St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1945-02-16
Inter-racial Panel
Discusses Race
Attitudes inst. Paul

Many problems faced by minority
groups in st. Paul were discussed
by a panel of four persons last Sun
day at the St. Paul Y. W. C. A. in
observance of Race Relations Day.
''The Town We Live In" was the
practical subject of the race rela-
lions forum, planned as commu-
nifty project by several organiza-
lions including the Halle Q. Brown
Community House, the st. Paul
Urban League, st. Paul Council of
Human Relations, the international
Institute and the Y. W. C. A. APP
proximately four hundred people of
various racial and national back
grounds, including Jews, Negroes,
and Japanese-Americans, attended
the meeting.
Must Prevent Another War
Prevention of World War 8 is de-
pendent upon recognition and I'M
derstanding Of minority problems
in small communities, in the United
States and the world, declared DR..
Wallace Robbins, president of the
Meadville Theological Seminary,
Chicago, who was the moderator of
the panel.
Mrs. Alverta Coram mentioned
several specific illustrations of race
prejudice in st. Paul and Mime
sofa. She said that advertisements
designating "houses for rent or sale
for colored people" we're appearing
in the local dailies. This she charged
is a real indication of segregation
and discrimination. Mrs. Coram
told about the "vicious circle" in
which Negroes find themselves in
st. Paul today, that of being able
to rent or buy old and in many cases
dilapidated houses at high prices in
certain districts of the city only.
Restrictive covenants prevent Ne
groes from living in some districts
in st. Paul.
Selfish Business Methods
Mrs. Helen Parker Mudgett, as
sistant professor of economic his
tory at the University of Mime
sofa, said that selfish business mo-
tives are partly responsible for the
segregation of Negro residential
districts. Realtors refuse to rent
homes in many districts to Negroes,
forcing them to congregate in one
area where they pay regular rem
tails for homes of poor quality on
which there is a low tax rate, the
speaker asserted.
Discrimination Rife in
Rochester
Mrs. Coram mentioned the fact
that in the city of Rochester, where
there are many clinics including the
famous Mayo brothers, that Negro
patients or prospective patients
could not secure accommodations in
the hotels in Rochester. There are
eating places and hotels in st. Paul
that refuse to serve or accommo-
date Negroes, despite the fact that
it is against the so-called Equal
Rights" law of the state to discrimi-
nate against any person on the &C.
count of race, color, religion or ma
tional origin.
Hospitals Unfair
Mrs. Coram brought out the fact
that in some hospitals in st. Paul
Negroes are given preference
in the matter of securing private
rooms in order to keep them out of
wards with other patients. Some
one in the audience raised the ques-
ton as to whether it would be bet
ter to send a Negro to a place where
he or she is sure to be employed at
an inferior job or to some place
, where there is likelihood Of being
refused. The answer from the panel
was that prospective employees
should be sent wherever they can
serve best, regardless of race.
The entire panel agreed that
there can be no lasting peace unless