THE RACES: One Step Forward . . .

Something is dismally wrong with an America in which a white prostitute can buy a house where a black businessman can’t.

—The Rev. Theodore Hesburgh

The chairman of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights only put into epigram what frustrated black leaders have been saying for years: American suburbs are still posted with FOR WHITE ONLY signs. The immediate case in point is Black Jack, Mo. (pop. 3,900), a pleasant, middle-class suburb of St. Louis. The community was incorporated primarily to pass zoning laws, which would have blocked a federally funded low-income housing project (TIME, April 26). Despite Black Jack officials’ insistence that their concern was to keep their suburb safe for the middle class, the move was so blatantly antiblack that the Administration was virtually forced to step in. Last week, after six months of study, the Justice Department filed suit against the community, charging it with illegal housing discrimination.

The Government’s suit was well timed; it was announced 24 hours before George Romney, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, arrived to testify before Father Hesburgh’s commission. Under considerable fire from Hesburgh, who admits to skepticism about the Administration’s zeal, Romney maintained that it would be HUD’s policy to grant housing funds only to communities that are willing to accept housing projects for the poor. The Federal Government, however, will not force low-income housing on anyone. As one Administration official put it: “We’re not swinging a big stick. We’re just saying we can withdraw the carrot.”