Citizens Interracial Committee (CIC) Community Dialogue Tapes

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August 18, 1967 (reel #22-1) Item 1

Scope and Contents

http://library.sdsu.edu/scua/citizens-interracial-committee#reel22-1

This tape is a recording of one of the numerous CIC dialogue sessions with community groups and city officials. This particular session included representatives the city attorney's office, the Urban League, San Diego City Schools, the Union-Tribune, various churches, the police department, city officials, and the mayor.

This recording includes introductions from participants, an overview of the agenda, and a discussion and review of the previous session's meeting minutes, as well as an agreement that certain public officials (the mayor, chief of police, and Councilman Hahn from the Southeast San Diego district) must be present at future meetings. After reviewing these minutes, the group discussed the definition of racism. One participant differentiated between racism and racial discrimination, claiming that San Diego is not racist because racism isn't embedded in its legal structure the way it was in Nazi Germany or South Africa. Other participants concluded that racial discrimination is accepted as normal in San Diego and this issue must be addressed in order to effect change. Mayor Curran also spoke up and stated that semantics makes communication about racial issues complex and difficult. The tape ends in the middle of Mayor Curran's discussion.

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September 1, 1967 (reel #22-2) Item 2

Scope and Contents

http://library.sdsu.edu/scua/citizens-interracial-committee#reel22-2

This tape is a recording of one of the numerous CIC dialogue sessions with community groups and city officials. This particular session included representatives from the city attorney's office, the Urban League, San Diego City Schools, the Union-Tribune, various churches, the police department, and city officials. Noticeably absent was Councilman Hahn from the Southeast San Diego district, Mayor Curran, and the chief of police.

This session began with introductions and a discussion of the purposes of the meetings. The group also heatedly discussed the absence of the mayor, chief of police, and Southeast San Diego councilman. Tom Johnson mentioned housing discrimination for African American servicemen and insisted that prejudice is the fundamental issue and that the City must recognize its normalcy in order to change it. Others agreed that the white community needs to accept that San Diego is racist and the mayor should articulate the problem to the public. Several participants stated that the media and city officials need to be more active in changing attitudes instead of waiting for a burst of violence. Another participant discussed the San Diego Mexican-American community's stance.

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September 15, 1967 (reel #06-1) Item 3

Scope and Contents

http://library.sdsu.edu/scua/citizens-interracial-committee#reel06-1

This session begins with some discussion over the official minutes and agenda being sent out too late after previous meetings. It is agreed that the audio recording would serve as the official minutes while the notes taken by a stenographer would serve as the official summary of minutes. It is also settled that an agenda with tentative topics of discussion would be sent to members ahead of time, with new subjects first being introduced, then experts brought in for consultation at a later session.

There was some frustration within the group on account of public officials and Board of Education members being unavailable to attend the bi-monthly meetings, causing their information to be out-of-date. The board was convinced of their essentialness in these matters by virtue of their individual power to reach out to the community and change attitudes about race relations. It was suggested that since continuity in the group (in regards to who attends and how often), and getting timely information through to the public were both of vital importance, a small group of 4-5 members would break off to discuss what kind of continuity would be required, and continue the discussion at the next board meeting.

There was some discussion over whether the definition of racism discussed in the previous meeting would be held and accepted by all group members, and how best to present their findings to the public. There was some disagreement over what action to take next, as some members felt a strong plan would be needed in order to persuade the public. Other members believed the whole community needed to be on the same page in regards to acknowledging the problem of racial disparity in San Diego before any policy decisions should be made. Many members felt the main problem lay in the fact that the African-American community was already suspicious and frustrated over the slow pace of the legislation process. On the other hand, whites too were suspicious of City Hall, and believed minorities would be granted superior benefits if allowed to pursue legislation that would expand civil rights and economic equality.

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September 29, 1967 (reel #06-2) Item 4

Scope and Contents

http://library.sdsu.edu/scua/citizens-interracial-committee#reel06-2

This session began with further discussion over which individuals and organizational representatives would be most valuable in furthering the aims and ideas of the group. It was emphasized several times that members of the Board of Education and Board of Supervisors, of whom too few were in attendance, were desperately needed in order to implement new policy within their respective organizations. Furthermore, the presence of greater numbers of public officials was considered to be crucial by virtue of their extensive connections within the community, and broad capacity to reach out to and persuade the public at large in regards to the necessity and merit of those new policies. It was agreed that the group should be expanded to include members of the Council of Churches and the Central Labor Council, and in addition that all those invited to attend be leading members within their organizations in order to affect significant change.

After some deliberation, the group broached the initial problem of how minorities were perceived within the community, and how this perception affected their ability to find employment, housing and fair representation in San Diego. The group debated that while the press could be useful in providing a healthy medium for discussion in the community, it was at that time largely in the hands of the white majority and used to spread fear and disinformation about minorities, often pitting one side against another in order to maximize readership. This was especially the case for non-white green-card carriers, who were perceived by whites to be cheating "true Americans" out of work, and keeping the minimum wage down by not participating in strikes. The fact that this narrow view of immigrants was so prevalent was of great concern to many members, who saw the consequences to be an increased number of deportations of non-violent people, and the breaking up of families, neighborhoods and businesses which had been established in San Diego for decades. Members agreed that while the blame should lie with those responsible, the first tasks to combat this mode of thought should be to allow minority voices to become more prominent in public discussion, and to educate those in power of the harms of these policies.

Many in the group voiced their frustrations over the slow-pace of the meetings, so to accommodate this request a motion was passed to further discuss what action to take when conflicting views cannot be settled, and to put specific problems and areas of focus onto the agenda two weeks from that point in order to gather all necessary information and experts to find a solution. The group agreed to begin next weeks' session with discussion over the transit system, and that time for dialogue should be limited so as to allow more time for problem-solving.

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October 13, 1967 (reel #07-1) Item 5

http://library.sdsu.edu/scua/citizens-interracial-committee#reel07-1

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October 27, 1967 (reel #07-2) Item 6

http://library.sdsu.edu/scua/citizens-interracial-committee#reel07-2

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November 10, 1967 (reel #08-1) Item 7

http://library.sdsu.edu/scua/citizens-interracial-committee#reel08-1

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December 1, 1967 (reel #08-2) Item 8

http://library.sdsu.edu/scua/citizens-interracial-committee#reel08-2

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December 15, 1967 (reel #09-1) Item 9

http://library.sdsu.edu/scua/citizens-interracial-committee#reel09-1

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January 12, 1968 (reel #09-2) Item 10

http://library.sdsu.edu/scua/citizens-interracial-committee#reel09-2

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January 26, 1968 (reel #10-1) Item 11

http://library.sdsu.edu/scua/citizens-interracial-committee#reel10-1

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February 9, 1968 (reel #11-1) Item 12

http://library.sdsu.edu/scua/citizens-interracial-committee#reel11-1

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February 14, 1968 (reel #01-1) Item 13

http://library.sdsu.edu/scua/citizens-interracial-committee#reel01-1

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February 23, 1968 (reel #10-2) Item 14

http://library.sdsu.edu/scua/citizens-interracial-committee#reel10-2

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March 8, 1968 (reel #11-2) Item 15

http://library.sdsu.edu/scua/citizens-interracial-committee#reel11-2

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April 5, 1968 (reel #12-1) Item 16

http://library.sdsu.edu/scua/citizens-interracial-committee#reel12-1

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April 19, 1968 (reel #12-2) Item 17

http://library.sdsu.edu/scua/citizens-interracial-committee#reel12-2

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May 3, 1968 (reel #13-1) Item 18

http://library.sdsu.edu/scua/citizens-interracial-committee#reel13-1

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May 17, 1968 (reel #13-2) Item 19

http://library.sdsu.edu/scua/citizens-interracial-committee#reel13-2

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June 7, 1968 (reel #14-1) Item 20

Scope and Contents

http://library.sdsu.edu/scua/citizens-interracial-committee#reel14-1

This meeting took place 2 days after the assassination of Robert Kennedy.

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June 21, 1968 (reel #14-2) Item 21

Scope and Contents

http://library.sdsu.edu/scua/citizens-interracial-committee#reel14-2

Click here to view meeting minutes from this session.

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July 12, 1968 (reel #15-1) Item 22

Scope and Contents

http://library.sdsu.edu/scua/citizens-interracial-committee#reel15-1

Click here to view meeting minutes from this session.

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July 26, 1968 (reel #16-2) Item 23

Scope and Contents

http://library.sdsu.edu/scua/citizens-interracial-committee#reel16-2

Click here to view meeting minutes from this session.

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August 2 ,1968 (reel #16-1) Item 24

Scope and Contents

http://library.sdsu.edu/scua/citizens-interracial-committee#reel16-1

Click here to view meeting minutes from this session.

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September 6, 1968 (reel #17-1) Item 25

Scope and Contents

http://library.sdsu.edu/scua/citizens-interracial-committee#reel17-1

Agenda: discussion of police review board.

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September 20, 1968 (reel #17-2) Item 26

Scope and Contents

http://library.sdsu.edu/scua/citizens-interracial-committee#reel17-2

Agenda: sensitivity training for police officers.

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October 4, 1968 (reel #18-1) Item 27

Scope and Contents

http://library.sdsu.edu/scua/citizens-interracial-committee#reel18-1

Click here to view meeting minutes from this session.

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October 18, 1968 (reel #18-2) Item 28

Scope and Contents

http://library.sdsu.edu/scua/citizens-interracial-committee#reel18-2

Click here to view meeting minutes from this session.

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November 1, 1968 (reel #02-2) Item 29

Scope and Contents

http://library.sdsu.edu/scua/citizens-interracial-committee#reel02-2

Click here to view meeting minutes from this session.

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December 6, 1968 (reel #03-2) Item 30

Scope and Contents

http://library.sdsu.edu/scua/citizens-interracial-committee#reel03-2

Agenda: education.

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December 20, 1968 (reel #03-1) Item 31

Scope and Contents

http://library.sdsu.edu/scua/citizens-interracial-committee#reel03-1

Agenda: education.

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January 10, 1969 (reel #04-1) Item 32

Scope and Contents

http://library.sdsu.edu/scua/citizens-interracial-committee#reel04-1

Agenda: education.

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January 31, 1969 (reel #04-2) Item 33

Scope and Contents

http://library.sdsu.edu/scua/citizens-interracial-committee#reel04-2

Agenda: communications and news media. Note: this recording has very poor sound quality.

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February 14, 1969 (reel #02-1) Item 34

Scope and Contents

http://library.sdsu.edu/scua/citizens-interracial-committee#reel02-1

Agenda: communications.

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February 28, 1969 (reel #02-1) Item 35

Scope and Contents

http://library.sdsu.edu/scua/citizens-interracial-committee#reel02-1

Agenda: the news media and the minority community.

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March 14, 1969 (reel #21-2) Item 36

Scope and Contents

http://library.sdsu.edu/scua/citizens-interracial-committee#reel21-2

Click here to view meeting minutes from this session.

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March 28, 1969 (reel #05-1) Item 37

Scope and Contents

http://library.sdsu.edu/scua/citizens-interracial-committee#reel05-1

Click here to view meeting minutes from this session.

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April 11, 1969 (reel #05-2) Item 38

http://library.sdsu.edu/scua/citizens-interracial-committee#reel05-2

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May 9, 1969 - part 1? (reel #20-1) Item 39

http://library.sdsu.edu/scua/citizens-interracial-committee#reel20-1

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May 9, 1969 - part 2? (reel #20-2) Item 40

http://library.sdsu.edu/scua/citizens-interracial-committee#reel20-2

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June 6, 1969 (reel #19-1) Item 41

Scope and Contents

http://library.sdsu.edu/scua/citizens-interracial-committee#reel19-1

Click here to view meeting minutes from this session.

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No date (reel #11-3) Item 42

http://library.sdsu.edu/scua/citizens-interracial-committee#reel11-3

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Special Report on 'Sunday in the Park' July 13, 1969 [booklet] Item 43 August 11, 1969