Evening star., 1947-12-14
Newell Scores
Federal Report
On Civil Rights
Says 1t Contoins
False Statements
And HuIf-Truths

S6olSN ooSAOi oCIdp Ny
the Presidents Civil Rights Com.
mittee in its recent report.
Taking the Washington section
of the report, Mr.. Newell pointed
out what he considered false, mis-.
leading statements and half-truths.
The information about District
conditions must have been supplied
bys extremely biased and prejudicec
persons" Mr.. Newell said. He citec
these examples:
l. The report would have 1t be.
lieved that crowding of the coloree
people into certain areas was due
mainly to the real estate covenants
according to Mr.. Newell. To the
contrary, more than one-half o1
the presidential areas are without
covenants and daily more and more
colored people are moving into sec.
tions of the city never before occu.
pied by members of their race, he
said.
1T is usually true in all cities
that rental properties are in the less
desirable sections, but if they be-
come slums it is because the people
who live in them make them SO,
Mr.. Newell declared.
Real Estate Board Discussed.
The accusation of the report that
the Washington Real Estate Board
is an "all-white fraternity" which
protects so-called white areas from
invasion" The organization con-
sists of less than one fifth of the
people licensed to deal in real estate
he said.
There are plenty of colored real
estate brokers in the city, and
some white, who seem to be inter-
ested in selling only to colored peo-
pie" Mr.. Newell stated.
Mr.. Newell said there appeared
to be a concerted movement to
force colored people into white
areas. The procedure, he explained,
is for colored family to buy one
home in a block that is wholly
white, at a price far in excess of its
value, then the rest of the resi-
dents, thinking the block is going
colored,' will be forced to sell at
less than real value. $The white
home owner sells at a loss and the
colored buyers benefit by the scheme,
he said.
Competition Is Seen.
3. The report reference to the
superior economic position of the
whites" Mr.: Newell said that many
OF cur colored people appear to be
well supplied with money from some
source so they can ably compete
with white prospective buyers in the
purchase of real estate"
4. The report content is that the
District Bar Association Is confined
to white members. It Carefully"
fails to state that the National Bar
Association (colored lawyers group
has chapter in the city, Mr.. Newell
said.
5. AS for the District school sys-
tem,r Mr.. Newell denied that colored
schools were inferior to the white
schools as the report claimed He
blamed the rapid increase in popu-
lation during the war, as we'll as
the shift of the colored people to
certain sections of town, for the fact
that there is shortage of schools
in some parts of the District which
forces overcrowding. He claimed
this was so in white as we'll as COL
ored- schools. He pointed to at
tempts of the Board of Education to
remedy the situation by proposed
new buildings.
Segregation Discussed.
6. In the recreation field, Mr..
Newell argued that a greater pro-
portion of money had been spent
on colored Fairgrounds than on
white Fairgrounds. AS for the
charge by the report that the In
terror Department would not turn
over control of its swimming pools
here to the District Recreation De-
partment because the board prac-
ticed segregation, Mr.. Newell pointed
out that the Interior Department
also segregated its pools.
The reason the department op-
posed the transfer of the pools was
because of a contract which the
department had with the Govern
ment Services, Inc, he stated.
7. The report charged that the
Capital Transit Co. advertised for
workers hundreds of miles away
when manpower was short during
the war but refused to employ
colored operators. This statement
is absolutely untrue" Mr.. Newell
declared
The truth, he explained, is that
the company did employ colored
people to man the streetcars and
buses but for different reasons
none of these colored continued in
their jobs"
Both Races on Payroll.
g.. There are fully as many color
ed people as white people on the
payroll of the city, Mr.. Newell-con-
tinued. About one-third of all the
employed people in the city work
for the Federal Government, he
said, and many of these are colored.
8. The impression in the report
that residents of the District par
tlcularly those who are colored, are
n2s adequately cared for with respect
to their health" Mr.. Newell said
the need for hospitals is shared by
white and colored alike.
LAS Gallinger Hospital averages rs
per cent colored patients and
Freedmens Hospital is exclusively
for colored,. the SO called free hos
udtals are pretty well monopolized by
cpiored, he continued.
The reason zthe sickness rate is
higher among the colored people is
largely due to their own improper
care Of themselves" he said.
Jim Crow" Charge Hit.
$40. As for the reports charge that
81 Washington all transportation
Tito the South becomes Jim Crow
- Mr. Newell said 'colored passengers
@ our streetcars and buses may sit
-fns any car or bus, anywhere they
flease." There are good colored
iHnyie houses in the city in the So
Gsled downtown area: there are
excellent lodging houses and hotels
Saea operated by colored people for
ss$io,a<a y,nf.s,1o. fhora owe y,,r,,,; a