Housing

The Fair Housing Act, contained in Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968, prohibits discrimination in the sale, financing or rental of housing because of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin.

Shortly after the signing of the Voting Rights Act, in the summer of 1965, a riot erupted in the Watts section of Los Angeles over accusations of police brutality against a black motorist. During the next 4 summers, similar riots and unrest broke out in cities throughout the United States. The quest for civil rights had moved out of the South and spread to the rest of the country.

In 1966, Dr. Martin Luther King. Jr. went to Chicago to lead rallies and protests on a number of civil rights issues. In a report of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission in 1959, Chicago had been called "the most residentially segregated large city in the nation." Soon, the attention of all the civil rights activists in Chicago turned to the issue of fair housing. Black residents of Chicago were squeezed into small areas of the city and were unable to find housing outside of those areas. The civil rights movement began to march into white-only areas of Chicago only to be met by mobs of whites. In July 1966, marchers were attacked with stones and bottles. One march of 350 was met by a mob of 4,000. Finally, at the end of August, city leaders met with Dr. King and agreed to a program of fair housing.

The law first passed in 1968 did not work well. Under the law, the Federal government had a small role in enforcing fair housing laws. In 1988, Congress enacted amendments to the Fair Housing Act that gave the Departments of Justice and Housing and Urban Development a large role in enforcing the law. The Department of Justice litigates Fair Housing cases in court, while the Department of Housing and Urban Development investigates and attempts to resolve complaints of housing discrimination.

Rights of Institutionalized Persons

The Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act of 1980 ensures that the rights of persons in institutions are protected against unconstitutional conditions. Those confined in government institutions include persons with disabilities, the elderly in government-run nursing homes, and prisoners.

In March of 1972, a group of parents, volunteer organizations, and individual residents at the Willowbrook State School for the Mentally Retarded filed a federal lawsuit against the State of New York and the administrators of the school to correct conditions at the school. At that time, Willowbrook had a population of 5,700 housed in 43 buildings. Officially 65% over capacity, it was the largest institution of its kind in the United States. Over 75% of the residents were profoundly or severely retarded and over half had been in Willowbrook for more than 20 years. Conditions for the residents at Willowbrook were hazardous to the health, safety and sanity of the residents. The residences were dirty, people didn't have clean clothes to wear, the plumbing didn't work, and there were not enough doctors and nurses to take care of them. During 8 months in 1972, there were over 1,300 reported incidents of injury, assaults or fights. The Deputy Commissioner of the New York State Department of mental Hygiene in charge of Willowbrook described the institution as a "major tragedy." The Civil Rights Division intervened in the lawsuit as amicus curiae (which means "friend of the court") to help the parents and others prove that the rights of the residents were being violated. After 3 years of court actions, all the parties to the lawsuit agreed on a settlement to correct the conditions at Willowbrook. It was, however, several years before everything that was wrong with Willowbrook was fixed.

Americans with Disabilities

The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) prohibits discrimination in employment, in places of public accommodation, including all hotels, restaurants, retail stores, theaters, health care facilities, convention centers, parks, and places of recreation, in transportation services, and in all activities of state and local governments because a person has a disability.

Approximately 43,000,000 Americans have one or more physical or mental disabilities, and this number is increasing as the population as a whole is growing older. Individuals with disabilities continually encounter various forms of discrimination, including outright intentional exclusion and access to lesser services, programs, activities, benefits, jobs, or other opportunities.

Think how difficult it would be to communicate with 911 (the emergency number) if you couldn't hear. A Telephone Device for the Deaf (TDD) is a machine that is used in conjunction with a telephone to communicate with others who are deaf, hard of hearing, or who have speech impairments, by typing and reading communications. A TDD user types his or her conversation, which is read on a display by the receiver using a TDD. Both parties must have TDDs to communicate. A TDD is similar to the teletypewriters used by Western Union to "wire" transmissions. When typing on a TDD, each letter is transmitted by an electronic code called Baudot, which is sent through the telephone line to the TDD on the receiving end of the call -- the same way voice communications occur between two parties. The receiving TDD transforms the tones back to letters on a small display screen. But, until the ADA, most emergency services didn't have TDDs.

For people in wheelchairs, there are many barriers in everyday life. Every building that has steps, but no wheelchair ramp, is out of reach. Even once inside a building, some carpets are so deep that the wheels on the chair can't be moved.

In 1992, a 9 year old Seminole, Florida girl who has spina bifida and uses a wheelchair wanted to participate in a Sears, Roebuck and Co. modeling program - a 4 session course in fashion modeling for children ages 8-17. According to the girl's mother, the Model's Club Program instructor said that the girl could not participate in the program because they used a ramp for the models that was one foot off the ground and that the girl would be out of place with the other children. The U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division investigated the complaint and entered into a settlement agreement with Sears to ensure that this girl, and any other child with a disability, would be able to attend the modeling program.