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 meeting opened with announcements noting the absence of the San Diego mayor and city council representatives, and also many members of the African-American minority, who had reportedly stayed out in recognition of Malcolm X's birthday. Topics of discussion included problems with the educational system, notably its failure to carry out desegregation, but most felt the discussion was meaningless since members of the Board of Education were also out today due to an administrative meeting. Another discussion involved the controversial use of mace by San Diego police. Waymon called for a presentation of perceptions by majority and minority members concerning the use of mace. The majority primarily felt that mace was an acceptable, and essentially harmless, form of law enforcement weaponry, while minority representatives saw the use of mace as constituting a white-racist control mechanism aimed solely at minority groups to silence and paralyze them. A contingent of African-American participants came in toward the end of this meeting and stated their intentions, which included proclaiming holidays for themselves for both Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, taking their freedom as opposed to asking for it, and also expressing their intention to remove their children from the southeast schools unless immediate steps were taken to appoint African-American principals to head the schools within their communities. 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.