Indianapolis Recorder, Indianapolis, Marion County, 7 July 1945 — Page 3
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SATURDAY. JULY 7, 1945
MENTION THE INDIANAPOLIS RECORDER WHEN ANSWERING ADS
First Section—PAGE THREE
To Buy A Home
By CHARLES S. PRESTON ^
III. RESTRICTIVE COVENANTS How can it be that persons who ‘No dogs, no Chinese.” - • 'possess the* pigment melanin in I remember reading years ago their skin are subjected to these that these fpitr blunt words, let-,truly cannibalistic practices in ourtered on signs, were prominently “democratic” America— the ‘ land displayed in parks in the British- of the t'r'ee”? What kind of human American quarter of Shanghai, beings are these real estate agents China’s greatest city. and property owners and govern-
The words have stuck in my mind fcver since as a vivid expression of that side of our civilization -which can only' be described as horrible. And as it turned out, the four blunt "words are being paid for by the blood, not only of Chinese, but also of British and Americans. A strong and independent China would have wiped the Japanese /imperialists Orff the map in short order; a China weakened by Western dominatfon has barely been able to* keep its armies in the field. And British American boys are dying because
of- it. r
It is not necessary to go to China, however, to discover the
system
oi ^
ating wits all its horrors; and that brings us to the question of racial restrictive covenants—the subject Q| the third series of articles, ‘“To
Buy a Home.”
racial oppression oper-
ment officials who engage in racial exploitation, and no doubt at the same time go to church on Sundays, and call themselves “Chris-
tians”?
1 What kind of a social and economic system is it which starts with clear-eyed, innocent children and ends by wholesale production of human vampires?
The Mays Case
One of the cases before the U.S. Supreme Court in the session just ended was a “restrictive covenant” case involving the right of Mrs. C. Mays to retain the property which she has bought in. Washington, D.C. A numher of citizens were trying to evict Mrs. Mays from her property because she is of the Xegro/race. The Court did not pass on the issue involved, but, ordered that' Mrs. Mays be allowed to remain “pending a. hearing on
<TS NO
Op I. ,T. K. Clark, stationed at in Rouen France. He has h^or Ft. Lewis. Wash., spent a few fin the senior 2H months and rtver-
GAS UTILITY EMPLOYEES HONORED: Thomas L. Kemp, general manager of the. Citizens Gas and Coke Utility is presenting Isaac Miller with his gold, diamond studded, service emblem. Left to right, (looking on) George Potts, Manuel Rodgers, and Emmett Turner. Miller is a crane helper; Potts, an oven worker, and Turner a yard man, at the Prospect plant. Rodgers is a Water Gas operator at the Langsdale plant. Fifteen other employees completed 25 yea^s of service this year.
dn.vs visiting friendu in Indianapolis. wnib-* on furlough. - *<.**«* William B. Jones, son of Mr. and Mrs. Wllliaiu S. Jones, si!) Locke st.. was promoted to flrsi lieutenant in Italy, where he- is buttery motor officer and assistant ammunition train commander of -i field uitillery battalion. His brother, •Htnl’Jones, is a pharnneist’s mate in the nn\y. and is stationed at Camp Shoemaker, Calif. * * # * C * . IV 0. William (’. IJarlowe, sen of Mr. and Mrs. Ixidie Martin, 54.1 West-29tli st., returned to Nan I>iogo. Calif., ' after sponding an enjoyable seven-day leave with his parnits end friends. Among his friends to entertain him were - Jessie Carter and “Tiny”, who ave a grand party. He was inducted June 25. 1914.
!>*«.!***
Sgr. Rich .‘ini D. Ferguson, sond.son of Mr. and Mrs. Ceo. Ferguson Indianapolis .•I.ve.. is spending a ”0-day furlough with his pareuis and friends, nft« i returning from overseas duty.
!
and refuse to take action against er’s association, made up of a group lames F. Jackson, sou of \fr
tim application for rehearing of the j V m - M property owners 'in - the particu- and Mrs Sam Jaekso„. 17:5 Bright
1 Clinic Report lur area a fleeted, who land them- m.. bis been p rounded to sergeant
, ’selves together by written agree- i — ,, - — I have before me the excellent - nt not tb sell th( , jr properties
report made by Walter C. Bailey. : l() Negroes t'
on behalf of the Housing Coni ” method is used by lending
I think it will not be easy for
Racial Restrictions
. Previous articles have been devoted to such questions as what
«c Ce But Vu thh a Ld , vice S ls"infe1v future historians to understand how
to .be a cotinsel of perfection to \ mitteeVTo the Uitee Relations 'n'p't.l, "wl'.Ts the Negro reader who tries to f®l* nuestion (and without comina , l,eld 'eceutly. For a pic- ( iua i in cd Appraisetnent for low it in buying a home For m ^'VSta.loS) And they will oI »' Indianapolis. Loan n an example being: a r S ,an h a e P0, n S ds an hms , e7f 0 rred t ini^e a° haVtime undersjnding }-»« «» «» {jouse of ^he vaiue of *,^0 may
how this was done by people who 1 11 • . „ . be appraised lor a loan up to 7a
Negroes are definitely handi- p^,. cen t ^ ;t whi^* purdhaser,
s*:is lo months.
Uncovering i. Washington...
Cieorge Boyd, Jr., son of Mrs. Coeany Hopkins, 2138 Pleasant st., and George Boyd, Sr., 828 West >orth ,st., retnnied U-l-reat Lakes naval training station. III., after spending a leave visiting his parents and friends
Between the Lines
By D^AN GORDON B. HANCOCK
by restrictions which confine him
- . . . . th - unsW erving loyalty 1 eti*- ..ut.w.- ei . cent " to a white
^rtheVineV t^SeVS !o •'free enterprise- and f'elr efforts to flounce ^ he „ , he houfe. ‘ when ale
whfl he nnrehese » home they will fight to the death for “the » !«»"« purchase. The underly- prolse<1 for , Nc gro purchaser, has which he may purchase a home. T * ing cause is racial prejudice on a j an(1 value of ;50 t0 4(( p er CPUt
The Negro purchaser, furthermore. , vi 8ht of private pro^rty. It seems finds that he is asked to pay per to depend on who owns he property, haps twice as much as a white or who wanis to acquire-the prop-
man for'a certain piece of prop- erty ‘
erty; and that private and govern- But let us leave these questions ment lending agencies put further to the clergymen who preach to
w ^ , a lrtllu vauic vji t>u i
the part of !H) per cent ot the Ne- 0 £ jj s actual value. In most in-^ gro’s white lellow citizens. This stances this bars the- Negro, beprejudice manifests itself in the eaus(1 if he purchases, lie is forced following written and unwritten t0 I)ay from t0 75 p er cent of ^ aws: e . the purchase price in cash imme-
T. In most of the better resi- ; diately upoi» purchase.
heavy burdens on him because of . the discriminators, and to the poli- , ^ ™ ^* famieiy uponp purenase. his race. _ ‘ icians who justify racial covenants tlelltial sections of Indianapolm I 4 * A common pa tein used to
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_i there are restrictive covenants run- bar Negroes and also exploit them j ning with the title to the land during the past five years, speci[which prohibit the buying, owning fically, is that white property owner occuppncy of the premises by ers in average neighborhoods with members of the Negro race. These property* valuations of $4,000 are covenants carry forfeiture clauses demanding that Negro buyers doui us u penalty to the seller. AI- ble the actual value of the propthough they are undemocratic, un- {erty, which means that Negro purChristian and unconstitutional, our chasers must pay cash or $. r )ii to courts, with the exception of Cali- $100 per month contract payments, fornia, have sidestepped and white- and, in most instances, before any washed the legal and moral issue, .kind of loan is made by. a lending In view of these covenants, lend- agency the Negro, is required to j ing agencies will notagambla alone, spend an additional $500 to $1,000 I neither will title insurance com-{for repairs as a requisite to se-
; panies insure the title in most Icuriiig a loan.
LOOKING FOR SOME OTHER WAY In many ways the Fan Francisco * eonfference is a tragedy. The tragedy lies not so much in what it failed to accomplish as why It failed. The men who parleyed at San Francisco spoke a different language .from that spoken bye the Romans but their .meaning was ' the same. It has been said of a Briton that he never learns anything nor does he ever forget. With equal truth it may be said that the nations of the earth do not learn from
in mind that before Mussolini got conquest notions in his head, he had mad# ot Italy a great country. Hitler hot only lifted Germany from the slough of deleat whither she had been cast by the treaty of Versailles, but he had set Germany on a road to national prosperity that commanded the notice of the world. It was when notions of conquest dominated the thinking of these newly risen stars on the horizon of history that the foundations of their nations was undermined. Had Germany and Italy stuck
experience however grievipus by theil . or igjnal plan of lifting such experience may be [ themselves instead of trying to
of the new additions now being developed in Indianapolis, restrictive covenants are being created
with the titles.
"2. A common instrument to restrict. Negroes and bar them from certain areas is the-property own-
“Unholy Alliance”
Germany and Italy awt not the only' casualties of this war nor are .these vanquished nations the arch sinners of history. Their crime was not in what they attempted, but in what they failed to accomplish. Just as nothing succeeds like success,; so nothing fails like failure. The nations that tried what Italy and Germany tried and got away with it are the nations which are trying to formulate plans for a “lasting peace.” The man who loses must pay the cost of the
contest.
It was ever this. . But it is just as well for us to keep the record straight and realize that Germany and Italy—and Japan
conquer the world they would have been a blessing to the world. The ideology of Italy and Germany is not a total loss any more than that of Russia, Britain, or the United Statr-s. Two ominous dispatches come from Europe: “Throughout Western Europe the Russian ideology is said to be spreading rapidly. The stark fact is that
. By Harry McAlpin (Released by Atlanta Daily World tnrough NNPA) The War Department “outsmarted” the Negro in the Godman Field; case. In a spirit of good sportsmanship, it, should be given creait for its strategy. It got in a damaging blow to the chin. But also, hi the spirit of fair competitlbh, the Negro should pierce the defense and strike back with a clean but hard
blow.
It was a smooth bit of strategy to put Col. B. O. Davis, Jr , in command of Ihe 477th Composite Group (Fighter-Bomber), and then four days later announce referral to a General Court Martial of the cases of three officers who have been held in arrest sinie early in April on charges of violating the 64th Artice of War in connection with entering a “white officers club.” It was even smoother strategy for Maj. Gen. Frank O'D. Hunter, commanding general of\he First Air Force—who is the real
way? Are they to go scot-free, without being charged and courtmartialed for having deliberate- ; ly misapplied and misinterpreted Army regulations? Such difchoflesty is ndt becoming an officer of the United States and must certainly violate some of the Ar-
tiles of War.
Col. Selway, carrying out Gen. Hunter’s orders and policy, 1 issued a base regulation (No 85-2) on April 9, 1945, and ordered all the Negro officers to sign an endorsement to indicate they had read and understood it. Refusal of • 101 of the officers to sign is what led to their arrest and subsequent reprimand — which is still a part of their personnel files, so far as any of,
them know.
The base regulation set up separate facilities of all kinds for what it described as two different types of personnel — base, command and supervisory personnel in one group, and ‘trainee’ personnel In another. The autho- - rity for the regulation was giv-
force behind the discriminatory j en as “Army Air Force Stand-
policies and practices which have provoked the men of the 447th —to name van all-Negro court, including Col. Davis, to hear the charges preferred by “his boy,*
Col. Robert Selway.
This is all designed, apparently, to take the heat off the War Department when the three men
ards authorizing Separate Cuf-
fewing."
Col. Selway and Gen. Hunter knew, however, that medical officers who had qualified as flight surgeons, who had completed all the required Army medical training, who had behind them years of private medical practice,
are convicted—if they are. They could not be classified as ‘train
would then be convicted by members of their own race—so the cry of discrimination logically
could not be made.
And it is almost certain they will be convicted. In the Army’s court-martial procedures, extenuating circumstances do not count. All the court seeks to determine is did you do it or didn’t you. It will listen to the mitigating or extenuating circumstances, but will give them no weight in the decision. So, since we swallowed the transfer of command at Godman without insisting these pending cases be cleared up first, let’s admit we were out-maneuvered. It will accomplish us little to
raise a howl about the court- j
martial decision.
But, there is a weak point in ; the War Department’s defense 1 through which we might throw | some punishing blows. How about i Maj. Gehl Hunter and Coi. Selsome other w’ay to remain democracies without being truly
ees.” But they were—because they were Negroes. Let’s admit we were caught by a “sleeper” when the War Department held back any action on the cases of Lts. Roger Terry, Marsden Thompson, and Shirley Clinton, until after Col. Davis had been put in command with pomp and ceremony. But let’s get up from the canvass at the count of nine and start throwing punches until Col. Selway and Gen. Hunter go down for the count. Army justice in time s>f war is a grim thing—but it should work the same for everyone, regardless of race, creed or rank.
A DOCTOR’S PRESCRIPTION FOR THE SCALP
there is nothing we can do in J democratic. The Man of Gali-
”!>. The oral working agreement between the Real Estate Board of Indianapolis and the lending agencies places the Negro' at their mercy when it comes to financing, because the Negro has no> voice
as to the policies of the lending 1 —were not- the only internationj agencies, and he is barred from i al sinners we have described membership by the constitution of them to lie. It must be. borne the Indianapolis Real Estate Board. When these two agencies are ques- . - J ^
tioned about their unholy alliance. nancia i establishments might take ! ■
one of their favorite defense tech- .. similar st-mdj Mi„ue S is: 'The govermnem Has ; ‘ The C | inic . s Action built Locke field Gardens for Ne- 1 A f ter discussing this* report* th.e groes and Negroes should fix up Ra( . e Relations Clinic' adopted the their homes in the Negro neigh- following recommendation: “It is borhoods where the Negro schools (0 ur finding that racial restrictive are located.’ I covenants and other restrictive
Europe to prevent the onward sweep of Russia’s tremendous
I power.”
The San Francisco conference will go down in history as a supreme but futile attempt of the so-called democracies to find
le6 hath spoken and thus shall k it be! There is only one w’ay the democracies can defend { themselves against the onward sweep of communism. Democracy must become more democratic. There is no other way.
“A member of the committee reports of his experiences and observations concerning the problems of home financing among Negroes: *1 sought to obtain FHA loans for colored clients for a long time and the appraisers invariably appraised
practices which exist are* making it extremely ‘difficult for Negroes and other minority groups to pur chase or rent decent homes. Therefore we recommend that a working relationship he established with the Bar Association and with the
the propefty so low for FHA loans Real Estate Board and financial that the amount of money that institutions to remove these bar
could lie obtained thereby was not i riers.”
sufficient to finance the purchase of a home orfto re-finance an old
loan. * ,
“ ‘There is no segregation by law r in the State of Indiana. However, most colored people live in what is commonly termed a colored neighborhood and very few live in white neighborhoods. Sometimes there is a little tension, never resulting seriously, when colored began to move into an exclusively white neighborhood. “ ‘I know of one instance where a colored person applied for a loair to be used by her to pay part of a purchase price on a cash deal by which she was to become the first colored purchaser in a white neighborhood. The executive head of the company to which she applied is exceedingly friendly to colored people and this attitude is a tradition of his family. However, he said he did not want his company to be the first to finance such' | a transaction. 1 believe other fi- |
It should lie added that John Q. Homebuyer’s smartest move is to give active support to the Indianapolis Council of Inter-racial Unity (the expected. outgrowth of the Race Relations Clinic), the NAACP and other, groups which seek to abolish restrictive practices. These •organizations are trying to save you dollars and cents, and save
democracy in the. bargain. (Continued Next Week.)
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