The Omaha guide., 1947-01-25
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GUEST
Column
lIMcROW HOUSING STARTS
IN WALL STREET
BY Canaoa Lee
Edited by vERNA p. HARRis)

Star Of Stage and Screen
In "On Whitman Avenue"
played the part of a Negro un-
able to find living quarters in an
overcrowded ghetto and yet bar
red from living in a white section.
lt IS a part which each Negro in
the United States is compelled to
play for his entire life.
The play describes how jimcrow
housing is enforced on a typical
street of a typical midwestern
town by~a typical real estate oper-
ator. Actually the Hitler style
housing pattern, which is also ap.
Piled to OrientalsAand to lesser
degree to Jews and persons with
1oreign-sounding names-does not
originate on III Whitman Ave
nues. 1t is not inspired by the
small landlord or agent who fol
lows the pattern because he fears
the economic consequences of
breaking away from it. The policy
OF racial segregation in housing is
dlctated from above by the ma.
TONS biggest banks and insurance
companies, who are the bigtime
real estate operators.
l recently had the opportunity
OF publicizing this fact by picket
ing the Mortgage Conference of
Greater New York. located in the
heart of the Wall Street financial
district. The Mortgage Conference.
the Savings Bank Trust Co. of
New York through which it oper-
ates, and its 81 member banks
and insurance companies, repre-
senting the most powerful inter
ests in the country, have been
charged by the United States De-
partment of Justice with conspir-
acy to control mortgage lending
in violation of the antitrust laws.
One section of the federal com
plant charged that the defend
ants prepared, published. kept
current and distributed maps Of
each section of New York City
showing blocks in which Negroes
and Spanish-speaking persons re-
sided; refrained from making
mortgage loans on properties in
such blocks, and induced owners of
real estate in certain section Of
New York City to refuse to per-
Negroes and Spanish-speaking
persons to move into such Sec
tons"
Whether or not the Justice De-
partment obtains a conviction. the
has at least served to make public
the names of the banks and in
surance companies which enforce
jimcrOw housing in our biggest
city. They include the National
City Bank, Chase National Bank.
Life Insurance Co. and
Guardian Life Insurance Co. 1t is
similar big monied interests which
enforce the same pattern from
coast to coast.
Another indication of how i'm
crow housing is backed by these
big interests as a recent United
States Chamber of Commerce
pamphlet which singled out ION
Whitman Avenue for attack. Cit
ing a story I wrote in the New
York Times about our successful
promotion of the play, the Cham
Der of Commerce objected that
THE promoters turned to unortho-
dox channels" appealing to union
weeklies. the press serving minor
ity groups and to scores of organi-
cations of every type"
In fighting for rights of racial
minorities these "unorthodox chan
nels' r usually the only ones
open. An example was our Mort
gage Conference picketing. A pic
ket line in Wall Street is certainly
unusual enough to be news-and
particularly one directed against
jimcrow housing. Yet no New York
dailies carried a story about the
demonstration. even though they
covered it. Only the Negro papers
gave it publicity