New Federal Programs for Miami Community Urged
Diocesan Press Service. December 10, 1965 [XXXVIII-3]
An interreligious committee in Miami has urged President Johnson to send a federal representative to Miami to direct a multi-agency program to meet the emergency caused by the influx of Cuban refugees. In a letter to the President, the committee asked for a massive effort to avoid racial, cultural and economic tensions in the city. It stressed that the program must benefit the entire community and not only the Cuban refugees.
The appeal was made public by the Rt. Rev. James L. Duncan, Suffragan Bishop of South Florida, chairman of the Dade County Community Relations Board. It was endorsed by representatives of nine denominations, the Miami Catholic diocese and the Greater Miami Rabbinical Association.
Citing the problem as national in scope, the letter asked President Johnson to attack it with an expanding number of efforts, including vocational and language training and other adult educational activities.
Father Martin Walsh of the Catholic diocesan Community Services office urged economic aid for the whole community and proposed that the federal government encourage new industries with tax and other incentives so that jobs can be provided for Cubans and Negroes.
Bishop Duncan, who expressed fears of racial and cultural friction, said that "all government aid programs for Negroes are slow getting started and there is not enough money. " Meanwhile, he added, "Into the emergency program for the refugees is rushed millions of dollars and the Negroes, who are American citizens, resent it. "
A committee recommendation was the formation of an agency where Negroes or Cubans can register a complaint over loss of employment, discrimination, or other problems.
The agency must be able to do something about that complaint, the committee emphasized, pointing out that churches and individual local agencies have no such authority.
Other proposals included that Negroes and Cubans be given a voice in shaping any government program, that refugees be allowed to remain in Miami if they wish without federal aid being cut off, and that whatever action is taken must cover all the community.