Evening star., 1949-05-24
SEGREGATION in Recreation

Segregation in Recreation
The Interior Department, under former
Secretary Harold Ickes, began to wipe out
segregated use of recreational areas under
its control In Washington as long ago
as 1910.
The color line previously dividing the
picnic areas in the parks was erased In
that year. In 194l the same elimination
was applied to the public golf courses,
tennis courts, baseball diamonds. etc..
located on Federal land.
Mr.. Ickes is reported to have cautioned
some of the Negro leaders with whom ne
conferred at the time to 60 slow in pressing
for unsegregated use of swimming pools,
locker room facilities and restaurants
operated by concessionaires on park prop
erty. However that may be, 1t Is only
within the past year or so that verbal
instructions have been passed on from the
Interior Department to the swimming pool
lessees, Government Services, Inc, to
eliminate segregation.
AS far as The Star has been able to
learn the experiment represented IN these
various steps has been unmarried by any
important racial incident. This may be
due in part, at least, to the admirable
conduct of colored citizens themselves who
have shown dignified forbearance in not
attempting to exploit conspicuously every
newly won privilege. The so-called grad
ualist approach, at any rate, seems TO
have worked very we'll.
~ ,aynft
on the Recreation Board, to which the
President seems to have added his own
pressure on the Commissioners, Is an un-
wise attempt to .force something too far
and too fast. TIE Interior Department is
seeking to compel the Recreation Board,
under duress and threat to eliminate all
segregation in the strictly local recrea-
tional activities coming under the boards
jurisdiction. One Of its threats Is TO tHke
away from Recreation Board administra-
ton every activity that is conducted on
land technically under Interior Depart
ment control.
It should be remembered that the Recre-
alton Board is dealing, in several parts
of the city, with variety OF highly
localized situations. It voluntarily has
initiated an experiment In removing segre-
CATION in two playground areas, under
considered policies and special guidance.
It is preparing to end the ban against
sfter-hour use of school buildings by
racially mixed groups. The board members
naturally are responsive to local sentiment.
They are closer to neighborhood conditions
than is the Interior Department.
1t is one thing to wipe out segregation
on the golf courses, tennis courts, baseball
diamonds and picnic areas by making
them available on first-come, first-served
basis to the adults and older youths who
seek the permits. 1t is something else
again to demand immediate removal, at
once and under pressure of threats, OF the
color designations and use of neighbor-
hood Fairgrounds contiguous to the
schools of a dual school system. And it
is something else again arbitrarily to wipe
out the color lines in day camps and
summer welfare camps for children that
may be operated on Federally owned land.
The argument is sometimes heard, In
this connection that until the children
are taught to forget segregation we shall
have no substantial progress in its elm
1CIAdpo ~ 40 hAoAV AS~AAcsAS w
admit that the real problem concerns the
parents, rather than the children. They
are the ones to be won over. For the
steps in this direction that count are
those which tend to break down. by
practical demonstration and experience.
the prejudices of the parents who influence
the children.
The Recreation Board may not have
moved as rapidly as some would have
wished it to move in treating the various
ramihcations of its own dilemma. But 1t
is much simpler to deal with this question
by generalizations on abstract principles
than to meet 1t on the street corners.
And for q department of the National
Government to press It's crusade, with all
of the obvious political implications, to the
point of laying down administrative rules
for a local board, responsible for working
out community recreation patterns. is an
unwarranted, improper and hazardous
assumption Of authority.
A Productive Visit