Evening star., 1947-10-29

: VI 1SIlV@IOSy
highways, parks and public build
ings have often played an unfor-
tunate role In roofing out Negro
neighborhoods. There has been a
commendable desire to- beautify the
City of Washington. But there has
been little concern for the fate OF
persons displaced by Identification
projects.
The superior economic position of
whites also contributes to the
shrinkage of Negro neighborhoods.
In areas like Georgetown and the
old fort sites, white residents and
realtors have been buying up Negro
properties and converting them to
choice residential use. Only oc-
casionally does this process work in
reverse: In deteriorating areas white
owners can sometimes get higher
prices from Negros. who have little
from which to choose, than they can
from white buyers.
The chief weapon in the effort to
keep Negroes from moving out of
overcrowded quarters into white
neighborhoods is the restrictive
covenant. New building sites and
many older areas are now cove
nanted. Some covenants exclude all
nonmembers of the Caucasian race:
others bar only Negroes, or Negroes
and members of Semitic races" !"
Even where covenants do not pre-
vail, the powerful local real estate
fraternity protects white areas from
invasion" The all-white WASH
lngton Real Estate Board has a
code of ethics" which prohibits its
members from selling land in pre-
dominantly white areas to Negroes,
and the realtors are supported in
this practice by nonmember dealers,
banks and loan companies. Two
of the city's newspapers will not &C
cept ads offering property in white
areas for sale to Negroes. Because
the policy of the National Capital
Housing Authority is to follow the
community pattern" all public
housing projects are completely
segregated and housing for Negroes
is built only in established Negro
neighborhoods. The Authority has
spent most of its funds for perma-
nent housing to build homes for
Negroes, but its appropriations have
been limited.
Housing conditions are poor for
Washington residents in general,
but, largely because of the pressures
just described, they are much worse
for Negroes. According to a recent
Board of Trade report on city plan
ming, 70 per cent of the inhabitants
of the city's three worst slum areas
are Negroes The largest single slum
in the District houses about per
cent of the white and 80 per cent
of the Negro population. In 1910,
one-eighth of the white dwellings in
Washington and 40 per cent of those
occupied by Negroes were substand-
ard; Is per cent of white-occupied
and SO per cent of Negro-occupied
dwellings had more than one per-
son per room.
Discrimination in Employment.
More than one-third of the Jobs
in Washington are with the Federal
Government Therefore, discrimi-
natory practices of Government
agencies, which have already been
discussed, are important to District
Negroes. The District. government
itself has only a small proportion Of
Negro employees, and most of these
are confined to unskilled and menial
jobs Partial exceptions to this are
the Metropolitan Police the segre-
gated fire service md the schooiesys-
tenn with its segregated stall. A
ranking District ohfriai during the
war told an Interviewer: Negroes
in the District of Columbia have no
right to ask for jobs on the basis of
merit" the standardization being
that whites own most of the prop
erty and pay the bulk of municipal
taxes.
Negroes are confined to the lowest
paid ana least-skilled jobs in private
employment. In 1910, three-fourths
of all Negro workers in Washington
were domestics, service workers or
laborers, while only one-eighth of
the white workers held jobs of that
type. At the other end of the scale,
only one-eighth of all Negro work.
ers were clerks, statesmen, managers,
proprietors or professionals, while
two-thirds of the white workers
were in jobs of this kind. There are
similar striking racial differences in
average income and length of work.
week
Il A few examples will illustrate the
part discrimination has played in
causing these differences. During
the war, Washington's public trans
portation system begged down badly
for lack of qualified streetcar and
bus operators. The Capital Transit
Co. advertised for workers hundreds
Of miles away and even recruited
Government employees on part
time basis. In spite of this, the
company would not employ qualified
Negroes as operators. In building
construction, one of Washington's S
Largest industries, the various build
ing trade unions discriminate
against colored craftsmen. They
are either excluded completely, al
lowed to work only on projects to be
occupied by Negroes, admitted only
as helpers to white journeymen or
not allowed to become apprentices.
The numerous large white hotels
employ Negroes only in such capaci-
ties as chambermaids, busboys, wait
ers and coal stokers. There are no
colored salespeople in the large de-
partment stores. In laundries and
cleaning plants where wages are low
Ind hours long, most of the workers
are colored, but supervisors are
white; where whites and Negroes
perform the same work, there is a
wage differential of from 20 to 30
per cent. The District. Bar Associ-
alton and the Medical Society are
for whites only -
Discrimination in Health Services.
The greatest inequalities are evi-
dent in Washington's concern for
the health of its residents. Freed
mems Hospital, Federally supported
and affiliated with Howard Univer-
sity, is for Negroes only, and three
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