The Detroit tribune. (Detroit, Mich.) 1935-1966, 1947-01-11

er must accept whatever terms
he can get in this protected and
artificial sellers market hard
~ need cite statistics on an.
thorities to convince YOU that
poor housing is the rule in Ne
gro communities To quote Gun
mar Myrdal the correlation be-
tween poor housing. on the one
hand. and tuberculosis. venercal
disease, prostitution. juvenile de-
inquencv. and crime on the 9th
or hand. has been demonstrated
so often BY American experts
that we do not have to add
anything TO the evidence.
You know the story Of what
is happening in Chicago because
ii has been so we'll told by St.
IClair Drake and Horace r. Cav
ton in Black Metropolis. The tale
OF other cities is equally sordid.
differing only in degree never
in kind, from the Chicago story.
The Presidents Conference on
Home Building summed il all up
when II pointed out a few years
ago that Segregation has
kept the Negro-occupied sections
OF cities throughout the coun-
try fatally unwholesome places,
a menace 70 the health. morals,
and general decency Of cities;
and plague spots for race ex-
ploitations, friction and riots
Cause Confused With Effect
Because men are rational be-
ingS. they must ever seek rea-
sons. comforting reasons, for
their actions. no matter what
real motive impelled these ac-
tions. Residential segregation
has been rationalized. and IN
the process, cause has been con-
fused with effect. Overcrowdine
means overuse and overuse &C
CELEBRATES property depreciation
SEGREGATED communities are
poorly policed communiues and
poor policing is reflected IN
crime statistics; in d gu a tie
home life pushes kids out into
the street for play and recrea-
ton. Lack Of supervision results
in increasing juvenile delln-
ouency: doubling up and Trip
ling up in dwellings breed and
aid the spread Of disease; health
suffers all these things and
MANY more arc the effects oil
segregation. And then men, 9TH
erwise fairminded men, pore
over these figures and ration
alize them: and blinded by pre-
vailing prejudices, assign them
as the causes Of and the rea'
sons why they support reslden-
tial segregation.
II there were no other con
siderations involved than these
social ills. bred and nurtured
by residential segregation on the
basis Of race. all Americans
out OF simple self-lnterest-
ought TO oppose racial restrictive
covenants because in the long
run their cost. although a pr.
mary burden on the prescribed
group. is borne by the entire
community involved; the profit
accrues only to selfish real eS-
tate interests. But racial restric-
tive covenants inflict an even
deeper wound on the body oil
democracy: they are repugnant'
deeply repugnant, to the equaii-
tartan principles embodied IN
the Declaration OF lndepen-
dence: they violate the spirit
and | am sure the lctter-of the
Constitution. They make mock
cry of Americas pledge under
the Act Of Chapultepec TO pre-
vent with all means in our pow
er all that may provoke dis
elimination among individuals
because Of racial or religious
reasons" Finally, the enforce
ment OF covenants i'll accords
with our promise made TO other
nations when we signed the
Charter Of the United Nations,
affirming our faith N funda-