A quiet and gentle nature disguises one of Detroit's most powerful and influential activists: James Williams.
A
local legend, he has been featured on the front page of The Detroit Free Press, visited former President Clinton while he was still governor of Arkansas,
and chatted with Sen. Ted Kennedy at the 1980 Democratic
National Convention.
Despite
an impressive list of accomplishments, he is a modest about his role in
community activism and says he did not seek out community service to fill his
time.
"I
just looked around," says Williams. "I
saw there was a need to brighten the area."
And
he has done just that. For over 20
years, he has worked tirelessly with a national organization known as
Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN,
which helps build and preserve housing assets.
Williams
was born in rural North Carolina on April 11, 1927.
He grew up in the South but quickly grew disillusioned with the
discrimination and segregation that were prevalent there.
Williams
joined the U.S. Air Force after high school hoping to escape such conditions.
However, he was confronted with many of the same injustices.
As
a result, Williams decided to move to the North in search of better living
conditions and a better life. He
eventually settled in Detroit, where he found steady work in the auto industry.
It
wasn’t until 1980 that Williams joined ACORN after having heard about the
organization from a friend. He
quickly became involved in the group’s activist campaigns.
In
August 1980, he and ACORN members from 27 other states traveled to New York City
to be the voice for low- to moderate-income workers at the Democratic National
Convention.
Organization
members picketed, marched and rallied at Hyde Park.
Two hundred protesters – including Williams – even managed to get
inside the convention, held at Madison Square Garden.
“Once
we got inside, I was shaking like a leaf on a tree because Ted Kennedy was
approaching me,” says Williams. “The
other state representatives at the convention wanted us arrested, but Kennedy
wouldn’t allow it. He gave us a
seat at the convention, and this is how we began to gain strength as an
organization.”
Williams
and ACORN next mounted a successful campaign in the city of Detroit.
"We
wanted to gain some housing rights for the working-class taxpayers," says
Williams.
Williams
and ACORN wanted the city to allow citizens to move into abandoned homes around the city for $1.
“The
person who moved into that house would be given three years to fix the house,
bring it up to date with the city code and, if the original owner did not
reclaim the property, the house would be theirs."
Then-Mayor
Coleman Young was against ACORN’s efforts, but the organization had support
from City Council members. Consequently,
ACORN was able to get the Homesteading Act passed and gain what is known as
squatter’s rights.
“Mayor
Young’s administration tried to claim this was unlawful, but ACORN wasn’t
advocating giving people free homes. People
had to qualify under the Homesteading Act.
Squatters had three years to do the work, and the original owner could
still take back the property – after the squatter was reimbursed.”
After
that victory, Williams began work on another project for ACORN.
This time, he took on a shopping plaza being built in the New Center
Area, which would center on a Farmer Jack supermarket.
The
local Community Investment Association was given federal funding to complete the
Farmer Jack project.
In return, the association had to guarantee community residents 100 jobs.
They were only offered 10.
After
organizing the community, Williams got the media involved and demanded that
residents be given a reasonable amount of jobs.
"Once those in control saw that we had the support of the community, they knew they had to give in," says Williams. "The people of the community were eventually given 82 jobs."
The
next project proved to be an achievement not only for Williams, but also for the
community. The Henry Ford Hospital
incinerator, which is located just across the street from Williams’
neighborhood, was burning off toxic waste fumes from mercury, human waste and
other chemicals. The residents in
the community began to complain of asthma, as did Williams, who then contacted
the Environmental Protection Agency to investigate.
"I
told the hospital administration that I wanted to be their neighbor, but they
were trying to make me their patient."
It was discovered that the emissions from the smoke stacks were directly involved in the health decline of people in the community. The hospital eventually complied with Williams, the EPA and the Sierra Club, who had become involved in the fight as well.
Nowadays, Williams is still involved with some ACORN campaigns. However, he increasingly finds himself involved in activities for Sweet Home Baptist Church, where he serves as trustee.