Byrd, Black Tradesmen Quit Parley

Byrd, Black Tradesmen Quit Parley

October 19, 1971

A black county commissioner and several black tradesmen walked out of a meeting this morning involving county commissioners, white county contractors and representatives from the»Black Contractors Association.

Ann Arbor commissioner David R. Byrd left a meeting of the commissioners’ property committee, of which he is chairman, after the commissioners voted to go ahead with a presentation on a minority hiring program being conducted by area contractors and Washtenaw Community College. Byrd had requested that the discussion be postponed.

The meeting was scheduled to give both the County Contractors Association and black tradesmen a chance to explain their positions on minority hiring plans. The Contractors Association is involved in a program at the community college but Byrd and other blacks have criticized it for not placing enough blacks directly into building trades.