Evening star., 1947-11-20
Brief Asks High Court
To Outlaw Covenant
Ban on Co|ored Buyers

The Supreme Court today was
asked to outlaw land contracts
here aimed at preventing the free
sale of property to colored persons,
in a brief that condemned "racism'
as nullifying World War II victories
This is preparatory to oral argu-
ments on the subject before the
court on December 8, in which the
legality Of restrictive covenants will
be threshed out.
The brief denied there would be
immediate widespread property
changes if the ban were lifted.
Opponents of the covenants filed
l49-page brief, setting forth legal
arguments why a sUnited States
Court of Appeals decision, uphold
ing the covenants, should be over
turned.
Sees "GhettOes" Lingering.
"a basic aim of the United States
and the Allied nations in World
War II was the defeat of the same
principle of raciSm which underlies
the racial restrictive covenant in
this case" said the brief. ITO up
hold this racial restrictive covenant
would nullify the victories won by
the United States and the Allied
nations at such great cost in that
war and deliberately ignore the
tensions and misery which the
exaltation of racism has imposed
on the entire world"
Elsewhere, the brief said: 1.-THE
unfortunate truth is that Negro
ghettos will not disappear over
night If judicial enforcement of re-
strictive covenants is denied. The
fringe and vulnerable areas on the
fringe will be Immediately affected
but the general characteristics of
the city's residential districts will
show no perceptible immediate
change. Nobody will be forced to
sell, and the buyer must still be
ready, able and willing to buy. All
that elimination of restrictive cov-
enantS will do is to remove an in
tolerable, artificial restrictive bar
rier and permit the funcLioning of
the economic and social forces
which affect and control city
growth"
The brief covers two cases involv-
| ing property in the 100 block of
Bryant street NV. Raphael G.
| Urciolo, a white real estate operator
sold three covenanted lots there to
colored buyers. Around the same
time, Mr.. and Mrs. Francis x. Ryan
sold another covenanted lot to
James M. Hurd, listed as Mohawk
Indian. Mr.. Urciolo appears on the
Supreme Court brief in his own be-
half, while the other petitioners are
represented by Attorneys Charles H
Houston, Phineas Indriz and Spots
wood w. Robinson III.
Sales Declared Illegal.
White property owners in the
Bryant street area asked the lower
tribunal to declare illegal the sales
| involved in the covenants. This the
Appeals Court did in a tWo-to-one
decision, which upheld District
| Court
| The court was asked in the brief
to rule whether land sale restric-
ton based solely on the race or
creed of the buyer" violates the
Fifth Amendment, is contrary to
established law, violates the United
Nations Charter and is contrary to
United States public policy.
The brief pointed out the re-
strictive covenant system has
"drastically curtailed the ability OF
Negroes to secure adequate housing
and has hemmed them into slums
and ghettoes." 1t declared resultant
overcrowding has caused Sub
stantial increases in disease, death,
crime, immortality, juvenile delin-
quency, racial tensions and economic
| exploitation from artiflcially in
f1ated rental and housing costs"
In addition to this brief, the Con-
gress of Industrial Organizations Of
fered another brief in the cases as
"a friend of the court" in which 1t
said thousands of it's colored men,
bers incurred unbelievable hard