RICHMOND GLOBE
February 20 - 26, 2008

McLaughlin Issues Proclamation in Honor of Black History Month

From the Globe Political Desk

During Tuesday night’s Richmond City Council meeting, Mayor Gayle McLaughlin issued a proclamation in honor of Black History Month.
It states in part:

“Black History month is an opportunity for Richmond residents to pay tribute to the contributions and struggles of African Americans to the United States of America and to Richmond, California.

“Fifty five years ago, African American Richmond resident and WWII veteran Wilbur Gary, his wife Borece and their seven children were at the center of a local and national struggle for civil rights and housing integration.

“In March of 1952 the Garys’ determination to secure for themselves the right to reside in their newly purchased home was met in opposition with a cross planting, stone throwing, death threats and racist insults by a mob of hundreds from the previously all-white Rollingwood neighborhood.

“To support the Garys’ rights, and to prevent possible atrocities as were committed elsewhere, came forward an outstanding array of individuals and local and regional organizations, including the Richmond Chapter of the NAACP, chaired by the Rev. Lofton Fowler, the Civil Rights Congress of the East Bay, directed by Ms. Jessica Mitford (Treuhaft), and the Joint Action Committee of Northern California Unions, as well as several churches and hundreds and hundreds of local decent citizens, including some from the previously all-white neighborhood.

“The nightly citizen patrols, the letter writing campaigns, the leafleting, the advocacy done with local, county and state government, the many letters of support from organized labor, the demands for police protection for the Garys, the calls for an end of violence and the arrest of the ones doing violence and the friendly embrace by community and activists gave the Garys the strength and the courage to continue firm and to ultimately succeed in their right to live in their new home, which they did for more than 25 years after.

“The city of Richmond supports the efforts by local African American individuals and organizations to preserve, for all residents, the memory of local African Americans who fought and who won epic battles for fairness and justice.
“I, Mayor Gayle McLaughlin, on behalf of the Richmond City Council, recognize and honor the memory of the Gary family of Richmond and the coalition of local and regional leaders and organizations which struggled together against injustice, violence and racism and achieved some very significant victories in March 1952.”