A quiet street in a quiet neighborhood in the middle of the 20th century. When you look for a house, what are you looking for . What do you see . Where people lived in square fine ample houses. The ferocious slums. Many still stand, many torn down, rebuilding among the dispersal of people and neighborhoods. A way being made for the projects. Signs of change in all of the cities. And still, the dark red blindness of walls. The cities reach out. The ghettos burst open after a long while. Ghettos of every kind. Pushing out into the new country waiting for the builders. Some of us still live in uniformity. But the sifting has begun. When you look further, when you look for a house, you see the citys reach. What are you looking for . A place to live . Your warmth, your love, your work, your rest from work, your quiet, the sounds you like, your privacy, your friends, a good place for children. A place to grow in. Easy to keep clean. A place that we can afford. The right place for us. And even from the car we try to guess. What is there for us . Who lives behind these doors . On this quiet street who lives here . Could this be it . This one . Take another look. I know what im going to do. Im going to get dick on the phone right away. Nice streets in a nice neighborhood where things are taken care of well. Why do people come here . All of the regular reasons. [ phones ringing ] this room, this is what i mind leaving the most, so many little things. Bob seeing jenny in her Wedding Dress here for the first time. That night we got back from the hospital after little lori was born. Suddenly we were grandparents. Christmases, birthdays. Dont you feel that way about the room . Of course, you dont. Sure, i do. Tonight, when i was burning the leaves i felt that again. Not just about the room or the house, but the whole neighborhood. Something about the people here. I just hate to pull out. We have not moved for ages. You think most people move all the time. Do you remember the year jenny was born . Three places we lived that year. [ phone rings ] ill get it. Its pretty late. Yes . Yes, this is mrs. Candy. There must be some mistake. It was about those people that were here today. You mean because of i knew it. I knew it the minute they got out of that car. I knew somebody was going to throw a fit. But who in gods name would do a thing like that . Youre really very upset, arent you . Can i get you something . Maybe just a bath. Was it that bad . Worse. What gets into a person like that . Do you know what he said . Hello, tom, how have you been in. Fine, ed, you . No complaints. By the way, are you going to Lodge Meeting thursday . Always do, dont i . Is there anything the matter . I just dont understand you, ed. Youve always been a pretty regular guy, a credit to the neighborhood, too. Im the same guy ive always been. Theres something bothering you, why not just say it . The same thing bothering a lot of people. I guess we didnt know you as well as we thought. Get to the point, tom. Come on, ed, dont pretend you dont understand. No one is going to get away with the stuff youre trying to hand out. Now look here. You look here. Nobody is threatening you. Theres never going to be any violence in this part of town. Were peaceful people. Youve got friends here. Im your friend. We just want to know what it is you think youre doing to us. A quiet street, a quiet neighborhood. Never any trouble here, none at all. So i got off of that bus and i came straight here. Nothing to worry about, ed, nothing at all. Everybody knows you as an ideal citizen. But frankly, let me give you a little friendly advice. Take that sign down. Your house is a desirable property and well turn up the right buyer for you. I hear what youre saying, ted, but dont turn on the bedside manner. You struck me as upset. Tom elder was upset. Tom elder didnt walk in my door. You cant blame tom, ed. People get nervous, you know. They worry. I told him it was probably all a mistake. We all know you wouldnt do anything out of line, ed. Out of line . What in heavens name are you talking . Some people came to look at my house. They were negroes. I havent done anything yet. Take it easy, ed. Im not tom elder, yet. If you want to sell your house, thats what im here for. Thats my business. But there are some things you just cant do. That sign, its a terrible thing. Its an open invitation to anybody. Youve been around here long enough to know we dont do things that way. Now, listen ive had a dozen people in here that would have taken your place. I didnt let them get as far as you. Ive got to consider the community. Youre leaving. Theres a lot of us who are going to be here for a long time. Now, take a tip from an old friend. Forget this whole thing and let me take care of your house. Out of line. Thats ted moats for you. You either see things his way or youre out of line. The moment those people showed up, i knew there was going to be talk, but what was i supposed to do . Slam the door in their face . Where is lori . She was here a minute ago. Shes outside playing with bobby. He has a new bike and he promised to give her a rise. Why not come, lori can go fishing with us. No, nothing dad, bob promised to put up the wallpaper weeks ago. This saturday that wallpaper goes up. Whos the boss around here anyway . I can help you with the wallpaper. We can get it done in a few hours with these two out of the way. Well ma mommy, my dress. Ma . Mommy. Never to be the same again. The first sign of the first family entering. The street responds with the old questions. Why do they go where theyre not wanted . Why in a neighborhood like this . Now the old cries, running the place down and values down, wanting our girls. Now images rise up. Riots at night, murder, rape, images of violation. Fears that lie deep in peoples lives, and a man stands suddenly alone. Did you hear about candy . Are you serious . Thats all weve been talking about at our house. Yeah, ours too. The way i see it, school is one thing. Sure, but when it comes to your home, your home is different. We have our rights, too. They cant force us to live with them. Just let them try to force this in my block. Well, nice to see you, mrs. Peterson. Nice to see you. They play, they play, and of course theyre all different. But what does it mean when one level is kept . One color, one group. What their grownups think of is one kind of people. Shutting out the rest. Even here playing. Are they cut off from part of life . Are they cut off from part of themselves and refusing to touch the variety, the richness, the texture of reality that is always there for us . These children, this place. If candy goes through with this, land values around here wont be worth a plug nickel. Do you know what he has provoked around here . Ive heard some young idiots thought they had to protect the honor of the community. Just what eds done, i dont know. If you want to hide your head, okay, but i cant. Ive had a steady stream of complaints since we opened this morning. Thats good, ted. Shows a fine spirit. That paint splashing was a real violation of this place. When i saw it this morning no, no, ralph. Complaints against candy. I see. Well, a flood, you say . From whom . Maybe i exaggerated. Tom elder, a very substantial elder. Anyone else . Miss wesser. Yes. Well, we both have known miss wesser for years. What did she say . It wasnt so much what she said. When youre dealing with complaints, its precisely that. Just what did miss wesser say . She said she couldnt stand their smell. Listen, ive got nothing against those people, but why go looking for trouble . Property values in this neighborhood will go to pot if we dont stop what candy is doing. Look, ted, im a practical man. You dont work for this bank very long unless you are. I have to talk to you from two positions. From my own, and from the banks, theyre not necessarily the same. We cant have people like tom elder and miss wesser throwing us into a panic. Land values dont have to go down. Not if the people in the Community Act like they believe in themselves. Here is an article reported in the new york times, which says that the official home appraisal finds that land values actually have gone up in this type of situation. Come on, now, ralph. You can do anything with figures. You know that. The important thing is we dont want anything like that to happen here. Ive got two daughters, you know. Whats the point, ted . I would like the bank to get word around that no, no, strike that out. I hope that you and the bank will reach a policy decision on real estate loans that will reassure the homeowners of this community. And the merchants. And the service companies. Thats quite a package. Look, ted, you know i dont make the decisions around here. Ill tell you what. Ill call downtown and see what they say. Well . If not on my side of the fence, at least sit on it, okay . Well see. It is hard to ks right and what is wrong, it is the most difficult thing we ever faced, not just ed and me but for lori and bob and my daughter, and all the friends we have made. After all, this is our community too. We leave something here. I was thinking about that very thing. Ive heard about what happened what i cant bear is, ed things i am so lovely, so full of morality. I looked at that little girl and all her sweetness and blackness and i thought just that. Just what . Black. That is what i thought, black like them. And everything i heard as a child came back to me. Dont go near, window going to sellers with one even who you know, you will be killed, lying in a ditch dead. Or worse. But that stain was black. They are not really black, are they . When i looked out of the window and that car drove up and he got out i thought, no, you know how i was brought up, narrow. Not evil but not much good, as a matter of fact, not much soul and no visible body. No poverty, just enormous blindness of very good material. So something in me went no. I was shocked at myself. Why would you say that was . Some shred of prejudice. And it spark of human feeling. Isnt that awful . To be ashamed by oneself . No. That first moment, i didnt want them to even look at the house. Then we got talking, and i began to like them. After all, it is a house they want and can afford. And then when i tried to clean lorries dress something happened. I wanted them to have the house. That is the first awful thing you have said, carol. But i want them to be like anybody else, have a house they want and can pay for. The reason, the fact it is your anger and resentment at what happened to lori, it is your hatred that wants them to live here. That is not a motive. Yes i see. How does the church stand, where do you stand . The church sees it as a challenge. We have a chance to affirm our deepest beliefs in the spirit, and the various innocent man and the unity of the spirit. Not all the church thinks this way. Not all, but enough of us. Take a look at this, a declaration of conscience, a statement a basic principles used as a focal point by people in the community who refuse to allow ignorance and fear and eight to wreck their neighborhood. This problem is the greatest challenge of the church has had to meet in a long time. It is not always easy meeting challenges, but this sort of thing can help us to meet our responsibility. It is a place to begin. What is the answer . Understand this is an informal statement, not to be taken as a statement of bank policy. It is concerned only with that aspect of the problem, if it is a problem, that affects us at the financial institution. This bank is in the business of making sound loans properly secured. Period. Sound loans. What does that mean . If this happens here, there wont be many loans worth making, and you know it. I think there will, and others in the Community Think so too. In my experience the question of whether a man paces deaths has nothing to do with the color of his skin or where he came from. What would happen in your opinion . This is a fact. The better element will leave and we will have a slum on our hands. Ted, i think that depends on us. All right, ralph. Now we know where we stand. You go ahead and talk about bank policy, but i will tell you one thing. When Something Like this gets started, you dont stop it. If anybody around here is going to sell any real estate, it is going to be ted. music one house, its neighbors, confusion of the street. They will try to keep it from flaring up, but each of them has fears that rage and threaten, threats that seem to come from outside. When you were a child, what was it . The jews, poles, the irish, italians, chinese . These fears are real. About their homes . Yes. Is there money threatened . They believe it is. Threat to their social standing . They think so. And the law is beginning to recognize it. You cant legislate that. You cant force tolerance by law. Of course you can. But this has nothing to do with tolerance, this has to do with practice. You can buy law prevent men from committing crimes against others, and in reality, crimes against themselves. Thats what laws are for. That is fine, but how are we going to keep this neighborhood good . We dont want undesirables. We dont want land values to take a nosedive. You know as much about land values as i do. They dont have to nosedive at all. This afternoon i waved and article on Property Values in teds face. This is what it had to say. It was a study from the university of california on nine San Francisco neighborhoods in which negroes had brought homes and bought homes since 1940. I suppose you are going to tell us Property Values went up . Exactly. Apparently there have been dozens of such studies go up and it indicates that Property Values go up, not down come over time. Now i have heard everything. I am a banker by profession. No heart very limited kind of head a mans home is his castle, that kind of imagination. Let me tell you something. A man is a desirable neighbor if he is financially all right and doesnt throw beer cans all over his front lawn. It has nothing whatever to do with the color of his skin or religion or where is parents come from. It has to do with the worth of a person. That is sound economics. Mr. Candy, you are a man of good judgment. Would you say these people are nice people . You are the first person that asked me that. Yes, they were nice people. Yeah andy, what are you trying to do to us . What grudge have you got going against this place anyway . If anybody is damaging this community, it is not ed candy. Im leaving. We are not getting anywhere. Nobody wants to do anything about it. Just a second, tom. What has happened here is happening in other places. It is always to somebodys advantage to stir things up. That is ted coming up the its not the whole real estate profession. Law whats happening here, it is about how people handle themselves. When they act like human beings, the value is as silver as a dollar. Thaad went up and down the street ringing doorbells and giving a sales talk. But ted has maybe 10 new commissions. Couldnt you walk up and down elm street and tell them . We might put out our own signs, Something Like we are not selling, we believe in our community. I dont know how we can be good neighbors. Even if the land values stay the same, the street is going to be different. Doesnt that depend on us . Did any of us choose each other as neighbors . We get along, but how long can we keep the door closed without locking ourselves in . What we must learn is key from poisoning ourselves with fear and barriers and ghettos. Negroe dont even ghettos anymore. Look at the housing projects in the city. They are not ghettos. Course they are, anywhere were human being is shot up or shut out because of their skin are ghettos. In a real sense of the word. I didnt think much about it then, but they are ghettos. Well mister candy, it is up to you alone whether the sale will be made. On wrong, ted. What i do isnt nearly as important as what you do. That is what this is all about tonight. He is right. We cant duck it. Eds decision is his own, but it is no longer important. It is about what we do that counts. This isnt about one man and his house, this is about us as a community and the white communities, and the white people, each in himself. Now it has been said, the community is engaged. As a move toward this beginning, there is a quickening of the pace. You can see it and these people as they face up to their problem. We need ourselves freed from our old slaverys and exclusions. We are fighting for a sense of community. In order to have that, we must look at what we have been excluding. We need ourselves in all our pride of differences. To look the old threat there brought us here. The way we meet differences as people, this can give us strength. The range, the variousness that we have, this is a source of power always when it is met well and used. This possibility is very great just now. It is whatever we feel undue and think and you and think when we go out of here and go home tonight. It is deep in what we have prepared to give, what we feel surely and the people around us, in ourselves. All the way home. music music the peak of the world war ii baby boom, red book magazine produced a 20 minute film in the suburbs increasing shows families with many children engaged and leisure activities at home and at a new hub now the film is a time capsule of middle class 1950 suburban america