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There had been mild heckling from the beginning of his speech, but the reference to Watts detonated an explosion of shrieks and catcalls from a small minority in the audience of 600. "Shut up!" one man cried at Shriver. "What do you know about it?" demanded another. Shouted a woman from Watts: "When all this poverty money is spent, the rich man is going to be richer and I'm still going to be receiving a welfare check!" All but drowned out, Shriver finished his speech, but was unable to participate in a scheduled question period. A score of shouting, shoving people charged the head table, trying to seize the microphone, and Shriver beat a strategic retreat.
Mortified, the C.C.A.P. leaders were unable to regain control of the meeting. Allen Moore, a bearded youth from Brooklyn, wailed into the microphone: "You people are old and grey, and you better step aside." The convention was to have concluded with the enactment of resolutions, but by then the delegates were in no mood for parliamentary procedure and the meeting broke up. One of the lost resolutions called for a minimum of 51% membership of "the poor, as chosen by the poor" on community-action boards, rather than the one-third representation now specified by OEO guidelines. If nothing else, the uproar demonstrated that money alone will not paper over the problems and resentments of the poor.