You do solemnly swear the evidence you shall give before this Senate subcommittee will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God? Mr. JOHNSON. I do. TESTIMONY OF GEORGE L. JOHNSON AND IRVING MORRIS The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Johnson, do you have a statement, prepared statement? Mr. JOHNSON. I have. I would like permission of the committee The CHAIRMAN. Do you have a prepared statement? Mr. JOHNSON. I have. It is submitted for the record. The CHAIRMAN. You have someone associated with you? Mr. JOHNSON. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. Does he expect to testify? Mr. JOHNSON. Only if the part of the statement is pertinent to his particular role. The CHAIRMAN. All right, you may be sworn. Do you solemnly swear the evidence you shall give before this Senate subcommittee shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God? Mr. MORRIS. I do. The CHAIRMAN. If you are called on for any statement Mr. MORRIS. With the permission of the Senator and committee, may I state my name and who I am? The CHAIRMAN. You give your name first. Identify yourself for the record, Mr. Johnson. Mr. JOHNSON. I am George Johnson of Wilmington, Del. The CHAIRMAN. What is your position? Mr. JOHNSON. I am employed by Community Action of Greater Wilmington, Inc. The CHAIRMAN. By what? Mr. JOHNSON. By Community Action of Greater Wilmington, Inc. The CHAIRMAN. Community Action? Mr. JOHNSON. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. What kind of organization is that? Mr. JOHNSON. Community Action is a private nonprofit corporation that is charged with the responsibility of implementing the OEO programs under title II. The CHAIRMAN. That is all of the OEO programs in the community? Mr. JOHNSON. Under title II of 1964 Economic Opportunity Act as amended. The CHAIRMAN. How long have you had this position? Mr. JOHNSON. I have been executive director since March 1967. Mr. JOHNSON. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. Very well. You may identify yourself for the record. Mr. MORRIS. Irving Morris is my name, M-o-r-r-i-s. I am a praeticing attorney in the city of Wilmington and a member of the bar of our Supreme Court. I serve as attorney, uncompensated for my efforts, for Community Action of Greater Wilmington, Inc. The CHAIRMAN. You are attorney for this organization of which he is the executive director? Mr. MORRIS. That is correct, sir. I have served in that capacity for a very brief period of time, approximately since the middle of August 1968, and I was asked by the board of Community Action to undertake the representation of it. The CHAIRMAN. Very well. Now you have a prepared statement, Mr. Johnson. Mr. JOHNSON. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. Do you wish to make any statement before you proceed further? You indicated so a moment ago. Mr. JOHNSON. Sir, I would like your permission to have my attorney make a brief statement after which I will just give the highlights from the statement that I have prepared. The CHAIRMAN. Very well, let your statement be printed in the record in full at this point. You can later highlight it. (The statement follows:) STATEMENT OF GEORGE L. JOHNSON I, George L. Johnson, of 30 Sturbridge Drive, Dartmouth Woods, Wilmington, Delaware, Executive Director of Community Action of Greater Wilmington, Inc., have been requested to prepare a statement that will be part of my testimony as I appear before the United States Permanent Sub-Committee on Investigations as directed by a Subpoena commanding me to appear before the Committee on October 8, 1968. The central concern of this report is a project called WYEAC, however, the report is not limited to that subject. 1. Biography of George L. Johnson. (See Attachment 1.1) 2. The local Anti-Poverty Agency was created pursuant to passage of the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 by the Congress of the United States. This act created the Office of Economic Opportunity which formally initiated the War on Poverty. Community Action of Greater Wilmington, Inc. coordinates the War on Poverty in Wilmington and New Castle County, Delaware, The agency was created with an ordinance passed by the Mayor and Council of the City of Wilmington in December 1964 and was originally known as the Wilmington Committee on Economic Opportunity. The Honorable Mayor John E. Babiarz served as its first Chairman of the Board, with Theodore N. Burke, Jr., as Executive Director. In September 1965, New Castle County Levy Court passed an ordinance that enabled the agency to have county-wide jurisdiction. In that same month, the agency was incorporated as a private Non-Profit Corporation to be known as Community Action of Greater Wilmington, Inc. Mrs. Thomas G. Herlihy, Jr., was elected as First President of the Board of Directors. In March of 1967, Mr. Burke resigned as Executive Director and Mr. George L. Johnson was appointed to the position. The Board of Directors is composed of representatives from within the City and throughout the County. As required by legislation, at least one-third of the Board members are Democratically elected by residents of the areas served by the program, those elected are also residents of the areas being served. From an initial grant of $19,000 in February 1965, Community Action of Greater Wilmington, Inc.'s present program volume is in excess of one million dollars. 3. Since the initiation of the Community Action programs in Wilmington, Delaware, they work very closely with the local governments. Presently, the local matching share for the cost of operation for the central office is provided by the city and county governments in equal shares. Both city and county government officials serve on the Board of Directors and on the various committees. 4. In the spring of 1967, a group of social service agencies were organized into an inter-agency advisory committee to assist fellows in WYEAC in developing a program to be submitted to CAGW, Inc. for federal funding. An application 1 Attachments may be found in the files of the subcommittee. was developed and submitted to CAGW and approved by the Board of Directors in June of 1967. The project was to have operated as a part of CAGW, Inc.. regular summer youth employment program. For this period of funding, the Community Services Council of Delaware was to be and did in fact, function as the sponsoring agency. During the months of July, August, and September the project operated with the major efforts on the WYEAC group being that of organizing and recruiting a staff and giving considerable time to the development of the building sites where WYEAC programs later operated from. The grant as approved by OEO was authorized for expenditures through September 30, 1967. At a Board meeting of September 13, 1967, the Board approved a request from the sponsor, Community Services Council, that the project be permitted to continue to expend funds until the funds allocated for that program would be depleted which was projected to be approximately one additional month. At that same Board meeting on September 13, the Board approved an application submitted by WYEAC with the YMCA as the designated sponsor requesting $309.222 in federal funds for the 1967-68 fiscal year. (Fiscal year is October 1 through September 30 of the following year.) (See Attachment 2.') I personally endorsed the application as submitted in view of the following: a. The summer involvement with the personnel of WYEAC had shown definite signs of progress in their attitudes toward established institutions and there was evidence of a lessening of their previous blatant hostility towards social service agencies, and the white community in general. b. The broad support the project had received in the community from the established social service agencies and other institutions and the technical assistance and professional help committed by these agencies. (See letters of commitment in Attachment 2.) c. But perhaps most important, the basic purposes and philosophy and statement of goals as presented in the above-mentioned application. d. The need for social research and experimental approaches with the problem of alienated youth. The project of the summer of 1967 had not been without its problems. It was always a question as to whether the project was operating within the guidelines of the OEO. Some of the issues raised were: a. Did the project adhere to the Title 6 of the Civil Rights Act relative to equal employment opportunities. b. There was a question of nepotism as Mr. George N. Brown was the project director and other relatives of the immediate family were employed in the program. c. The employment of persons with criminal records. d. Persons who were already employed in other jobs in the community quit to become employed by WYEAC. e. Were there persons employed in the program who were not in the low. income category. (See Attachment 3-Approved Grant for Summer of 1967.') Some of the above was waived by the Mid-Atlantic Regional Office of OEO in writing and some given verbally. The President of CAGW, Inc., at that time was Mrs. Thomas G. Herlihy, Jr., who was very adamant regarding the enforcement of the OEO guidelines. I think it significant to note the relationship between Mrs. Herlihy and the personnel in WYEAC was never very wholesome. One factor was, I feel, that contributed to this was that some of these persons had appeared before her husband, Judge Thomas G. Herlihy, Jr., of the Wilmington Municipal Court. This placed me in a very sensitive and tenuous position as being the intermediary between two alienated elements which caused added complications for me personally. The funds authorized for the summer grant expired as of November 30, 1967, and the OEO was not in a position to make a commitment to refund WYEAC. Then WYEAC had to go to the general community for funding. It was at this point that CAGW, Inc. lost control, limited as it was, of WYEAC. From the period of November 30, 1967 to May 13, 1968, WYEAC operated on private funds. Much of the negotiations and circumstances surrounding the providing of subsequent federal funds was continued directly between the Mid-Atlantic Office of OEO and the Greater Wilmington Development Council (hereafter referred to as GWDC.) Because of the time interval in the commitment of $100,000 by OEO, the personnel of WYEAC became suspicious and distrustful of CAGW, Inc., as they felt that the agency was not using its influence to the maximum extent to get funds from OEO for their project. FINANCIAL ARRANGEMENTS During the entire operation of WYEAC and up to this date, all funds were dispensed by this office. At no time, with one or two exceptions, which I will mention in my verbal delivery, did WYEAC have access to funds. During the time when there were no federal monies available to WYEAC, they received the majority of their funds from the GWDC. Very shortly after the expiration of federal funds, WYEAC through its project director, Mr. George Brown, communicated to me that he saw no reason why they should continue to meet with and be subjected to the directives of CAP since they are being funded by GWDC. This concern was communicated to the GWDC and the GWDC took the position of supporting WYEAC's position. On one occasion, I along with Mr. Roy L. Wagstaff, Chairman of the Program and Evaluation Committee, and member of the Board of Directors, met with Mr. Edward Goett, Chairman of GWDC's Advisory Committee for WYEAC, and other persons from that organization to request that CAGW, Inc. have Board members represented on the Advisory Committee for WYEAC. We also recommended that the GWDC not deal unilaterally with WYEAC, but at all times with WYEAC, representatives of CAGW, Inc., and the YMCA present. This request was denied. In short, CAGW, Inc. was not in a position to exercise sufficient control over the activities of that project after the expiration of OEO funds. The original plan called for a contract to have been negotiated between CAGW, Inc. and the YMCA. This was never achieved for the reason mentioned above and others too lengthy to enumerate. When a request for a specific expenditure of funds was presented to CAGW, Inc. by WYEAC personnel, if the request was in any way out of the ordinary or questionable in any way, we would get the approval of the Advisory Committee, usually in the person of Mr. Spencer Thompson before the request was granted. During the entire history of the project, the WYEAC group had to exist under an atmosphere of insecurity regarding continuation of funding. Two basic factors contributing to this were: the commitment by GWDC could be terminated at anytime and during the period of waiting for OEO to render a decision regarding the funding of WYEAC, there was speculation as to whether the Governor of the State of Delaware would approve an OEO grant to the group. The group had reason to believe that the Governor would not. Much of the efforts of WYEAC's top personnel was spent mobilizing the community to support WYEAC's position. This effort should have been spent perfecting program development and monitoring the program activities. I feel it also significant for me to share with you that there was considerable tension, racial tension in the community at that time and there still is. Frequently, hate literature was distributed in the Negro neighborhoods late at night from passing automobiles. (Attachment 4. A sample copy enclosed.1) Wilmington is presently occupied by the National Guard. I personally have been and remain impressed with the stamina, finesse, and courage of the leadership of WYEAC. Some of the contributions of the group are as follows: while some are general and philosophical, some are specific and concrete: 1. WYEAC has brought to attention of the total community the lack of equal educational opportunities, employment opportunities, housing facilities, and recreational facilities for the Negro in Wilmington, Delaware. 2. WYEAC is a catalyst that brought together many segments of the community in meaningful dialogue about solutions to problems in our com. munity that never interacted before. 3. As WYEAC originated as a merger of the leadership of youth groups (gangs), gang confrontations were greatly diminished, however since their time of operation, new groups have sprung up. 4. WYEAC provided assistance along with other social service agencies in dispersing food and clothing, and helped to relocate families after the disturbance in Wilmington during the summer of 1968. 5. WYEAC has challenged the traditional social work approach and programs designed to work in low-income communities with minority groups, challenging these agencies to reevaluate their role, including the public schools. 6. WYEAC has referred youths to the Youth Opportunity Centers, OIC NYC, and other anti-poverty programs for employment. 7. WYEAC was instrumental in getting the public schools to open beyond traditional school hours for recreation and other community activities. 8. WYEAC worked with school principals in low-income areas on dropout problems and absentee problems. 9. WYEAC sponsored a city-wide basketball league which provided many pupil-hours of recreation for low-income youth in the City of Wilmington. 10. WYEAC sponsored picnics and other outings for youth and families from low-income areas. SUMMARY With the advent of black power, attitudes of many whites hardened, as the militant element in Wilmington increased its activity through programs that provide black identity, public rallies, etc. I am personally an advocate and a supporter of the positive concept of black power. That is, mobilizing blacks to assert themselves politically, economically, and socially as other ethnic groups in America have done. I draw a sharp line in my involvement of the black power movement when it advocates violence and anti-white campaigns as techniques for achieving those goals. It is obvious that the WYEAC project did not achieve the measure of success as had been anticipated. However, those of us involved in the process have learned from our experience in this endeavor and I personally am in a position to make some solid recommendations for programming to deal with lowincome youth of minority groups. I am concerned that no dialogue took place between the Delaware Congres sional Delegation and members of the Board of Directors of Community Action of Greater Wilmington, Inc. regarding its decision to request that the WYEAC program be investigated. I feel that action by Congressional Delegation of this nature undermines the credibility of civic leaders back in hometown U.S.A. who are charged with the responsibility for implementing programs authorized by legislation approved by the Congress of the United States and who must pick up the pieces and continue to work for community improvement on the local scene after the smoke will have cleared. The negatives in the WYEAC project are a part of that long range process of acculturating a people from truly a subcultural status in the United States to that of responsible citizenry and in a highly complex society. Since the inception of this program in Wilmington, Delaware and since I have been the Executive Director, we have made effort to evaluate our programs objectively. (See letter to Mayor Theodore McKeldin. (Attachment 5.1) I realize that this report is not all inclusive and I am willing to provide any additional information at my command requested by the Committee. Respectively submitted. GEORGE L. JOHNSON. The CHAIRMAN. Did you want your attorney here to make a statement? Mr. JOHNSON. At this time, please. The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Morris, you may make a statement as a witness, Mr. MORRIS. Thank you, Senator. As a Delawarean, as a former deputy attorney general of the State of Delaware, as a lawyer fundamentally committed to the principles of the liberty of our citizenry, as a Delawarean concerned not only with his community as it exists today but for the future of himself and his family and his children, I respectfully ask this committee in its considerations and deliberations in this investigation of WYEAC to take into account the following facts of the Delaware scene. In February 1968, three young Negroes were charged with assault and battery on Wilmington police officers, resisting arrest, and disorderly conduct. They were acquitted on seven of the ten charges. The other three charges were dismissed with the right of the city to pursue those three charges. The CHAIRMAN. Do we have a copy of your statement? |