Comments on: Rochester Civil Rights Movement, circa 1967

By: rochesterturning.com: turning the tide upstate

rochesterturning.com: turning the tide upstate — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 01:51:39 +0000

[...] April of this year, I wrote about the heroes of the civil rights movement here in Rochester, never believing that we would be celebrating this victory so soon. (yep, I was [...]

By: rochesterturning.com: turning the tide upstate

rochesterturning.com: turning the tide upstate — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 15:04:55 +0000

[...] is the Reverend Jeremiah Wright? We’ve been paying tribute to local civil rights activists who are also members of the clergy (and you all know that I am not a church person, but you also [...]

By: ladkiddo

ladkiddo — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 17:49:49 +0000

I recognize that statement as invalid. Your brilliance burns the eyes. Best to view you with shades.

By: itchy

itchy — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 17:19:45 +0000

I’m widely known as an idiot.

By: ladkiddo

ladkiddo — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 14:55:46 +0000

Thanks Itchy, but that’s the same link as in the post.

By: rochesterturning.com: turning the tide upstate

rochesterturning.com: turning the tide upstate — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 12:48:45 +0000

[...] for her heads-up on this connection to local history. I looked into Saul’s connection to Rochester and the Reverend Florence and found this wonderful part 12 of an interview with Saul by Playboy Magazine. This guy is a [...]

By: jiminybizbo

jiminybizbo — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 22:07:00 +0000

Good find Itchy. Isn’t it amazing that the rich history of this man was ignored as he was loaded into that police car?

Blows my mind.

By: itchy

itchy — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 18:26:45 +0000

That metal stamping plant is still in business today - as Eltrex.

Here’s a link to another good article about Minister Florence & Kodak http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-20150895.html

Also Mark Hare - from the D&C - wrote a book about these times: Remaking of a City: Rochester, NY 1964-1984

By: jiminybizbo

jiminybizbo — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 15:53:55 +0000

This paragraph is interesting as well. I just had this discussion regarding the enormous amount of money being spent on police officers and zero tolerance in the city. If that same amount of money were put into creating jobs and programs to educate and train and employ people, would the outcome for the same amount of money be different? I think so - and obviously Rev. Florence had the same vision:

Following Minister Florence’s papers concerning ABC are papers from RJI. Readers will find references in this section to the Concentrated Employment Program, (CEP), ABC, and Operation Mainstream. CEP was a federally funded program sponsered by RJI. The New Careers Program, a component of CEP was subcontracted to ABC. CEP was the parent organization for Operation Mainstream which provided in part, the funding for FIGHTON.

Also included are Florence’s records of FIGHTON the Black owned and operated metal stamping plant that came about through the planning of FIGHT, Xerox, and the Rochester Business Opportunities Corporation (RBOC).

By: jiminybizbo

jiminybizbo — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 15:49:51 +0000

FIGHT led to Metro Act - which was the predecessor to Metro Justice according to the library at the UR:

The bid to bring Alinsky to Rochester was met with fierce opposition by many. In the midst of the controversy Alinsky sent two of his associates, Ed Chambers and Ron Jones, to the Flower City to begin to organize the Black community. Florence was chosen to head the steering committee of the newly formed community based black activist organization that was given the name FIGHT; an acronym for Freedom, Integration, God, Honor, Today (the “I” was changed in 1967 to stand for “Independence”). For Alinsky, it was paramount that communities organize themselves. He remained in the background in the role of consultant and white liberals interested in the civil rights movement in Rochester were asked to step aside and allow blacks to speak for themselves. These white activists formed Friends of FIGHT (later to become Metro Act) which developed alongside FIGHT as a separate organization. Florence was formally elected president of FIGHT at the first annual FIGHT convention in June 1965. He held the presidency from 1965-1967 and again in 1968.

http://www.library.rochester.edu/index.cfm?page=882

We need to research Ray Scott too. It’s about time the real heros of change get recognized in this community before it’s too late. When I say recognized, it’s by more than just those who they have helped - I’m talking about all of Monroe and surrounding counties. The Rev. Florence is already almost 80…

By: Itchy

Itchy — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 14:53:19 +0000

Here’s a NTK interview with Florence:

http://www.wxxi.org/ntk/Transcripts/2000/v000203.htm

There’s also a ton of newsletters at the library, and a book by Hank Botts.

By: ladkiddo

ladkiddo — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 14:27:08 +0000

I’m pleading ignorance here. Jon, you reading this? Care to shed some light?

By: Itchy

Itchy — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 13:14:51 +0000

Didn’t Metro Justice evolve from FIGHT? Or am I crazy?
(Edit) Oops. That was the white group “Friends of FIGHT”

By: ladkiddo

ladkiddo — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 23:07:06 +0000

Thanks for the kind words and for your valuable commentary. Always appreciated.

By: ladkiddo

ladkiddo — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 23:05:02 +0000

Anna,
Thank you so much for this piece of information. I had no idea and will look into it further.