(3 of 3)
An earlier presidential task, force, the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, concluded that the U.S. was increasingly becoming two nations, one white and the other black. Douglas also sees a growing bifurcation, but it is primarily an economic rather than a racial one. There is, he says, "a sickness in American society that is dividing the nation into two classes, the poor and the not-poor. The division is especially sharp between the whites and the blacks. It may tear our country to pieces." To prevent this from happening, Richard Nixon has promised to create a Council on Urban Affairs with the same high White House priorities that only the National Security Council now commands. But it remains to be seen whether the council will wield sufficient power—or control sufficient funds—to make an impact on the problems of urbs and suburbs. The omens are not promising, particularly in the area of increased cooperation between the two in seeking improvement. A case in point: for more than a year, the National Commission on Urban Problems and the Task Force on Suburban Problems covered ground that was often identical; yet neither seemed to know what the other was doing.
* Inspired by the view of Daly City from San Francisco's Skyline Boulevard.