PuJpisktJ 1%^^ I O 'O P&vjeu/ V<1. Sz I IssusL. 10

Power o f Pos i t ive Act ionRockville, Maryland, moves quickly to preventviolence when Negro family moves into suburb.

B y R I C H A R D C . W E RT Z *

Leonard Manley is a computerprogramer analyst at the Pentagon, a college graduate in businessadministration, a member of the Episcopal Church and the first Negro tomove his family into HungerfordTowne, a residential neighborhood inthe Washington suburb of Rockville,Maryland.

The initial reaction early this summer among most of Mr. Manley's newwhite neighbors in Hungerford Townewas anger and fear. A rumor quicklycirculated that his house had beenpurchased by the N.A.A.C.P. at aprice far above the normal marketvalue for homes in the neighborhoodand that the Manleys were only thevanguard for more Negro move-ins inthe near future. The white neighbors,fearing a loss in their property valuesas a result of a mass Negro influx,began to talk of possible courses ofac t i on .

From all indications, this angerand fear could have easily turned intothe same type of racial violence that"has occurr in so many cities acrossthe country in the last few months.However, it did not. No rocks werethrown, no threatening phone callswere made, no riots occurred in protest. What factors made this move a

* Mr. Wertz is a 1962 graduate of KnoxCollege. He is working as an administrativeintern in Rockville, Maryland, as part ofthe master^s degree program at the PelsInstitute of Local and State Government,XJniverfflty of Pennsylvania.

1 Not his real name.

peaceful one? How did the city avoidthe overt unpleasantness which hasall too often accompanied the ardvalof a Negro family in a previously all-white neighborhood?

The settlement of the Manleyfamily in Hungerford Towne was asmuch of a surprise for the city offic ia ls in Rockv i l l e as i t was fo r thewhite residents in the neighborhood.No one at dty hall had prior warningt h a t t h e m o v e - i n w o u l d o c c u r. T h efirst news of it came to city hall lessthan two hours before the Manleys*arrival at their new home.

The city officials* first move was toattempt to determine whether thiswas just another rumor of the typethat periodically comes across theirdesks or whether this was finally "thereal thing.** Reconnoitering of theneighborhood by an unmarked citypolice car soon brought word that aNegro family was indeed in the process of wortog about the house, inapparent preparation for moving in.

A telephone call to a local clergym a n w h o h a d b e e n a c t i v e i n i n t e rracial affairs confirmed that the move-in was actually about to take place.Having double-checked their initialinformation, the city officials movedquickly.

Their most immediate concern wasthat violence should be prevented.The city and county police—^whohad concurrent jurisdiction over thearea—^were alerted, and patrols of the

1963] P O W E R O F P O S I T I V E A C T I O N 541

neighborhood were stepped up. Officers were inst ructed to make themselves seen but not to become involvedin discussions about the reasons fortheir increased activity. It was feltthat the physical presence of thepolicemen in the normally quiet resident ia l subdiv is ion would serve bothto reassure the residents that therew o u l d b e n o v i o l e n c e a n d t o d i scourage racial trouble-makers fromoutside the neighborhood.

At the same time, phone calls wereplaced to several persons and organizations who might have informationabout the circumstances surroundingthe move-in and about the new familyi t s e l f . I t w a s l e a r n e d t h a t a c o mmunity organization devoted to "openoccupancy" housing had been instrumental, in bringing about the sale tothe Manley family, and this organization was prevailed upon to prepare afact sheet outlining the background ofthe sale and providing informationabout the Manley family which indicated that they could be good neighbors if given the opportunity.

The next phone call went to theeditor of the local newspaper, whowas provided with a full descriptionof the situation on a "backgroundonly" basis. He agreed that, so longas there were no disorders or demonstrations in the neighborhood, therewould be no special newspaper storiesabout the event. With the immediatesituation apparently under control,city hall turned its attention to theultimate solution of the problem.

A specially called executive meeting of the city council provided council members with background on thesituation and served to give the council an opportunity to prepare a posi

tion on the matter. The council wasnot unanimous in its feeling about them o v e - i n . B u t i t w a s t h e d e a r c o nsensus of the group that, from anumber of varying viewpoints, thedty had a responsibility to ensure apeaceful transition.

The cotmcil recognized at the outset that the government had a basicresponsibility to preserve law andorder; it felt that this responsibilitywent beyond a requirement to copewith actual disorder as it occurred tothe prevention of such disorder. Italso felt that the city government hada clear responsibility to the community to prevent the marring of its"image," as had happened with an u m b e r o f c o m m u n i t i e s w h i c h h a dbeen the scenes of racial strife inrecent months and that economic andsodal progress had been set backseverely in many of the cities inwhich overt disorder had been permitted to occur.

* *

The council also noted the importance of helping white families in theaffected neighborhood to preservetheir investments in their homes bymaking available information whichwould tend to prevent panic sales attemporarily depressed prices. Information provided to the coundl indicated that the experience of mostother suburban communities was thatreal estate prices tended to fall onlywhere a number of properties went onthe market at the same time so thatthe sellers were competing with eachother for buyers' dollars.

Finally, the coundl recognized itsmoral responsibility for bringingabout the peaceful transition of theneighborhood.

542 NATIONAL CIVIC REVIEW [November

In the next few days the city government, proceeding without publicityor fanfare, broadened and deepenedits efforts. The key to the city's approach was a conviction of the necessity of reaching and developing goodaffirmative leadership within the immediate neighborhood of the move-in,not of "directing" activities fromabove. Fortunately, the people of goodwill in the area identified thenaselvesrapidly. At the very time that fearful neighbors were gathering to "seewhat could be done" to protest, otherswere quietly making the Manleys feelwelcome. One neighbor broughtcoffee, another dinner. Another invitedthe children to play in her yard.

♦ ♦ ♦

Alone, these friendly neighbors following the dictates of their consciences could not have exerted astrong counterforce to those who weredeeply incensed about having Negroneighbors. But with support and helpthey were able to bring about a decisive change in the mood of theirneighborhood. They gave wide distribution to the fact sheet which laidto rest a number of the more exaggerated rumors about the sale andwhich provided reassuring information about the Manley family. Theycalmly discussed the matter withmany who had no ill will but weremisinformed and apprehensive aboutthe results of the move-in.

It should be noted that it tookcourage for these individuals to comeforward in this way; they had to bewilling to face much disapproval andin some cases outright ostracism. Certainly, the sense they had of strongofficial backing from a governmentthat would stand firm helped them to

follow the course of action they hadchosen.

Another extremely important sourceof support during the critical periodcame from members of the clergy whoin many instances worked togetherwith city officials in handling thesituation. The chairman of the openoccupancy housing organization, aminister, devoted many hours to visitswith a number of white families, assuring them that his organization didnot intend to bring about a majorinflux of Negro families into the subdivision. Clergjrmen were called uponto give counsel and advise restraintto ose persons who were taking aleading part in urging direct actionagainst ie Negro family or its property. Where actions of neither neighbors nor the clergy sufficed to influence these individuals, close friendsor employers were asked to intervene.

Throughout this period, the effortsof the city government to maintainpeace were never publicized. Althoughthe city's position was understood, itsactivities were not apparent. Andwhen it was finally dear that thepeople of the area could go back totheir normal summer l ife with no further disturbance, official actionrelaxed, ready to step in only if andwhen needed.

At the end of the Manleys' firstweek in Rockville, the neighborhoodappeared to be returning to stability.Only a slight recurrence of the previous week's agitation took place whena l o c a l r e a l t o r d i s t r i b u t e d fl i e r sthroughout the subdivision proclaiming that he had buyers for the homesof any white famfly that wished tosell. A quick visit to him by dty offi-

(Continued on page S60)

5 6 0 N A T I O N A L C I V I C R E V I E W [November

o f a c o m m i s s i o n t o r e v i e w t h e w h o l eproblem and to propose a series of amendments to the constitution for new apport ionment fo rmu lae .

Two of the major city newspaperstook diametrically opposite stands on theissue. The Daily News commended Mr.Mahoney for his proposal, saying itwould br ing rel ief to the underrepre-sented surburban voters if reapportionment were to take place under the prese n t f o r m u l a e . T h e N e w Y o r k T i m e scritized the idea of a special session ifthe present formulae were to be used.Instead, the Times advocated a specialsession to start action toward adoptiono f a new fo rmu la .

Mtmeuverin^ BeginsOn Selecting Electors

There is one group of representativesselected by the voters of the UnitedStates who perform only one function,whose names frequently do not evenappear on the ballot and who do noteven convene as a body to perform theirquadrennial duty. These are the members of the Electoral College, chosen toselect the president of the United States.

State practices in the election of Electoral College members vary greatly.Although the election is still more thana year away, maneuvering for control ofseveral southern state delegations hasalready begun. Alabama and Mississippiare in the process of making it possiblefor uninstructed and uncommitted electors to appear on the November 1964bal lo t .

In Louisiana, segregationist-conservat i ve f o r ces w i t h i n t he S ta te Democ ra t i cCen t ra l Commi t t ee won a 53 - to -42 v i ctory to prevent a pro-Kennedy slatef rom au tomat i ca l l y rep resen t i ng theDemocratic party on the 1964 ballot. Ledby Leander Perez, Sr., political leaderof Plaquemines Parish, the committeepassed a resolution providing for twoslates of presidential electors. One will

be pledged to support the Democraticparty's nominee as selected by the national convention next August. The otherwi l l be p ledged to an " independent"candidate. Selection of the winning slatewil l take place during next summer'scongressional primary.

P O W E R O F P O S I T I V E A C T I O N(Continued from page 542)

cials produced a promise that hewould cease any unusual efforts tobring about sales in the area until thecrisis had passed.

After two weeks, it was apparentthat the critical days were behind thecommunity and the city officialsbreathed more easily. The neighborhood was quiet; no mass exodus hadtaken place; and few people outsidethe immediate area were even awareof the crisis it had met and weathered.

The Manleys' move-in could easilyhave made Rockville the setting fora bitter racial clash. All the ingredients were present. Ordinarily goodsensible people were angered, nearlyto the point of reacting overtlyagainst the new family, by thethought of great economic loss andby the fear that their new neighborswould mean an end to the peace andsecurity of the neighborhood.

Violence and property loss wereaverted because city hall recognizedits responsibilities and provided dearand decisive leadership in a situationin which hesitation might have permitted or encouraged the racial flare-up which has occurred in too manycommunities across the nation. Rock-ville^s experience may well serve asthe basis for a fundamental re-evalua-tion by other suburban governmentsof their responsibilities in a new anddynamic era.