Box 3, Folder 17, Document 54

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Box 3, Folder 17, Document 54

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IT CAN BE DONE |

- Network Cites
Racial Gains
. In Atlanta

». “Now there is an atmosphere of freedom. You feel more
‘like an individual... a man.” This statement by Dr. Benja-
*min Mays, president emeritus of. Morehouse College, reflects

Atlanta’s progress in achieving racial- equality—the subject of



a penetrating ABC News documentary, “It Can Be Done.’ The

special hour program in the network’s Time for Americans series
<-will be broadcast on Thursday, July 3, at 10 p.m., in coior on

* WQXLTV, Channel 11.
Filmed entirely in Atlanta,
“during a ten week period this)
__ past spring, “It Can Be Done” |
is a candid examination of the}
city’s gradually changing atti-
tudes — the change in image
from one of the Confederacy to
that of the liberal new South.

a

Paul Jones is on vacation







ABC cameras contrast a
_ Sparsely attended Ku Klux Klan
parade in downtown Atlanta

with the futuristic skyline of the
~ city.

BLACK AND WHITE
“, ABC news correspondent Mal
“Goode interviews Atlanta’s

black and white business, civic,
.and religious leaders on their
“efforts to break down social
‘and economic barriers. Heard
sare Mayor Ivan Allen Jr.;

State Rep. Julian Bond; Opie!

Shelton, executive vice presi-

dent of the Atlanta Chamber of|
~Commerce; Richard Rich, pres-
Sident of Rich's; A. H. Sterne,
@president of the Trust Company
xof Georgia; Lonnie C. King,

head of the Atlanta chapter of |
+ the NAACP; Bob Waymer, for-|
mer director of Sum-Mec, an!







-EOA center; Herbert Jenkins,
—<——"="Arlalita Chief of Police; and the

Rev. William Holmes Borders,
“pastor of the Wheat Street Bap-
etist Church.

® The differences which have
“repeatedly distinguished Atlanta |

“are appraised as well as the fu-|

Allen in his discussion ‘of a’

black mayor in Atlanta.

But, “It Can Be Done’’ con-
firms that there is still much to
be achieved. Cameras show the
conditions existing in Vine City
as Rep. Julian Bond assesses
the problems of the members of
his constituency. Bond takes his
own man on the street poll ask-
ing peop'e what they think of At-
lanta. One citizen stated, “I

think it’s one of the greatest cit-|:

ies on earth.”

‘Black leaders, in a round
table discussion, provide a pro-
vocative look at America’s
white society and the problems
inherent in racial equality. Par-
ticipating are the Rev. Samuel
Williams, professor of philoso-
phy at Morehouse College; Dr.

| Otis T. Smith, -president of the

Summit Leadership Conference;
State Sen. Leroy Johnson, and
Lyndon Wade, executive direc-
tor of the Atlanta Urban

_ League.

Narrator Mal Goode, the
grandson of slaves, traces the
Atlanta he has visited for the
past 30 years, and attributes the
city’s evolution to former Mayor
William Hartsfield, journalist

Ralph McGill, and Mayor Allen.

Lastly, Martin Luther King,

Jr. is seen at a banquet honor-



.ture direction of the city. Chief ing his receiving of the Nobel
.Jenkins explains the workings) Prize, at which time he quoted
of the Crime Prevention Bu-| ihe words of an elderly Negro
Teau, a program in which all! h “Lord in’t
SAtlanta policemen train ag| Preacher ... “ord, We ain’
; “community service officers” in| What we ought to be. We ain't
. the black community. Opie Shel-| What we want to be. We ain't
iton discusses the total commit-| What we gonna be. But, thank

‘ment of the Atlanta business; God, we ain’t what we was.”

community, and ABC points out
the strong personal involvement |
of Mayor Allen and the special!
pride that characterizes At-|
Janta.
- Particularly frank statements
‘are made by Calvin Craig, for-|
tmer United Klan Grand Dragon}
of the United Klans of America, |
_ ‘who explains why he turned in}
his robes to work for the Model |
€ities Program, and Mayor |

ABC’s material was partly
based on WQXI-TV’s award-win-
ning summer series, ‘Atlanta
Responds,” produced by assign-
ments editor Van Redmond,

“It Can Be Done’ was written

and produced for ABC News by}

Arthur Holch. Photographer
was Chuck Pharris. Executive
producer for Time for Ameri-
cans is Stephen Fleischman.


Chital UL le DVelu Ss ality
to communicate adequately
with residents of economically
deprived neighborhoods.





neh ee Oe, wee

to silence their critics, was pre-
pared by a citizens committee
staffed by EOA officials.

SEEK UNDERSTANDING

“Ti is EOA’s role to staff citi-
zens committees without telling
them what to think but to move
them toward more complete
understanding and considera-
tion of alternatives of action
open to them,” Parham said.

Details of the report, com-

piled by the education subcom-

tral

mittee of EOA’s Citizens Cen-

published in the June 18 edi-
tions of The Atlanta Constitu-
tion.

Tuesday, John H. Calhoun,
who is a paid official of EOA,
commented that he has tried
unsuccessfully for almost three
months te obtain permission to

present the subcommittee’s rec- :

ommendations to the school
board

Calhoun, EOA’s coordinator
for community development,
said residents of Mechanicsville
have been waiting three years

. for a response to the Mechanics-



ville Improvement Committee’s
proposal for dealing with absen-
teeism in their schools.
Parham said recommenda-
tioms in the report were dis-
cussed in May when subcommit-
tee members met with two

members of the school board’
ami “three top school adminis- |

trators.”’
‘The EOA executive adminis-

trator said the work of the sub- |
committee is supposed to “ex-
pand communication from rep-:

resentatives of poor neighbor-
heeds to school officials and to

‘imerease mutual understanding.” |

RESIGNED

Parham, who resigned his
post with MOA last week, said
the Atlanta schoel system works
“very positively and coopera-

tively with EOA in many?

areas.”
He said the development of



Advisory Council, were.



community schools, an early

| joint venture, is one of the “few

projects carried on by local

‘| agencies after OEO (the federal

government’s Office of Econom-
ic Opportunity) funding was re-
moved.”

Parham pointed out that the
city school system has partici-
pated in the establishment of the
Parent-Child Center and the At-
lanta Concentrated Employment
Program Training Center,

He said the schools have con-
tributed to the summer recrea-
tion program and the Atlanta

' Adolescent Program.
When he released the report’

Parham said 12 schools are



made

being used this summer to
prepare 44,000 snacks served io
economically deprived children
in the Special Summer Feeding
Program.

There has been “good inter-
agency cooperation on a school:
absenteeism project in the
Northwest Perry area,’’ Par-
ham said.

He said the school system has
always operated the Summer
Head Start program on a large
scale and has made facilities
available for VISTA tutorial.
projects. ;

“Only recently, space in the



old Pryor Street School was

available to house the

Southside Child Development
Center,” Parham stated.

He said it was his intention to
“remove any implication from
the June 18 article that EOA-
city school relationships were
{ negative.”

Parham added that he was



not “in any sense repudiating
the honest work and feelings of
our citizens committee,”

He commented that “only as
the community is aware of their
(the citizens of Atlanta) thoughts

‘and feelings can it make the

appropriate responses and ac-
commodations when necessary.”

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