If a family that plays together stays together, would a community? It seems tobe getting harder and harder to tell. Even if the family has not disintegrated, as manyargue, it seems that community has. And community has always meant having leisuretogether.

Leisure is typically equated with free-time and how to use it. Becauseindividual freedom and choice are its hallmarks, leisure is the hallmark of social well-being and civility among people. In leisure, there are no affirmative actionprograms and no provisions for minority contractors. We are required to worktogether, but not play together. We are free to decide how to use our own time andmoney and with whom. But too many of us have no money, and therefore few choicesand little freedom.

Disparities of wealth produce de facto segregation. Some say apartheid. Wealth, more than race, produces disparities of all kinds, from infant mortality rates toS.A.T. scores. But in the US, money and race have always been related. Thus,apartheid.

In the past, when families encountered difficulties, communities providedsupports, especially for children. Today, economic forces mean neither families norcommunities play together. Families lack time, money, or both. Communities havebeen replaced by interest groups.

Some of those interest groups have economic and political muscle, some don't. The elderly, for example, overturned "Catastrophic Health Insurance" which requiredthem to share in the cost while 36 million people, disproportionately people of color,have no insurance at all. Eleven percent of domestic funding is for children, 46% is forthe elderly. Yet, children are far more numerous, and one of five lives in a belowpoverty line household, one in four in the pre-school age group.

Similarly, environmentalists battle industry and pro-growth forces overwetlands and ancient forests. Meanwhile urban environments deteriorate and poorurban dwellers face disproportionate risks due to environmental hazards. The USEnvironmental Protection Agency has recently recognized that in a report on"environmental inequities."

Issues of equality or equity in provision of public schooling have been wellknown since the Supreme Court's ruling in Brown vs. Board of Education in 1954. Lesswell known is the case brought by the US Justice Department against the Chicago ParkDistrict in 1979. The charge of discrimination in allocation of resources to poorer areasof the city resulted in the city agreeing to bring facilities and programs in those areasup to par with those in predominantly white areas.

But, in a recent nationwide study, researchers from Penn State University foundthat the higher the household's income, the more likely (a) a public park or playgroundwas within walking distance, (b) people used public park and recreation servicesfrequently, and people began a new recreation activity within the past year. Inaddition, 66 to 75 year olds were more likely to use public park facilities frequentlythan 15 to 20 year olds.

For the past 15 years or more, local recreation and park departments have had torely increasingly on revenue generated by fees and charges for park visitors, facilityusers and participants in classes and programs. A study in Texas revealed that budgetsfor recreation and parks have kept pace with other spending by municipalities but thatincreasing proportions of the budget comes from fees, charges, and other earnings.Meanwhile, a study of parks in New England showed that when park entrance feeswere raised, those with lower incomes visited the park less often. So, ability-to-payapartheid emerges even with public facilities and services.

With tax money in increasingly short supply, neighborhoods receive lesssupport, but affluent neighborhoods are not affected as much as poor ones. In the early1980s, Baltimore's Park and Recreation Department operated more than 130playgrounds, recreation centers, and field houses. Today there are 77, and 10 more arescheduled for closure. A hiring freeze has been in effect for several years, some of thefacilities still operating have only one full-time staff person, and if local residents wantpart-time staff for additional open hours or programs, they have to raise the money topay for them.

In 1987, the Los Angeles Times ran feature stories on the deterioration of thecity's park and recreation facilities. Broken equipment, broken glass, graffiti, and litterwere common in the poorer and more congested areas of the city. Parents and parkdepartment personnel agreed on conditions and referred to 66 park sites as "deadparks." With neither staff nor programs, they became the haunts of addicts and dealersand gangs.

In 1992, all newspapers ran feature stories on the riots following the verdict inthe Rodney King beating case. Analyses of conditions in South-Central Los Angelesincluded lack of recreation facilities and programs. "Before Riots, Youth Programs inShambles," said a Washington Post headline.

That is precisely what people in a dozen cities told the "Kerner Commission" 25years ago after a summer of civil disorder nationwide. In its report, the commissionwrote of the prospect of apartheid if policies were not changed and fundingsignificantly increased.

Philadelphia, once widely recognized by recreation and city managementprofessionals as a leading example of recreation services to a large urban population,now has an overall budget of about 2 billion dollars. In budget summaries, recreationis listed under "other" after safety and public health.

In Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Chicago, and many other urban areas, residents inpoor neighborhoods are holding picnics, barbecues, and vigils in their playgrounds,and volunteering and enlisting park rangers, patrols, and security guards in an effort tosecure safe play spaces for their children.

According to the director of the National Recreation and Park Association, DeanTice, 37 billion dollars are needed by 1996 to rehabilitate and upgrade urban facilitiesto meet the needs of residents.

Public library services have also been curtailed because of local governmentfinancial woes. The library, free or with but token fees, is one place where apartheidhas not evolved. Kids study there: school libraries are increasingly inadequate, if noteliminated. Businessmen read Barron's and the Wall Street Journal. The unemployedread the classified. Everyone reads Consumer Reports. Latch key and day-care kidsscurry about, sometimes quietly -- if the library is open. Bookmobile visits have beencurtailed or eliminated, smaller branches closed, hours curtailed.

In Berkeley, CA, taxpayers earmarked for library services an almost astonishing$69 per capita per annum. Across the bay, in San Francisco, some libraries can stayopen only 3 hours per day.

Disparities in leisure opportunities due to disparities in wealth are reflected inother ways. The past two decades have seen extraordinary growth of the "leisureindustries" and commercial recreation. The travel, tourism, and hospitality industriesrank among the top contributors to the economy of almost every state, not just Florida,California, and Hawaii. Resorts, spas, fitness centers, theme parks, and amusementparks flourish, while public parks deteriorate and programs get the axe.

Charitable contributions have increased, but the wealthy support thoseorganizations that provide their leisure; the opera, symphony, ballet, gallery, andmuseum. Recreation spending by people of color, whose members aredisproportionately poor, is almost entirely for home entertainment, TV especially.

Americans spent 6 billion dollars on pet food last year. "Jog-a-Dog," a tread-millfor pets, costs $1,700. In 1989, contributions to N.Y.C.'s "Bide-a-Wee HomeAssociation" for pets totaled $1.7 million: for the Coalition for the Homeless, $622,000.

Day, boarding, and prep schools provide those who can afford them withprivate alternatives to public education. There are excellent public universities but anapartheid of wealth emerges at that level too. In the nation's capitol, GeorgetownUniversity's tuition is $16,600; George Washington's is $17,995. Howard University,also private and a traditionally black university, charges $7,000. The University of theDistrict of Columbia's tuition, for residents of predominantly black D.C., is $800. Average salaries for professors at Howard and U.D.C. are $10,000 below those atGeorgetown and G.W.U.

Schooling, even that which is compulsory, must be calculated as non-work time. In most eras before ours, learning was the primary activity of leisure. In fact, the wordschool has its origin in the Greek word for leisure -- skole.

Studies involving recreation and park areas operated by five federal agenciesand eleven states reveal that among visitors, people of color are significantlyunder-represented. The Public Area Recreation Visitors Study (PARVS) found thatover 94 percent of the users surveyed identified themselves as "White, Not Hispanic,"while 2.2% were Hispanic, 2% black, 8% Native American, and 4% Asian. As of 1990,blacks constituted about 12% of the population, Hispanics about 9%, Native Americansabout 1%, and Asians about 3%.

A study of Hispanic visitors to US Forest Service recreation areas in southernCalifornia revealed that only 1 in 5 had heard of bungee cord jumping or camerasafaris, 1 in 7 had heard of ecotourism, and 1 in 15 heli-skiing. But, in addition, unliketheir white counterparts, Hispanic visitor groups tended to include the extendedfamily, often three generations and sometimes even four.

In the past, boxers were as apt to be white as black; Irish, Italian, and otherEuropean ancestry. Today's boxers are predominantly black or Hispanic, with someparticipation by Asians.

Virtually all the top ranked lacrosse teams in the US come from a region wherethere are large numbers of people of color. But there are almost no lacrosse players ofcolor. There are almost as few softball players.

On the other hand is basketball. One community center director, a blackwoman, works diligently at getting her charges away from the basketball court andinto volleyball, softball, and scores of other activities. "Basketball," she says, "has cometo symbolize oppression of young urban blacks."

Americans play together -- even basketball -- in the movies. They don't playtogether on Main Street, at least not much. If they did, perhaps they would staytogether. Perhaps not. Why must there be a melting pot and must it be made inEurope? Is celebrating cultural diversity an answer?

Public parks, recreation facilities, libraries, and schools are the "commons" whichare supposed to be available to and shared by all. And leisure is the ground on whichcivility and community are built. It is also the occasion for celebrating that. Civilityfirst. Then, perhaps, appreciation of diversity.

For further information, contact: Thomas L. Goodale, Department of Human Services, Physical Education Building, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 22030-4444, USA. Phone (703) 993-2056.

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