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. This session included an impassioned call to action by a "Black Power" advocate, whose contention was that talk was cheap, and that if the majority would not join forces to effect change, African Americans would have to take matters into their own hands. The sense of urgency was such that the majority was warned to "make a choice and make it well," or it would be standing on the "eve of destruction" (a well-known phrase popularized by Barry McGuire's 1965 song "Eve of Destruction"). Many agreed that the root problem was racism, and that focusing on any number of symptoms, such as inequitable hiring practices, unemployment, segregation of schools, and so on, was ineffectual and a waste of everyone's time. Some were very angry about the mayor's appointment of an African American man to office, without obtaining any input from the community he would represent or serve. Members of the minority seriously questioned the majority's acceptance of racism as the issue, and also accused them of showing up for these dialogues in mind and body only, having "left their hearts and souls elsewhere." Several expressed being fed up with the slow, or even total lack of progress of the group, a sentiment mirrored by both Asians and Mexican Americans present, who considered their issues to be the same as those faced by African Americans: namely, being treated as second-class citizens. Final statements called for a resolution to be passed by the San Diego City Council indicating that racial discrimination would not be tolerated in any activities of city government, while another suggested that every public official and every government agency measure any proposed action in terms of whether or not it was a racist action. 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.