The voices of blacks in of Cleveland were not heard by government officials. Riots such as those in the Hough section of Cleveland broke out, causing more damage to the city.
"I came to Cleveland in 1958 and a woman who was a resident of Cleveland told me two things. One was stay out of Hough and then stay out of East Cleveland, which was ninety nine percent Caucasian" ~ Everett Chandler
Schooling Disputes
"Racial tension was very high. A lot of this was centered on the Cleveland school board and attempts to bring black history into the curriculum. It is significant to note that from ’67 to ’69, racial tension had really begun."
~ Clarence Bozeman, colleague of Martin Luther King Jr.
Clarence Bozeman
"School Board President Ralph McCallister agreed to bus some black children to under-enrolled schools in white areas, but to appease his voters his plan included stipulations that black students could not attend physical education classes, eat in the cafeteria, and could only use the bathroom
once per day." ~ Cleveland Historical |
However, Cleveland white schools were not integrated and protesters gathered in April of 1964 to object the building of new all-black schools.
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Mayoral candidate Seth Taft running against Stokes criticizes the Locher administration.
The Cleveland Police Department, predominantly white , had rarely gotten along well with Cleveland’s black citizens. Mayor Ralph S. Locher often sided with the police, causing further tension between city officials and Hough citizens.
"The racism of the police ultimately led to the ghetto's frustration, as their poor representation in government resulted in their inability to improve police practices." ~Bertran Gardner; Negro Director of the Cleveland Community Relations Board
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"The first thing you
think when you see a white police officer is that he would shoot you. Because that is what they would do; shoot
first and ask questions later. Carl came
in as mayor and we had no black police officers on the west side of Cleveland;
none whatsoever." ~ Everett Chandler
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Housing Issues
"The in-migration of Negroes to the city is accompanied by a massive exodus of whites toward the outlying suburbs...[f]rom 1960 to 1963, an estimated 44,500 white residents left the city and the trend continues." -The Cleveland Urban League
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"If an individual's address is located in one of the following six areas: Central, Hough, Glenville, Mt.Pleasant, Kinsman, or Lee-Miles, the odds are 90 against 10 that this individual will be a Negro...will make $1,400 less than his white counterpart; and will work in some semi- skilled or unskilled jobs."
-The Cleveland Urban League |
"It was amazing the types of crime in those days. In fact, when they talk about homicides today around one hundred or so, we used to have three or four hundred plus back in the early 70’s. It was accepted then."
~ Everett Chandler