THE COLOUR BAR

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 69, Issue 79, 13 January 1949, Page 2

THE COLOUR BAR

Problem of Diplomats

(By William Hardcastle.—Reuter’s Correspondent).

(By Airmail) WASHINGTON. One of the lesser though persistent troubles plaguing the United States State Department is the danger of the many dark-skinned diplomats now inhabiting Washington suffering serious indignity and embarrassment as a result of the strict “colour” rules enforced in this city. The danger was brought to public attention recently with the protest lo the State Department of the Minister of Ethiopia against having been ejected from his box at a public ceremony because, so lie‘thought, of the colour of his skin. As it turned out, or as the State Department apology explained, the incident arose because of a misunderstanding concerning seating tickets. However, the strict rules which are enforced against the attendance of negroes at theatres, cinemas, auditoriums, and restaurants in Washington makes the Ethiopian Minister’s original allegations cpiite feasible. A study of the problem is contained in a recent report on “Segregation in Washington,” by a committee of civic leaders from all parts of the United States. Here is one of the “case histories.” which, it claims is typical: “An influential Puerto Rican Senator comes to Washington frequently to see the Resident Commissioner, who ims to devise ways to provide him with rooms and meals. On one visit, a private family in Alexandria. (a local suburb) gave him shelter. On another a Puerto Rican newspaper correspondent took him to his home. On a third, the .Commissioner was not able to find private quarters and asked the Senator to sleep on the couch in his office.”

A Remarkable Allegation

Another example concerns a distinguished Bolivian educator invited to Washington by the State Department on a goodwill tour. “He had the dark Indian complexion typical of his countrymen and was closely attended by an American, official, who made arrangements for his hotel accommodations, meals, shopping, etcetera. One night, however, left to his own devices, he went out for a stroll and decided to stop at a restaurant for something to eat. Refused service, he returned to his hotel in great indignation and protested to the State Department.” A remarkable allegation contained in the report is that such discrimination extends to religious establishments in Washington. “A devout Catholic from Panama entered a Catholic Church in Washington,” it states. “As he knelt in prayer a priest approached him and handed him a slip of paper. On the paper was the address of a Negro Catholic Church. The priest explained that there were special churches for Negro Catholics and that he would be welcome there.”

The Young Men’s Christian Association (Y.M.0.A.) is the subject of another story contained in the report. "A group of 29 students at Ohio State University, 10 of whom were from such countries as India, Brazil, Argentina, Turkey, Norway and China, visited Washington during their spring holiday in 1947. The object of the trip, arranged by the University Y.M.C.A. was to give the foreign students a chance to see the United States capital. “The Washington Y.M.C.A. and Y.W.C.A. accepted reservations, but upon discovering that Negroes were included, insisted that they be housed in segregated branches. Not wishing to explain matters to the foreign students, the leaders of the group managed to find lodgings for everybody at dormitories built to house Negro war workers.”

Employment by the Department The report quotes a State Department official as saying that these and similar incidents are a continuous source of embarrassment “though fortunately by the time such diplomats attain important rank, they are well acquainted with conditions and try to avoid difficulty,” and supply excellent material for anti-American propaganda. in Russia and elsewhere. Ironically, however, the report claims that the State Department itself ,is one of the worst examples of tire United States Government actually discriminating against Negroes in the distribution of jobs. Up to the beginning of the last war, it claims, the State Department refused to hire coloured people except as chaffeurs, messengers of janitors. “During World War 11, a high official of the Department tried with slight succees to break the racial barrier at the clerical level,” the report states. “As the agency mushroomed in size, Negroes were hired in the lowest clerical grades at routine jobs, a' few messengers were upgraded, and toward the end of the war-, a coloured,expert on Colonial Affairs, who has proved his high ability in a war agency, was brought in as an Associate Division Chief. But otherwise there was little improvement. At the close of the war, the State Department was required to absorb parts of three major war agencies in which Negroes occupied a variety of responsible posts. On .several occasions, however, okl-line officials to the Department have intervened to prevent the hiring and promotion of Negroes bv these newly-added units.”