Justin Low
HIST 128
Dr. Miller
May 7, 2019
A Vision for Change
Leon Williams, as a resident, a student, and ultimately a politician, promoted black civil rights in San Diego that in each phase in his life he supported and pushed forward the effort for black civil rights in his city. From the speeches he delivered to the organizations he helped to create, his words and his actions exemplified his intentions to serve and advance African American lives within San Diego.
Leon Williams was the firstborn of fifteen children in Bakersfield, California. Living here, Leon said that he would never grow up knowing the idea of housing segregation. He had not experienced racial discrimination until he moved to San Diego right after high school. He moved with his family in 1947 to Goldenhill where it was infamously known for being an all-white neighborhood. In this area, there was a clause that stated that deeds to homes were only allowed to be sold to white families and the only reason he was able to purchase property because a realtor was anxious to make a sale.
He attended San Diego State University in the early 1940’s during a time where there were roughly only 10 to 15 African American students attending the university. Leon Williams had demonstrated an interest in making an impact in his community as early as his college years. Not experiencing much racism in his early life, once he saw true segregation and racism throughout his college and daily life he knew he wanted to bring change. Following that he got involved with his fellow peers in the open house movement. This movement was designed to combat the segregation that San Diego neighborhoods implemented through laws and social practices. They would ask their supporters to display stickers in the windows of their homes that said: “my neighbor can be anybody.” This was one of his earliest attempts to address the segregation issue between white and black neighborhoods that were occurring in San Diego to strive for a more unified community.
During his college years, he also participated in several sit ins at restaurants. These restaurants refused to serve only African Americans, so Leon Williams and fellow peers would simply sit in the restaurant occupying the table so they were unable to serve other customers. He discussed this in an interview with Gary Warth saying “They wouldn’t serve us but we could sit and occupy the place.”
Leon Williams attended a convention hosted by a group called “BOMB,” Black, Oriental, and Mexican brothers. At the convention, he gave a speech that inspired the members of the group to select him to represent their interest and notified the press and city council. Throughout several interviews, he also states how he initially was not certain of his decision to be apart of City Council. At the time, he had a steady job as director of a youth program at Urban League. Urban League was and is an agency that worked against the struggle of discrimination providing opportunities and training programs for predominately black people. He also noted that he knew the job would bring a lot of pressure but found his internal motivation from other black influential leaders. He stated, “We were all working on civil rights. Martin Luther King and those kids had been bitten by dogs in the South. Kids were sitting at lunch counters and having cigarettes stuck in their neck. I thought, Christ’s sake, if they can do that. I can do this. I can at least do this.” Shortly after, in 1969, the council appointed Leon Williams to serve on San Diego City Council.
During his time in City Council, Leon Williams tried to get involved in different organizations in an attempt to rejuvenate the southeast area of San Diego. Many families, restaurants, and popular stores starting to move away from the southeast believing they were losing their value because of the rising number of black families. Mainly due to these properties losing value if the black population increase. Therefore Leon Williams took it to himself to fix this issue, spending a majority of his career working with or creating organizations that would help revitalize and regain value in these existing properties and their surrounding neighborhoods. He initiated the SEDC, Southeastern Economic Development Corporation. This organization aimed to bring resources to help revive a run-down downtown San Diego. His proudest accomplishment was the creation of the Centre City Development Corporation. This organization helped revitalize downtown by helping struggling businesses come back to life. Despite critics of investing all the money into downtown, Leon Williams believed that by rejuvenating existing properties, there would not be the constant need to search for new ones.
Not only did he try to revitalize and bring value back to properties, he actively addressed concerns about police brutality, specifically towards African-Americans. There were multiple complaints from citizens and after being elected into Council, he experienced his own form of discrimination from law enforcement due to the color of his skin, and he knew he would do whatever he could to stop this. He promoted higher education requirements for the higher ranking officers so that black families would not have to worry about having a gun pulled on them for simply sitting in their car.
During his time in City Council, like many other influential leaders of his time, Leon Williams never encouraged violence. One of his most well known qualities was his ability to get his point across to his audience while avoiding arguing. He was interviewed by Lynne Carrier, a reporter at the San Diego Tribune, who stated “the civility that was Williams’ trademark on the City Council also was his secret weapon for success. ‘He believed that you could never be confrontational and get anything done.’”
Leon Williams continued to exemplify how to be a successful and influential political and social figure. Although initially he was hesitant in accepting the City Council job, his impact in not only being the first African American council member, but he had made a huge impact on the livelihood of black families all throughout southeast San Diego. He made a difference within the city and paved the way for future African American leaders to continue to strive to make a difference in their communities. Regardless of racial background or upbringing, he showed that anyone can make a difference anywhere, even if not in political office.
Bibliography
Florido, Adrian. “One of San Diego’s Black Pioneers.” Voice of San Diego. April 8, 2011. Rhodes, Gloria, and Leon Williams. “Hon. Leon Williams October 28, 2008 Interviewed by
Gloria Rhodes for San Diego State University .” Creating Community, The
African-American Experience in San Diego, 28 Oct. 2008, pp. 1–49.
Warth, Gary. “Refusal of service led Williams to civic service.” The San Diego Union-Tribune,
September 10, 2015.
Williams, Leon. “1994 Interview with Leon Williams, First African-American on the San Diego
City Council.” Interviewed by Graham Ledger. CBS 8 San Diego, 27 Feb. 2019. Video,
1:40. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvHLbfiAg0A
Williams, Leon. Leon Williams interview (1995, Heart of San Diego). Interviewed by Fred
Lewis. The Heart of San Diego. 1995. Video, 27:08.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bWFJFwOjMM.