QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “Despite progress, housing discrimination continues in America. We must put a stop to it and stand up for anyone who is unlawfully denied a home of their own.” - John Trasviña, assistant secretary for fair housing and equal opportunity, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, June 8, 2009 (See story below.)



News of the Week


RECORD NUMBER OF HOUSING DISCRIMINATION COMPLAINTS IN 2008: The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development reports that it received a record number of housing discrimination complaints in 2008. More than 10,000 complaints of housing discrimination were received by the department. The most common form of discrimination involved disabled people. They accounted for 44 percent of all housing discrimination complaints. Race was the second most common reason for filing housing discrimination claims. There were 3,699 cases involving racial discrimination in housing. This is more than 10 each day. Racial discrimination was the reason for 35 percent of all complaints filed with the department in 2008.



CONGRESSMEN PROPOSE NATIONAL HATE CRIMES HOTLINE: According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, only about 43 percent of hate crimes are ever reported to police. In order to make it easier for victims to report hate crimes, a group of Democratic congressmen has introduced the National Hate Crimes Hotline Act of 2009. The legislation calls for the establishment of a toll-free telephone line that can be used by victims of hate crimes. The hotline could be used to report hate crime to law enforcement authorities and to find counseling and other services for hate crime victims.
— The hotline would be patterned after the National Domestic Violence Hotline, which has received over 2 million calls since it was established in 1996.



CDC STUDY FINDS RACIAL DISPARITY IN TOURETTE’S SYNDROME: A study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention finds that there are 150,000 children in the United States who are afflicted with Tourette’s syndrome. The disease, which can cause involuntary physical spasms and at times can cause the afflicted to spew verbal obscenities, is more common than originally believed. The study also found that white children are twice as likely as black children to be diagnosed with Tourette’s syndrome. The CDC is not sure if the racial differences are genetic in nature or if black parents are less likely than white parents to report the affliction to medical personnel.



BLACKS AND WHITES HOLD DIFFERING VIEWS ON THE FUTURE OF NEW ORLEANS: Today the city of New Orleans is far different from the city that existed prior to Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The current population is about three quarters of what it was before the hurricane. Tens of thousands of African Americans have been relocated. Many black neighborhoods of the city that were heavily flooded have not been rebuilt. Whites now hold a majority on the city council for the first time in a quarter-century.
— Now a poll shows that nearly two thirds of white voters in New Orleans favor a plan where some historically black neighborhoods would never be rebuilt. In contrast, three quarters of all black voters want the neighborhoods restored.


Recent Racial Incidents in the United States


BALTIMORE, MARYLAND: The city of Baltimore has filed a lawsuit against Wells Fargo claiming that the bank deliberately targeted minorities for subprime mortgages even when the mortgage applicants qualified for regular mortgages. The bank was accused of using computer software to “translate” mortgage marketing material into a language the bank called “African American.” Affidavits in the case claim that Wells Fargo loan officers referred to subprime mortgages as “ghetto loans” and referred to some of their customers as “mud people.” (Baltimore Sun, 6-4-09)



WHITEWATER, WISCONSIN: Immediately after diversity consultants had addressed the student body at a high school in Whitewater, Wisconsin, concerning racist incidents that had occurred at the school, two new incidents were reported. Racist comments and racist behavior were reported at a school picnic. (Janesville Gazette, 6-6-09)



YOUNGSTOWN, NEW YORK: The superintendent of the public school system in Youngstown, New York, apologized for forwarding racist e-mail messages to friends and members of the school board. The e-mails included a mock press release from the Detroit police department saying that the city’s K-9 police force would replace German shepherds with “coon dogs” because the department was not having any problems with Germans. In defending his actions, the superintendent said, “They can accuse me all they want to, but I didn’t do anything other than what everybody else in the world does.” (Buffalo News, 6-7-09)



INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA: Several current and former employees of Eli Lilly, a pharmaceutical company based in Indianapolis, have accused the company of racial discrimination. The employees charge that blacks were paid less than whites who held similar positions. The black employees also claim that they were passed over for promotions in favor of less-qualified whites and that they were subjected to racially derogatory remarks in the workplace. (Associated Press, 6-9-09)



MOUNT WASHINGTON, KENTUCKY: Eight homes in Mount Washington, Kentucky, were targeted by vandals with graffiti. Only one of the homes was owned by an African-American family. It was the only one of the eight homes where the graffiti was racist in nature. Only 0.3 percent of the town’s residents are African Americans. (Louisville Courier-Journal, 6-9-09)



INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA: Three African-American families in Indianapolis have filed a lawsuit against Chuck E. Cheese’s restaurant chain. The black families say that a restaurant manager refused to serve them, behaved rudely, or forced them to leave the restaurant while white families in the establishment at the same time were treated with respect. The suit claims that the parent company failed to investigate the incidents when informed of the manager’s behavior. (Associated Press, 6-11-09)



NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE: The pit crew chief for a driver on NASCAR’s Nationwide circuit was suspended for directing a racial slur against a black driver before he confronted the African-American man in the garage area of the Nashville Speedway in Tennessee. NASCAR has had a long history of racism, an image that it has worked hard to repair in recent years. (Associated Press, 6-12-09)



WASHINGTON, D.C.: An African-American security guard was shot and killed by a white supremacist at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. In a notebook found in the shooter’s car outside the museum was a note that read, “The Holocaust was a lie. Obama was created by Jews.” (Associated Press, 6-12-09)



Tracking Hate Crimes: For week June 7-13, the term “hate crime” appeared in the nation’s major newspapers and magazines 519 times. This is more than the 404 mentions of the term in the prior week.
— So far in 2009, hate crimes were mentioned 7,399 times in the national press. In the January 1 to June 13, 2008 period, hate crimes were mentioned 7,023 times in the national media.



Reprinted in the WORD with permission from Race Relations Reporter © copyright.