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Lots of luck. In Dubuque as elsewhere, racial debates frequently descend into ugly arguments over affirmative action, quotas, welfare -- and worse. Smelling fertile soil, Ku Klux Klan national director Thom Robb of Arkansas and a few of his cronies made an appearance three weeks ago, attracting about 150 residents to a rally. "You hear people saying that the Klan sounds kind of reasonable, and that's scary," says Francis Giunta, head of the Dubuque Federation of Labor. Plan supporters held counterdemonstrations. Even the Guardian Angels showed up for a few days. At Dubuque Senior High School, police had to patrol the halls following several fistfights between blacks and whites. "The white kids thought their parents would lose their jobs and homes to minorities," says principal Larry Mitchell, who plans to start a minorities-studies course next year.
Although one poll found that 85% of residents support the concept of increased diversity, more than 2,000 have signed a petition opposing the proposal to recruit minorities. "The vast majority of residents are not wild- eyed, foaming-at-the-mouth racists," says Michael Pratt, a supporter of the plan. "But people have got the idea that tax money will be spent to bring in welfare families and dump them in the middle of Dubuque." Pratt lost his city council seat in last month's election.
The task force is rewriting the initiative, and the watered-down version is expected to avoid any mention of using taxpayer money. Instead, local employers will simply be asked to consider hiring minorities when recruiting for positions that can't be filled locally. Says J. Steven Horman, president of the Dubuque Chamber of Commerce: "I'm convinced that not one single job will be lost."
But even the new version is likely to meet with widespread hostility in a town still traumatized by the massive layoffs during the early 1980s at the John Deere Dubuque Works and the now defunct Dubuque Packing Co. Though unemployment stands below the national average and tourism has nearly doubled in the past year thanks to riverboat gambling, few Dubuquers feel secure. "People believe the pie is shrinking, and they are not in the mood to share their piece," says Giunta.
Particularly with blacks. "To wholesale integrate this town because 'by God we're going to integrate' is not fair," says businessman David Hartig Jr., who headed the petition drive against the plan. "This is simply a quota plan." Hartig is at pains to distance himself from the resident bigots, but says, "People who don't like a closed community like Dubuque can go elsewhere." He complains that the only reason the plan has survived is because business leaders are afraid to oppose it. "It's like McCarthyism," he says. "If you don't support affirmative-action plans, then you're called a racist."
Then again, many Dubuquers simply can't conceive that a black might be better qualified for a job. And while Mayor Brady insists that Dubuque must diversify to attract more businesses, few residents associate minorities with prosperity. "Blacks have higher crime rates, welfare rates and birthrates," says McDermott. "Why should we change our life-styles to give blacks preferential treatment?"
Put gently, most residents like their town just the way it is.