Description

One of CIC's primary activities was to hold biweekly meetings called "community dialogues" to discuss broad issues such as racism, police sensitivity, education, and employment discrimination within the city of San Diego. The meetings were moderated by CIC Executive Director Carroll Waymon, and his voice is often the first one heard in the audio recordings of the meetings. The top agenda item for this meeting was the consideration of establishing an office to address concerns about racism and discrimination within San Diego and effect positive change in the existing system. The city attorney addressed this issue by stating that the contract between the city and this Citizens' Interracial Committee (CIC) expressly placed that responsibility on the CIC itself, and that creating another office for that purpose was unnecessary. While it was generally agreed that the CIC accepted its role in researching and recommending actions to uphold the city's existing anti-discrimination policy, questions remained about the implementation of actions proposed. Some felt the city had failed to follow through with proposed actions already presented by the CIC. Others were somewhat defensive, taking the stance that it was a gradual process, and that progress was already underway. The discussion proceeded in the general direction of pushing the city to move and respond to proposed actions, particularly in the area of hiring more people of minority. As city officials began to defend their position on hiring, minority leaders objected and the debate heated up briefly (at 1:48 on the audiotape). The question was raised whether it was safe to express oneself openly at these dialogs, in reaction to the recent, forced resignation of an employee of the Community Welfare Council, due to a remark he had made attacking a city official. The consensus was that the ability to speak freely was essential to the dialog process, and Waymon pledged to write to the executive director of welfare services, to point out the CIC's policy of affording its members and other participants the freedom to dialog openly and without fear of sanction or retaliation. The Committee agreed to work on recommendations for assuring open dialog could continue, while preserving the "town meeting."