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MEDFOHD MAIL TRIBUNE, MEDFORD, OREGON THURSDAY. MAY 30, 1963 g j
omats Join Residents in Awaiting Action on Racial Bias
By JOHN PIERSON
United Preii International
Washington -"tPD- Hundreds
of African diplomats and
thousands of Washington Ne
groes are waiting to see what
will come of the latest assault
on racial bias in the nation's '
capital.
This time the attack has
been mounted against hous
ing bias which has caused
deep embarrassment to Presi
dent Kennedy and the state
department in relations with
many African nations.
The three commissioners of
Ihe District of Columbia, who
comprise the executive
branch of the local govern
ment, have decided the time
has come for a ban on racial
discrimination in housing.
But since Congress, which in
effect is Washington's city
council, has final legislative
authority, the commissioners
have deferred their ban to
gave Congress itself time to
act. '
But Congress, divided as it
is between liberals and south
ern conservatives, may not be
able to lake any action. In
that case, the ball will be
back with the commissioners,
who can be expected to run
with it, but possibly at their
own peril.
That is because the House
district committee, which is
dominated by southerners,
has already indicated how
little it likes the proposed
ban. And the committee, with
life-an-death power over dis
trict legislation, can make
things uncomfortable for the
commissioners, who must
come to it each year for
ev;ry kind of favor.
So a battle is shaping up.
And among the most inter
ested spectators is the state
department, which feels, in
the words of one of its offi
cials, thai the United States
''cannot conduct effective for
eign relations when, on the
basis of color alone, represen
tatives of other nations, along
with our own citizens, arc
dened suitable housing in
Washington.
Sentiment for the ban built
up last spring when the U.S.
commission on civil rights
held hearings. The commis
sion heard 40 witnesses, in
cluding four from the depart
ment of slate.
Pedro A. Sajnuan, the de
partment's assistant chief of
protocol, reported on a can
vass made in 1961 of 211 lux
ury apartments in northwest
Washington. Only eight
would accept African diplo
mats as tenanls. A year later,
Associate Professor
Named al University
Eugene - Dr. Stuart Rich,
assistant professor in the Har
vard Graduate School of Busi
ness Administration, has been
appointed an associate pro
fessor of marketing in the
School of Business Adminis
tration at the University of
Oregon.
The appointment, which is
effective Sept. 1, is subject
to confirmation by the state
ooard of higher education.
Rich, a graduate of Wabash
college, received his doctor
of business administration de
gree from Harvard university
In lOfil). He is a member of
Phi Beta Kappa, national
scholastic honorary.
What Nou for
Dr. Sam Shcppard ?
If 1
XVJ., : m!". JVyf
fi-'F V f
Htm
This famous convict
icenied likely to win
parole until a beautiful
blonde fell in love with
him; now people ask
again: is he a victim of
fale or his own emotions?
lawyer-reporter Paul Holmes
tries to onswer in the
JUNE 2ND
Weekend Issue of
Weekly
v,i1h your COP 0 te
MEDFORD
MAIL TRIBUNE
a second survey showed even
more resistance.
This sort of discrimina lion
the department felt, is a lam
ful thorn in the side ot Unit
ed States foreign relations.
One African ambassador,
after having a door sUmpui
in his face and being tuld
"We don't take any Negroes "
informed the department that
he felt his time in Washing
ton was going to be ''com
pletely wasted."
When the hearings were
over, the civil rights commis
sion recommended th-it the
district commissioners issue a
regulation prohibiting racial
discrimination in sale, rental
or financing of housing.
The commissioners asked
their legal department wheth
er they had such authority.
The corporation counsel ad
vised they did under an 1892
Congressional resolution
which authorized them to
pass regulations to protect
the "lives, limbs, health, com
fort and quiet' of District
residents as well as their
propeny.
But In oider to enforce a
ban, the council pointed out.
the commissioners would
have to find that housing bias
threatened lives, limbs, a ad
so forth.
Last fall the commissioners
held their own hearings and
directed their staff to do a
statistical study of housing.
As a result, late in March, the
commissioners found not only
what the civil rights commis
sion had found the previc-us
spring namely, that there is
widespread discrimination in
housing but also that this
discrimination hurts.
Negroes Pay More
It hurts, the commissioners
found, because Negroes are
forced to pay more for poorer
housing ihan whiles. It hints
because whites see their ornn
erty values fall under Negro
block-busting practices.
Finally, the commissioners
found that housing bias hurts
because it fosters ghettos and
ghettos lead to slums. And
slums, in turn, promote illegi
timacy, lack of prenatal care,
infant mortality, tuberculosis,
juvenile delinquency and ven
ereal disease.
The commissioners con
cluded that they had author
ity to issue a ban. They would
have done so had not Con
gress been about to begin
hearings on the subject.
At the hearings March 28,
commission president Waller
N. Tobriner made it plain
that he and his colleagues
would not hold off forever. If
Congress docs not "occupy
the field," he said. "We would
expect to go forward with the
regulations'
To "occup y the field,"
Tobriner explained. "Con
gress could either pass its
own ban on housing discrimi
nation or could pass a law
forbidding the commissioners
to impose their ban. Congres
sional failure to act, he said,
"would really be a sanction
for ih commissioners to go
ahead."
Ban Extensive
The proposed ban would
extend to all forms of hous
ing, public and private, and
would cover all transactions,
including sale, lease, rental
and finance. It would prohib
it discrimination by owners,
real estate agents and bank
ers. H would even forbid
newspapers to mention race
in their want ads.
There would he two excep
tions. The owner of a two
family house, if ho lived in
half of it, could still discrimi
nate in his choice of a tenant
for the other half. .So coi:ld
someone who rented out an
apartment or a room in his
own one-family house.
In coverage, then, the com
missioners' ban would be as
strict as the one Gov. Nelson
A. Rockefeller last month
signed into law in New York
State. It would resemble the
anti-bias statutes of in other
states and New York City.
Members of the hou-e uli
committee wasted no lirno in
saying what they thought of
t ho commissioners' proposa'.
Rep. John L. 'AkMillj.t,
(D-S.C). chairman of thP full
committee, said: 'Wo feci this
proposed regulation is going
too far in connection with pri
vate property '
Rep. Joel T. Brovhil! (R
Va.) said fiat in his year. ar
a real c.aate man he had
found many persons vh.
while having no racial preju
dice, just had "their own p
culianty and reason for want
ing to sell to some persons
and not to others."
Accuies Officials
Rep John Bell Williams,
D-Mi&s.), suggested that the
National Association for the
Advancement of Colored Peo
ple was behind the proposed
ban. William called the com
misj ioner" Tport a ' propa
ganda document." Me charged
district nificals with living in
all-white neighborhoods and
thus failing to practice what
they preach.
"But you want tn force
every one else into a mixed
neighborhood. " Willmms said
Can you deny that??"
Rep B;isil L, Whitencr, (D
N C ). chairman nf the sub-
committee, has promised more
hearings on the bill, which
has now been introduced by
Rep. Abraham J. Multer. (D
;N.Y.) but after the March 28
(session, it seems unlikely the
district committee will re
port a bill of the sort the com
missioners propose.
As Tobriner pointed out.
however. Congress might act
l by forbidding the commission
i ers to act. But the chance of
'this seems equally slim. A
1 number of liberal senators
j and representatives say they
would oppose the move.
This group includes Sens.
Wayne Morse, (D-Ore.), Ja
cob K. Javits, (R-N.Y.), and
Joseph S. Clark, iD-PA ), and
Rept. Henty S Reuss, (D-Wis.),
Edith Green, (D-Ore.) and
Frank Thompson, (D-N J ).
Morse, a member of the
senate district committee,
summed up the mood of the
liberals when he said he
would "strongly and vigor
ously" fight an attempt by
Congress to keep the com
missioners from acting. Ja
' vits urged the commissioners
1 not to wait for Congress but
to go ahead with their ban
j Kennedy Firm
1 Moreover, a bill forbidding
the commissioners to act
' would face a presidential
I veto. President Kennedy has
made it plain that he wants
an end to housing discrimin
ation in Washington and
elsewhere.
There is a third way Con-
j gross might act. Those who
regard the commissioners' pro-
posa! as extreme might upon
j sor an innocuous measure "to
occupy the field" for Con
gress and thus effectively ex
clude the commissioners.
But this. too. seems unlike- j
ly to happen. First, no matter
how innocuous the measure.
Southern congressmen might
have difficulty explaining to
their constituents why they
voted for any civil rights
measure. Second, the South
erners on the district com
mittee would be reluctant to
report out even a bland bill
which, once on the floor,
would be subject to amend
ment by the liberals.
Thus the outlook is for
no action by Congress. The
next question: How long will
the district commissioners
wait before proceeding to en
act their ban?
Tobriner said they will give
Congress "a reasonable op
portunity' to consider a bill.
This might mean that if Con
gress fails to act, the com
missioners will- move next
winter, after the current ses
sion is recessed. But when
ever they move, it probably
will be with some apprehen
sion about how the house
district committee will react.
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