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Edward KocheEdward Koche
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Session:         Page of 617

without fear of being mugged.” (laughs)

But the thrust of what he was saying was: “It's over.” The whites had lost the battle, were leaving the city, and I couldn't change that and I was simply by even talking about it engaging in racism. I don't accept that, by the way. We've talked about it. I happen to believe that the middle class blacks react the same way as middle class whites, and it has to do with life style, and they do not want -- whether they're black or white -- ...

NEW TAPE

Koch:

And so it's a question of life style.

Now, I think it may even be helpful for me at this point to discuss my feelings about racial balance in the schools to a greater extent.

Q:

You've gone into that to some degree.

Koch:

But I'm actually going to propose something. I'm working on some legislation now. I am going to propose that we have a commission which will report in a year or less to the Congress on what racial balance (and that euphemism today is bussing but it's racial balance that we're talking about, compulsory racial balance, that without regard to whether children live in a particular area, you will make certain that every school has in it racial balance. You'll bring in the blacks or you'll bring in the whites,





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