Two Kinds of Ghetto Organizing

Last June, Roxbury had a riot. A group callel Mothers for Adequate Welfare (MAWS) staged a sit-in in Grove Hall, the Roxbury welfare center. The women locked themselves and the welfare board into the building. Then someone called the police, who waded into the crowds, swinging their nightsticks and touching off a bloody melee, which soon spread throughout the area.

Youth Alliance was a byproduct of the Roxbury riot.

The day after the MAWS sit-in, young Negroes met in St. Hughes Church to form nightly patrol groups so that the police would not have to come into the neighborhood. With white armbands and orange vests, they walked the streets from nine at night until three in the morning.

A few weeks later, the group was incorporated. Its purpose, according to Youth Alliance literature, is "to show that the young adults of this community can BE RESPONSIBLE." When the need to act as a police force was over, Youth Alliance switched to more constructive business. Alliance has taken on a wide range of social welfare activities. But its main emphasis is on trying to fill the gap between the school years, when Negro youth tend to waste their time, and the adult years, when those who care are busy with established political organizations.

On the bus to Youth Alliance's headquarters in Roxbury, I began talking with three Negro boys. Larry told me he was marking time in a general course that did not prepare him for college or a job. As George cut a piece of leather out of the seat to make a slingshot, he said he hated school and everything run by older people. Paul, embarrassed by the conversation, admitted softly that he went to "an educational joke, Boston Trade School."

We all got off at the Youth Alliance sign on Blue Hills Avenue. Store-fronts for adult organizations -- CORE, Operation Exodus, and the Black Muslims--dominate the block. Jo Jo Ferguson, Alliance's 21-year-old executive director, met me at the door. The barrenness of the outer meeting room contrasted sharply with the rich carpet and shiny desks in the main office. Ferguson, dressed in chinos and a wine-colored sport shirt, insisted on being called "mister." Like most of Alliance's 200 members, he is a high school dropout. Since Ferguson had to go to a meeting, he sent me to talk to Sam Bell, Alliance's president.

Bell, 22, who quit Boston University after three years, explained why so many Roxbury Negroes drop out of school: "I think the basic problem with thinking about schools in Boston is that they do not make students feel really happy about attending. Take for instance a Roxbury Negro in Boston English High School. He doesn't feel that this educational program is geared for him. Every day he sees people like Mrs. Hicks who are not exactly for him. That type of thing does not exactly leave a healthy attitude."

In response to the inadequacies of the Boston schools, Youth Alliance has started classes in photography, history of minorities, and judo-karate. Alliance is trying to establish its own programs for high-school equivalency diplomas, leadership training, sex education, and job training.

The job training program is the main focus of Alliance's present efforts. Many Roxbury youths are not eligible for the programs run by private industry. They complain that job programs of ABCD (Boston's poverty program) channel trainees into non-profit organizations, where they have little chance for future advancement.

As one Alliance member said, "Anybody can learn to mimeograph for an organization. But that's no good for later. ABCD is more job placement than job training."

So Alliance is asking firms like Polaroid to accept its members in special training programs. The programs will have a period of adjustment before on-the-job training.

"This period will make a great difference to many of our members," says Bell. "If a guy is out of school for two years, it is very hard for him suddenly to go to work every day."

Alliance is constantly searching for support from private industry, but it will not accept help from federal agencies or adult political organizations. "Federal programs have too many strings attached," Bell explained. "There are too many stipulations on how to spend money. For example, we need money for transportation, but we can't get it from ABCD.

"Federal programs have to observe OEO (Office of Economic Opportunity (guidelines. If we set up a job training program with federal money, we couldn't enroll people who were poor but not below OEO guidelines. People on welfare with five children are getting more money than the OEO guidelines.

"Another thing is that federal programs eat up a lot of money in administrative costs. We've seen programs spend half their money on administration."

Alliance wants to be independent of adult Negro organizations too. The group feels that Negro adults are already doing their share of the work, and youth must do its portion. "Taking funds from groups like Operation Exodus would just make them less effective," Bell said.

Because of its emphasis on independence, Alliance has developed a severe funding problem. There is not enough money now to pay the executive director's salary or the electric light bills of the office.

But Youth Alliance is young and growing. Its chief recruiter, Frank Wright, goes into the local pool halls to reach potential members. Alliance's independence has given the Roxbury teenagers a sense of their own dignity and power.