must be voted in one thousand sixty six and in my judgment the New York delegation which Congressman Ryan and I and those who have spoken to you today are part of the New York delegation can be a very moving force and bringing about that kind of a vote now there are many things that the New York delegation does for us for example though a great deal of the farm legislation passed in the Congress is in my judgment quite an amicable to city dwellers the New York delegation of a big city delegations are invariably depended upon to deliver the necessary votes for that purpose there is no reason why at long last the New York delegation can't incest if it's going to vote for farm legislation that expects the farm delegations the vote for rent supplement. So that's one second. The president has come to the Congress and asked for legislation to eliminate the remainder of discrimination and housing Nah let us remember that one that's an applied admission that widespread discrimination still exists as indeed we know it does and let us remember also that and the mic in the campaign of one nine hundred sixty was the so-called stroke of the pen debate about the fact that I somehow a could by a stroke of the pen have signed an executive order eliminating housing discrimination. Subsequently an order was anted limited in character by President Kennedy of cited memory. And that eliminated some discrimination or tended to now the president knows just as well as I do that the way to tie up the Congress for three months is to try to pass a bill against discrimination in housing in the Congress and that having gone through this exercise and sixty five and sixty six there is some doubt that the Congress will do it or rather in sixty four and five there is some doubt at least that the Congress will do it I strongly recommend that President Johnson follow the precedent of President Kennedy and sign with the stroke of the pen the necessary order to eliminate the remainder of this criminal and. Now one other point Congressman Paul quite properly talked about urban renewal and Negro removal it is a fact that the removal practices with respect to sites cleared for urban renewal and public housing have been a blot the pun the escutcheon of honor of our country and that there has been grave dissatisfaction and quite properly with those practices one of the main reasons is that moving allowances and allowances for rental and of Accords which a given to poor families required to remove from the site are very an adequate under our law that limited to two hundred dollars per family in addition that the first priority and they released and say away for coming back to the urban renewal site is often denied where it's the most deserving and incidentally the rent supplement program will be very helpful to that and so I urge that the New York congressional delegation organize through its staring Committee of which I'm a member and Congressman Seiler who's rendered magnificent service as the chairman put it spiked into the matter. Of improving very materially the moving allowances which are paid to families required to move from the sites and that we see to it that real sincerity is expended in the administration of the relocation phases which are written into the law requiring first priority to those who have been required to move now if we do these things we begin to make some measurable dent in the situation now one other thing which is critically important it is a fact that only a whole community can move I do not believe with all respect that Harlem has the most to gain by fighting only for itself I think the thousands upon thousands of people in Harlem are a very strong ally for the rest of the people in New York there are other people in New York who are just this poor as the people in Harlem and need the help of Harlem just as you need their help I would like to see Constance with all respect a real common cause may in this total struggle with all of a neighborhood organization I would like to see you for example on the take just with just as much inspiration similar meetings to this inspiring your fellow Baro presidents to rouse their home communities just as your rousing your eyes and I think that if these neighborhoods are going to zation and Williamsburg and Brownsville and the Bronx and Staten Island and Queens and there are legions of them will lead together for the common purpose but the common purpose will be better served and that you'll each get more out of it. Because whatever is allocated in the way of money whatever is voted in Albany are in Washington are at city hall will be voted for the city of New York in toto it will somehow have to be divided and I think all will agree that the bigger the pie the larger is going to be the share of Harlem in addition we all live in the city. And addition we all live in the city with all respect I say that you have an absolute right to differ but that's been the history when we've had more urban renewal funs when we've had more public housing authorizations when the law has allowed a greater allocation to the state in the city of New York every community including Harlem has done better I Harlem should fight to the last breath for itself of course but it should not fight alone and should fight with others sharing the common interest in the common cause and I finally. One of the things that has held on eight here and has held down aid to other parts of New York has been that the allocation formulas and many of the laws in the Congress in the housing formulas and the highway formulas even in manpower and training which Congressman Paul spoke of a loaded against the big cities like New York and they're loaded very heavily in favor of the so-called low income states like Alabama and Mississippi and Arkansas and similar states with low per capita incomes now there's no absolutely no moral or legal are factual justification for that situation the costs of living in the city are very much higher than they are in those communities and that's given no weight whatever in the situation and deep and large pockets of poverty and then Absolutely Congressman Paul is absolutely right are inherent in this big city life and this is one of the major Oblon right here in Harlem and so finally we have got the stage a full scale drive to which I pledge and dedicate myself just as item as the chairman of the House Committee on labor and education I'm the ranking minority member on labor and public welfare the comparable committee in the Senate we have got to move heaven and earth to change the formula I and to lead with us because it's true the two senators and a few congressman can't do it but you can make common cause with many others because this is a common cause we've got to move heaven and earth to change these formulas so that New York will have a chance on the law after all if the law is loaded against us as it is by ceilings of ten or twelve percent of the total appropriated funds by limitations in the formula of what we can get even if we can got get the maximum because the overall part capita income. The city or state is higher than it is in the so-called poorest states then no matter what we do no matter how expert is our ministration no matter how hard our fight if the law constructs us we can only get so much and that's not enough and so it's necessary to fight these formulas detailed and technical as it is it's extremely effective and extremely important as far as we're concerned and finally may I say my friends that we can win in the struggle that the other cities of the United States have had remarkable run a census and terms of neighborhoods which why are not unlike this one and I believe that with the concentration of attention and with the fights which we're putting on these various fields and will mount in these various fields with your support and again I repeat in league with other community organizations in the city of New York which are readily available for the purpose there's a reasonable chance that we can make the grade but one thing is absolutely certain. I hope the just as we must dedicate ourselves to move heaven and earth to get the money and the authority I hope that those in this community will move heaven and earth to eliminate to the minimum ought to reduce to the minimum in turn a sign struggles struggles for leadership struggles us the whole will be preeminent struggle as to who will get the credit for what but will and the same in can dress and fire and which was forged the civil rights struggle the sit ins and the march in and the terrible struggles which are resulted in such martyrdom let us show that kind of a spirit right here and merging every conceivable difference which may exist between personalities our ideas and the community for solid support for these programs and I promise you that that will be a critically important factor in the result blasting of. My friends if you will just wait just a minute we have ten minutes to go and I should like to ask everyone that if you have not had a chance to make your point ask your question would you send your questions or your comments to the bar president's office in the midst of all billing because who if the president wants to hear from you regarding this. Program. I should be remiss. If I did build a mess if I didn't call your attention. To the present here a man who. Labored in the vineyard to get the I was thinking in line by inaugurating the beginnings way back of this program and I referred to. The one of the from about the presidents of Manhattan and I know you like to greet him. The younger about human after Jack. We had a telegram from de Raymond. Here he was here at Brighton support for the seven point program now would you like to have questioned them till five o'clock or would you like to put your comments and have the passion and some of them up to the bar present one glowing and then it ran which is the originator All right the way we have tried to do is the question the lady back here. Well I think that everyone would agree. That. You don't want to run. And a whole lot of covers you want some action now. A lady and then the to my blonde lady over here. On this and run you want to. Just come up here right after this next question and let's go back lar Now the question one more question back here. And I caught. My. Breath. And there. Are. Three for. Our power to utilize and what you do with the rest. And. That we were here. For. What. We do. We need to make that we have go as far as it will go. Away it is not. Going. To. Like that. We have in our community. And all. Of all of the rest of the. Mall advisory board. And we are going. To do. And we don't have right. Now. The congressional delegation I'm sorry that some of the debt with. The Banking Committee I don't know whether. Or not but. Back with you propose. That. Whatever. We are throwing money away. At. Mecca could live. On on the isle and that's all I have to be the last question because I have the five o'clock. Down in Perth and then have another. One. I've always had to question. What would you make this you are the second quite enjoyed. I get as of a second while I have that I don't know. Well I don't know what you mean by my group my group is the people you see here today these are the only people I have and this is why away here we invited everybody that we had in the files of the bar president's office as having previously insisted some concerns in this problem and what we're doing at the moment is trying to increase our list of community organizations so that we can include everybody and this this process Lay sent out more than a thousand letters individuals inviting them to participate in this conference today. Well you say The point is sir we are just beginning this program we can accomplish it overnight and we cannot come contact a half a million Paypal overnight it will take time for us to reach out and. Well that's why we're here today I don't understand what you're asking what are we doing handed they accept that. One well if you have a list if you have a list of all the citations. If you have a list of all going and citations we'll be glad to take it and then anybody else here so that we can it. Well. That's. One more question from revenue records and then I want to. Call it. I. Hope from the moment from going to. And from the conference. Because I'm in there you know. Reverend electrician and the my opening remarks a copies of which are available I referred to the fact that this plan must include more than housing nothing close no business areas no industrial areas the educational complexes the cultural complexes and new parks we envision a. Total revitalization or reclamation of this community not just additional low cost public housing. We have a Cultural Council you know this planning board has a Cultural Council we got ten thousand for them last year and the capital budget we hope to get more twenty thousand next year whatever we can get this is a pause a very definite part of the program. And I should like to thank each and every one of you for coming and I hope you won't take these remarks back to go organize I can just got them and let us know about them thank you so much.