St. Paul recorder., 1963-05-09

prove that where Negroes live i
But last week, the staff d
Commission cited official FBI
statistics to refute the general i'm
preston that the District has the
highest crime rate among the
major cities of the nation.
Berl I. Bernhard used the statis-
tics - taken from a March 4 FBI
report - in a speech delivered at
Wakefield High School in Airing
ton.
He did not minimize the Dis
trict's crime problem, but sought
to put it in its proper national
perspective.
His speech was aimed at the pit
falls Of slogans and shibgoleths
that many people accept without
question. American youth must
avoid them when seeking solutions
to everyday problems, he urged.
you've heard that the Districts
crime rate is the highest in the
nation and the rate continues to
soar" Bernhard said.
Here we have two untrue as
sumptions that have been taken as
gospel by people who don't bother
to question the source Of their in
formation" he argued.
Instead of being first he
noted, Washington actually
ranks thirteenth among Amer
ica's rs largest cities in the
number of crimes per population
thousand, according to FBI Uni
form Crime Reporting Stats
tics"
Bernhard said further that "com-
pared to a national crime increase
of 7 per cent for the calendar year
1862 over the year 1861, the crime
rate in Washington increased only
40 per cent"
The FBI report also shows, he
continued, that in murder, nom
negligent manslaughter, Atlanta is
first with a 1876 per- cent increase
over 1861, and Washington is
fourth, with an increase of 3.4 per
cent"
In fOrcibIe rape, Chicago is
first, and Washington 18th, with
an 18 per cent decrease, he said.
In robbery, he said, Chicago is
first again, and Washington sixth
with a 1876 per cent increase;
burglary breaking or entering
Los Angeles is first with a 64 per
cent increase, and Washington is
18th, with "a per cent increase"
Bernhard also pointed out that
in larceny involving $50 or more,
LOS Angeles is first with a 6.5
per cent increase, and Washington
is 18th with an 80 per cent in
crease, and auto theft, Chicago is
first, and Washington Is 14th, with
a 5 per cent increase"
"Only in aggravated assault is
Washington first, with an increase
of 1T per cent" he quoted. How
ever, aggravated assaults increased
in Los Angeles 2.6 per cent, in
Houston 1923 per cent and in st.
Louis, 99.9 per cent"
Another shibbOIeth he pointed
out was that Negroes comprise
more than "a per cent Of the
District population because
their birth rate Is so fantastic
ally high"
This is misleading, Bernhard
asserted. Social studies have es-
tablished that fertility ratio of Ne
groes living in the District is
about equal to that of white per-
sons living in suburban Washing
ton, where most white families
with children live"
Moreover, while the Negro
population Of the District is over
"a per cent" he added, "for the
metropolitan area as a whole, it
Is "a per cent - about the same
as it was in the time Of Abraham
Lincoln"
Bernhard also attacked as
swptiOns that school deSegrega-
ton Is proceeding rapidly in the
South and that Negroes don't
want to assume civic obligations
such as voting.
Less than 8 per cent of the Ne
gro children in the South attend
desegregated schools, he said, and
after a court action was concluded
in one Alabama county in 1861,
the registration Of Negroes tripled.