TOPICS OF THE TIMES
TOPICS OF THE TIMES; Kicking About Discrimination
Published: January 13, 1988
Managers of the Radio City Rockettes may pat themselves on the back for finally hiring a black dancer to perform with their world famous New York City chorus line. Others wonder what took them so long.
For years, the music hall defended the Rockettes' resistance to integration as essential to their symmetry -as if the color of the high-kickers' gams were all that makes them prime entertainment for tourists and New Yorkers alike. The Rockettes' art is precision, and the test for precision is talent.
Why didn't the city's Human Rights Commission act? Partly because no one ever filed a complaint that she wasn't hired because of skin color, and partly because the commission gave priority to other discrimination less visible but more pervasive. Considering the Rockettes' dazzling visibility, it's disappointing that no one kicked loud enough to change the routine before now.