Circle 007: Jimmy Breslin, Race and the City, May 24, 1976

Author and columnist Jimmy Breslin told the New England Circle's first 1976 gathering that "race" is the biggest problem facing the United States today.

He said the ability or inability of blacks and whites to live in harmony has caused a chain reaction in today's society and has become a major factor in unemployment and welfare and education.

Breslin spoke in detail concerning his native New York City and said that years from now he would not be surprised if an expressway went around the city, if the corporate headquarters of the large companies had moved to New Jersey or Connecticut, and that the city was going broke.

But he added, "I will always be proud that my city held out its hands to help when the poor - the blacks and the Puerto Ricans - arrived there seeking a better life."

by Jeremiah Murphy (Political Columnist & Feature Writer, The Boston Globe)