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2 CITIZENS ITIZENS’ ACTION CTION Managerial Racism and Reform Politics City of Hope Despite a decade of depression, which heightened the level of inequality between blacks and whites in the city, the black population in Grand Rapids had several reasons for believing their grievances would receive greater consideration in the post–World War II era. First, the unheralded acts of black resistance began to dismantle the overt signs of Jim Crow in the city. A stable coalition of civil rights organizations successfully challenged the racial barriers that openly excluded blacks from stores, hotels, restaurants, and numerous public accommodations. It appeared that blacks would face less hostility and benefit from greater access to commercial establishments throughout the city. Second, a reform movement surfaced in the late 1940s to address corruption in city government. Its emphasis on democratization of city politics offered a glimmer of hope that increased municipal social and economic awareness would result in changes in the conditions affecting urban black life. It remained to be seen, however, whether political and economic reform would translate into racial justice for a severely deprived black community.1 Concerned with political corruption and manipulation of the democratic process, self-proclaimed “progressives,” mainly within the Republican Party, launched a vigorous assault against the Republican political machine led by Frank D. McKay and George W. Welsh. Blacks believed the promise of good government would lead to a more just allocation of city resources. Better government officials, encouraged by the Chamber of Commerce, promised to improve living standards and address the educational needs of children as well as ameliorate the health, safety, and physical environment of the city. Hopeful that eliminating graft might end the corrupt bargain between some businesses CITIZENS’ ACTION 25 and government and instead offer a complement to the reform initiatives of civil rights activists, black organizations in Grand Rapids, such as the local chapter of the NAACP, the Grand Rapids Urban League (GRUL), and the Grand Rapids Study Club (GRSC), put their support behind the Republican reform movement. These organizations understood clearly that boss control resulted in the negligible distribution of resources for an underrepresented black community. Seen as one of the greatest stumbling blocks in the path of democracy, bossism’s predicted demise in the face of “good government” paralleled the black community’s hopeful aspirations for equality following World War II.2 Those hopes were to be dashed. Although the Citizens’ Action movement did usher sweeping changes into the city’s political structure, it primarily benefited the middle- to upper-class whites who formed the core of the movement. Most of the white reformers displayed minimal interest in addressing the impact of white racism. Instead, members of the Citizens’ Action movement replaced a citywide policy of overt discrimination with a complex system of managerial racism. The duplicitous nature of the “progressive” movement concerning the black community was especially evident in the lack of local support for the statewide Fair Employment Practices (FEP) bill of 1955, which was designed to ban discrimination in employment based on race, religion, color, or national origin. During the forties and fifties, fair employment occupied a central place in the struggle for freedom rights at the state and national levels.3 Building on Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Executive Order 8809, which prohibited employment discrimination in the defense industry, the GRNAACP sought more employment opportunities for blacks. But its views on how to end job discrimination differed from those of the GRUL. While the GRNAACP supported FEP legislation outright, the GRUL pushed for an “open-door” policy based on equalopportunity hires for qualified black applicants. The GRUL’s strategy was developed in part to work within the business structure of the pro-business reform movement, which had a significant influence on the GRUL Board. To protect “freedom of enterprise,” the business community rejected FEP proposals , which it considered “an infringement on managerial prerogatives over hiring , promotion, and firing.” Indeed, progressive Republicans formed the first barrier to freedom rights in Grand Rapids, and the reform agenda had profound consequences for blacks in the postwar era.4 Committed to reinventing Grand Rapids, businessmen and politicians in the reform movement promoted business expansion as a solution to racial problems. Like the New South movement in such cities as Atlanta, the Citizens’ Action committee championed laissez-faire as a panacea for metropolitan development and touted Grand Rapids as the consummate example.5 Under the rubric of progress and public interest, the reform movement practiced a 26 CHAPTER 2 paternalistic approach that...

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