Union Is to Whiteness As ...

In order to gain admission the applicant is asked, among other things, the relationship of Shakespeare to Othello, Dante to the Inferno, Brahms to music, and Whitman to poetry. He must understand such words as debutante and modiste, know that Dali is a painter and verity is the opposite of myth. Only after having established such credentials is a man judged to be qualified under the union rules to become an apprentice steam fitter in New York. In the past, the test has weeded out 66% of the nonwhite applicants and only 18% of the whites--a fairly effective method, according to charges filed last week by the New York State attorney general's office, of preserving the union's whiteness. On this particular test, one of four an applicant must pass, there is not one question about the relation of monkey wrench to pipe.

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