St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1950-03-03

One group says we should have
a "leavening OF religions as well
as races" Others say we should
waive" the veterans preference,
required by law, in order to
avoid a monotony of relatively
young families in a development"
Some who preach non-discrimina-
talon urge US to check on a per-
sons race before assignment TO a
particular project in a particular
section of the city, 50 that a
proper distribution" can be made.
TO these critics our director OF
management answers: There is
only one way to carry out our
policy of non-discrimination and
that is not to discriminate" It's
as simple as that.
Children play big part in weld
ing the white and Negro families
together. One is reminded of the
South Pacific" lyric, You've Got
TO Be Taught to Hate" A lot OF
the business of living centers a
round care, schooling and play of
the children. The attitude of chill
dren toward their neighbor chill
dren is carried into the home of
the parents. Our chief of COM
munity activities finds that the
2-to-5-year-Olds seem completely
unaware of adult racial prejudices,
though they notice and point out
the fact that You're black" or
You're white"
She tells the story of two A.
year-Old girls, one Negro and one
white, in a pre-school center, who
were fast friends. One day they
mad a fight which ended with each
child screaming at the other. The
next day the white girl came in
with a bag of candy and told her
friend of the day before that she
couldn't have any because she was
black" She then gave candy to
all the other children, Negro and
white, and said to the Negro
teacher, "Of course, you'll have to
get some because love you"
Three years ago a staff writer
from a national magazine made
an investigation of Kingsborough
Houses with the aim of debunking
news story reporting on how
well the Negroes and whites lived
together. After interviewing many
people he finally found a white
tenant with a bitter complaint
about her Negro neighbor. She
delivered a long Grafton, relating
in all its details a housewives
argument over a borrowed tray of
ice cubes, and ended with, And
1t makes my blood boil when l
think of the soup l used to make
for that women when she was
sick"
How do the tenants feel about
non-segregated housing? A vet
cran of World War ii, now a
policeman, summed it up this
way: Well, l was sort of worried
when 1 came to Amsterdam, but,
you know, I've learned a lot. They
are just like the whites. When
people are decent their color
doesn't count" Or, as the mana
ger of Amsterdam Houses reports,
if some trace of prejudice remains
they may say The Negroes in
the project are o. X; it's the ones
across the street that we don't
like"
The effect of housing projects
on neighborhods has been gener-
ally good. There has been no
tendency for neighborhood people
to move away because of the pro-
jects. The projects are well built
and are well maintained. Business
in the neighborhood improves.
With rare exceptions the tenants
are good neighbors.
Just how far has non-dis-
elimination gone and what does it
mean? 1t would not be right to
claim too much.
All white families in public
housing have not Immediately be-
come friends of the Negro race,
nor is the reverse true. Conditions
vary between projects; in general,
the older the projects and the
longer families live together the
better friends and neighbors they
become.
The effects of non-segregation
are largely limited to the families
within the project boundries, al
though as far as the commerce Of
the neighborhood is concerned,
Negro families are generally well
come.
Racial intermarriage is not in
volved, nor are the problems Of
discrimination in employment,
places Of amusement, hotels and
in other activities. Human nature
has not changed and some strife
between persons of the same race
or of different races will continue
as before.
Within the projects, the results
have been solid and enduring. In
the business Of raising families, of
nhf1Ara, "A