The Fifth Estate has obtained a copy of a letter, one paragraph of which states: “As far as I am concerned, the local police in every community must be prepared to draw fast and not let the bleeding hearts again accuse them of being brutal. In my opinion, the future must be planned by real, practical and statesmanlike people.”
The letter was written to Mr. Lyman S. Ford, Executive Director, United Community Funds and Councils of America, Inc. It was written by Mr. Walter C. Laidlaw, Executive Vice President of the United Foundation on the stationery of that organization. The United Foundation raises over 20 million dollars each year, partly through the coercion of employees of nearly every corporation and institution in the Detroit Metropolitan area.
The little-discussed Greenleigh Report of 1965 pointed out that among other things Detroit charities, virtually all of which receive their funds from the United Foundation, were excessively middle-class oriented and of little real value to the poor.
The letter also contains the following statements: “Some day I will write my own impressions of what really took place which, I am sure, would cause Mayor Cavanagh and President Johnson to hit the ceiling. To me, George Romney, our Governor, was a real hero in this situation.”
“Because of watching either the golf matches or the baseball game on TV Sunday July 23, 1967, neither Betty nor I heard a thing about what took place in Detroit until Jim Blean called me at 6:45 the following morning (Monday) and wanted to know if we should open our office building as usual because of the riot. I could have fainted because I had heard nothing of it…”
Space is hereby offered to Mr. Laidlaw in the Fifth Estate to write his “own impressions of what really took place.”
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Cyrus T. Vance, former Deputy Secretary of Defense and John Douglas, formerly an assistant Attorney General, now both practicing attorneys, will direct the effort for the committee.
The purpose of the program is to provide jobs for returning Negro servicemen and to help meet a critical shortage of qualified Negroes to serve on big city police forces.
The defense department may be surprised to learn that black Americans are somewhat less inclined to kill niggers in their own cities than they are to kill gooks in Vietnam.
The New Detroit Committee has hardly distinguished itself with its appointment of Arthur Brandstatter to investigate and suggest reforms for the Detroit Police Department. Brandstatter is Dean of Police Administration at Michigan State University.
He has distinguished himself in the past by his efforts to turn the East Lansing campus into a police state by paying students to spy on campus organizations and the like.
Brandstatter is best known however, for the key role he played in the MSU-CIA involvement in Vietnam. It was Brandstatter who supervised the establishment of Diem’s secret police force. He was also instrumental in securing weapons and other supplies for the Saigon police. The CIA men in the Michigan State operation were “covered” in the Police Administration School.
The New Detroit Committee claims they could find no one else to take the job. The only nationally recognized expert on police reform, Mr. Orlando Wilson, turned the committee down.
A number of others of Brandstatter’s calibre could have been chosen including Carl Parsell, Mary Beck and Ronald August.
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After a hassle about a secrecy clause in the contract a University of Michigan Professor has accepted a $40,000 grant from the Kerner Commission investigating Civil Disorder’s to study the phenomenon of “Counter-Rioters.”
Counter-Rioters are defined as those indigenous leaders in the community who oppose “rioting,” assist the fire and police departments and attempt to restrain their “brothers.” The support of counter-rioters may become a part of the strategy of stopping future rebellions. In the past the phrase has been less scientifically known as “divide and conquer” or setting black man against black man.
The grant was at first refused because the contract contained a clause preventing the findings from being released publicly. The clause has now been removed and the grant accepted.
The Fifth Estate hereby goes on record as requesting a copy of the study as soon as it is completed.
Does any one wish to wager on whether or not we’ll get it.