Finally, these inequalities reach beyond matters of four walls, plumbing, and central heating, beyond even the national economy. The repercussions are heard around the world. A member of the United States Senate with a far-ranging experience in foreign affairs testified that there is "no single domestic policy of the United States which has a more adverse impact on the standing of the United States in the world than our failure up to date to measurably meet and deal with the problem" of racial discrimination.15 Another witness, an international banker, stressed that "the colored races are coming into their own gradually throughout the world. We need them as friends. We are in a very poor way to cultivate their friendship if they can point to discriminatory practices against the colored peoples, our own fellow citizens, in this country." 16 Thus not the least effect of the inequalities in housing is the doubt it casts throughout the world on our moral capacity for the leadership expected of us. STATE ADVISORY COMMITTEE REPORTS With but few exceptions, the State Advisory Committees noted the correlation between poor housing and crime, disease, fire and various social disorders. There was some difference of opinion, however, as to the cause-and-effect relationship. The facts, statistics, and opinions in the following excerpts are those given by the respective State committees and have not been verified by the Commission. ALASKA "Problems of crime, disease, deliquency, etc., in minority group housing areas have normally not been a result of inadequate housing. . . . When these problems have existed... they existed because many individuals moved into the areas for purposes of prostitution, unregulated liquor sales, etc. These conditions for the most part have been because of inadequate law enforcement, principally outside of incorporated areas." COLORADO Segregated housing results in de facto segregation in schools. It has resulted in "declined neighborhood standards, and the development of intergroup fear and distrust, which could breed conflict, tension, disharmony, crime, and unsocial practices.. DELAWARE "Separated from each other at the outset, residentially, whites and Negroes never get to know each other as human beings. They know one another only through stereotypes. . . . Negro children for the most part, being reared in least attractive home settings, begin with 'two strikes against them.' ... "A community is an integral organism; lesion in one part of it affects all other parts of the community. . . . It is difficult to disassociate the economic, 15 Senator Jacob Javits, id. at 257. 18 Earl B. Schwulst, president of the Bowery Savings Bank, id. at 37. the social and political life of the community, even on a color base. ... The great interdependence of all people within a community makes it impossible for a dominant group to inflict penalties on minority groups without being penalized itself. Prejudice may result not only in guilt, tension, and projection, but in rigidity of mind and a compulsiveness in adjustment that blocks a realistic appraisal of racial problems. . . . Another psychological consequence of prejudice is the development of ambivalent and contradictory views of life. This must necessarily obtain when a person is taught a democratic and Christian ideology and at the same time is taught a contrary ideology for intergroup relations." INDIANA "There is a general concensus of opinion among law enforcement and health officers that there is a direct correlation between bad housing and community problems. . . . In the areas where minority groups have secured adequate housing, the results have lessened community problems. The segregated housing patterns result in segregated schools to a major extent in the State of Indiana." Fort Wayne The costs of maintaining substandard housing areas are excessive. In one such area (Rolling Mill), there is an estimated loss in taxes of $35,000, and in another such section (Brackenridge), a loss of $83,524. This is based on an estimated tax of $142 per year for a building maintained in good condition and when old and dilapidated an estimated tax of only $66 per year. KANSAS "In every community there is a high correlation between the incidence of crime and bad housing areas." This is true of white and Negro areas of similar condition. Kansas City, Topeka, and Wichita "There tends to be segregation in schools because of the large size of the minority group district and the likelihood that a given school would serve the people in that district alone." KENTUCKY "The evil effects of slum housing are well known. . . . There is no evidence that the effects of slum housing on Negroes is any worse than it is on the white slum dwellers. "Prior to 1955 schools in Lexington were segregated. Since that time the Lexington School Board has had a policy of allowing every child to go to the school of his choice. . . . Since 1955 experience is too limited to say that segregated housing results in segregated schools. Commonsense indicates it would have that effect if a child were required to go to school in the district in which he lives, but under the Board's policy of choice, the effect remains to be seen." MARYLAND Baltimore Crime rates are higher in segregated areas than in nonsegregated areas. MASSACHUSETTS Boston "An interesting observation is made by the Police Department of the City of Boston. In their opinion, substandard housing, or so-called slum areas, are not a contributing factor to juvenile delinquency." Minneapolis and St. Paul MINNESOTA There is an "increasing proportion of Negro students attending each of a few schools in [these cities] without a corresponding increase in the proportion of Negroes attending any other schools. . . .” MISSOURI "School integration is still a myth, in over 50 percent of the communities in Missouri, due to segregated housing patterns." St. Louis Segregation in housing results in de facto segregation of schools. NEBRASKA Omaha "Admittedly there is a correlation between substandard housing . . . and various forms of social disorder." However, this does not necessarily mean "that there is a casual connection between discrimination and all existing social disorders; [or] that substandard housing itself is in all instances the cause of crime, disease, juvenile delinquency. The problems of social maladjustments are too complex and involved to relate them specifically to any single factor or set of circumstances." Segregated housing patterns result in segregated schools. "This is especially the case with elementary schools and to a lesser extent with secondary schools." Las Vegas NEVADA "There is a correlation between bad housing or segregation and community problems." "The segregated housing patterns result in segregated schools from kindergarten through six level." The minority slum area called Westside houses 20 percent of the city's population, but it accounts for "30 percent of the claimants on the Nevada Industrial Commission (unemployment), 40 percent of the American Red Cross funds, 44 percent of Public Assistance funds . . . and 55 percent of the [recipients thereof]." The Fire Department spends $80,000 (78 percent of the deaths from fire occurred in this area) and the Police Department $100,000 of their respective budgets, while the real estate and personal property taxes amount to only $43,000 in this area. Reno "Segregated housing patterns have not resulted in segregated schools because the segregated areas are not sufficiently large to constitute complete school districts." Albuquerque NEW MEXICO "There is a tendency for people to attend school, to attend church, and to' Te their recreation in their own neighborhoods. As for school attendance are required to go to their neighborhood school except that they have exceptional permission. How then expect integration in education for those children for whom housing is segregated?" NEW YORK "Segregated living areas are created and maintained, thus perpetuating de facto segregation in schools and other public places and contributing to numerous other social evils." OHIO "As a result of the limited opportunity to acquire or occupy real estate, forced occupancy in dilapidated areas, exorbitant rentals or payments and overcrowding, (and not because of the occupancy by minorities) crime, delinquency, disease, interracial relations, public education . . . within such restricted areas are unfavorable. This is frequently presented as the result of minority group occupancy or ownership, rather than a result of the economic consequences which flow from the residential patterns prevailing." Cincinnati The worst slum area, the Basin, accounts for 26 percent of the population, but "pays [for] only 6 percent of the services it needs." Comparison of death rates per 100,000 persons for the Basin population with hilltop residents for the years 1949-51: death from tuberculosis was five times higher for white persons and 21⁄2 times higher for Negroes in the Basin than on the hilltop; infant mortality rate was three times higher for whites. Death from pneumonia was 21⁄2 times higher for whites and 14 times higher for Negroes; infant mortality was three times higher for whites. The Basin accounts for 26 percent of the population of Cincinnati, yet in 1955, 50 percent of all juvenile arrests originated there, and of 7,031 criminal offenses committed in that year 3,830, or 54.5 percent, occurred in the Basin. "The statistics show beyond peradventure of doubt that a decidedly unequal chance for life exists in different sections of the city." Cleveland Housing segregation has resulted in segregated schools which are overcrowded, have split sessions, double student loads for teachers and ancient buildings which cannot help but provide an inferior education. OREGON Portland "One school is 98 percent Negro, another 84 percent Negro. The fact that Negroes live in virtually every one of the census tracts of the city means that there are probably no all-white public schools. High schools having larger districts show less segregation than elementary schools." Evidence of the disruption of family life is the fact that in an elementary school, situated in a slum area, with 98 percent Negro enrollment, 42.5 percent of the children were found to have only one parent, and in all cases the parent was employed. PENNSYLVANIA "Because children attend schools near their homes, housing segregation produces segregated schools even where school authorities wish to avoid such segregation." Pittsburgh "The Pittsburgh Commission on Human Relations reports that over 50 percent of Negro elementary school pupils attend schools in which 80 percent or more of the children are Negro." Providence RHODE ISLAND Three schools, "Jenkins Street, Benefit Street, and The Thomas Doyle, have student bodies in which Negroes constitute more than 95 percent of the total enrollment . . . a consequence of the racial patterns of residence." TEXAS "As is the case throughout the United States, so in Texas. Inadequate and substandard housing results in a greater incidence of crime, juvenile delinquency, disease, etc. This generalization, however, is true for both the majority and the minority groups." Seattle WASHINGTON "There are a number of grade schools which are predominantly Negro in population, a situation due not to school or city policies but to the fact that Negroes, for the most part, are forced to reside in areas served by these schools. In addition to such grade schools, at least one Seattle high school is becoming predominantly Negro in population." B. What Is Being Done To Meet These Needs and Problems "The legitimate object of government," said Lincoln, "is to do for the people what needs to be done, but which they cannot, by individual effort, do at all, or do so well, for themselves." 1 In appraising the laws and policies of the Federal Government respecting the equal protection of the laws in housing, the Commission first surveyed both the general housing needs of the nation and the special housing problems of minorities. It found, as has been set forth above, that the special disabilities of colored Americans and the general metropolitan housing crisis are two parts of one problem, which will be solved together or not at all. The problem as President Eisenhower has stated it is "to assure equal opportunity for all of our citizens to acquire, within their means, good and well-located homes."2 The needs of colored Americans for equal opportunity and the needs of low-income Americans generally for good, well-located homes within their means are clear and pressing. The main question is how will these needs be met? To answer this, the Commission sought to appraise the progress now being made by government on all levels or by the people themselves through private and voluntary action. What follows first is a survey of the laws, policies, and housing programs of city and State governments, where the initial responsibility rests. For the most part, Federal housing programs depend on either city and State initiative or private initiative or a combination of these. Federal aid to 1 "Fragment on Government," July 1, 1854, Roy P. Basler, ed., The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, New Brunswick, N.J., Rutgers University Press, 1953, Vol. II, p. 221 'Message to Congress, January 25, 1954, 100 Cong. Rec. 738. |