Obama Restores Civil Rights

categories: Federal, Government, Housing, Inequality, Jobs & Unemployment, Policy, Race Ethnicity Class & Gender, Social Programs, stimulus, Women

Published September 01, 2009 @ 07:00AM PT

Good news this morning: the Obama Administration is "restoring" the Civil Rights Division in the Department of Justice - the agency for anti-discrimination enforcement in the areas of housing, voting rights, employment, and so forth. Under Bush, the division was notoriously politicized, with conservative and Christian loyalists with little civil rights experience recruited and charged with prioritizing religious cases at the expense of the division's core focus on racial/ethnic discrimination. Why am I writing about this at Poverty in America? Because discrimination has historically reinforced racial, gender and other forms of inequality in housing, jobs, etc. - leading to the disproportionately high rates of women and people of color living in poverty.

A history of redlining - where policymakers, bankers, and lenders deny financial services or products in communities where racial minorities or the poor live - is one of the best examples of how our policies and practices prohibited African-Americans from building wealth during the 20th century. They couldn't get mortgages in the neighborhoods where they lived; they couldn't build equity in their houses like a comparable white household could. Racial minorities are disproportionately denied loans, or steered into subprime markets, even if they are income-eligible for prime loans.

The Bush DOJ tried to focus on cases only where intentional discrimination could be shown. But discrimination in housing markets or in employment is often very subtle, difficult to prove, and - as the Lily Ledbetter case points out - has a cumulative impact over time before discrimination may even be known.

It's really difficult to fight poverty without acknowledging the role of racial, gender and other forms of discrimination that mire women, people of color, and the disabled in poverty regardless of how hard they work, how much money they try and save, how well they try and shelter themselves and their kids from crime and violence. Expanding and enforcing civil rights is not a job to put behind us nor dismiss as political under the leadership of our first African-American President. A strengthened and renewed Civil Rights division at DOJ is as essential to reducing poverty as an emphasis on stable rental markets and stimulus subsidies for social programs.

(Image from Kennesaw State University archives; Left photo: "Civil rights protest" by uwdigitalcollections
Right photo: "Obama delivers his speech" by ep_jhu)

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Comments (7)

I have been riding the fence lately when it comes to our President..maybe I'm being impatient..it's been so very long since anyone has addressed the discriminatory laws put in place by ex-Presidents George Bush and Bill Clinton..ie..the "War on Drugs"..and Prisons for Profit... www.FactCheck.Org

Millions of Americans, who have re-paid their "DEBTS to SOCIETY" are still being denied the RIGHT TO VOTE, denied Federal Housing assistance, access to Pell Grants for Education and re-training, Food Stamps (during the recession) and Federal jobs...ie.."Green-Jobs"... this the AMERICAN WAY???

Posted by leatrice brantley on 09/01/2009 @ 07:28AM PT
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Have patience, our President has a lot on his plate. He is rushing things thru as much as Congress will let him, while the Republicans are slowing down each Bill. I watch the Senate and see them in action. Just give him time to get things done. After all Bush was in there 8 years and only accomplished 2 wars.

Posted by Barbara Kantola on 09/01/2009 @ 03:27PM PT
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Leigh, you're spot on about the connection between addressing poverty and enforcing federal civil rights. However, the New York Times article you're linking to is a bit myopic. I worked for the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights during the early years of the Reagan Administration and recall how hard we fought against policy changes the Administration was making-some overt, some by under-funding and still others by shifts in what was litigated and how.

For example, the then Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights maintained that the Fair Housing Act applied only to cases of intentional discrimination and refused to pursue cases that HUD referred to his department. He also sought, successfully, to have the Supreme Court drastically reduce the reach of the major nondiscrimination laws that cover federally assisted programs. Fortunately, Congress enacted legislation "restoring" them, but the AAG fought it tooth and nail. These were not, to my mind, minor "dust-ups," as the NYT says. Perhaps it's just that recent outrages seem more outrageous to us. But it seems we've also lost major parts of the institutional memory.

Posted by Kathryn Baer on 09/02/2009 @ 07:37AM PT
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Or it could be the usual reticence to criticize the golden Reagan years. Thanks for this update!

Posted by Leigh Graham on 09/02/2009 @ 10:40AM PT
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When someone says Obama is restoring Civil Rights they do not mean for the Poor to actually have matters heard in court DO THEY. Tell me when that gets restored.

Posted by jan Lightfootlane on 09/04/2009 @ 12:38PM PT
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Civil Rights:

basic rights: rights that 'all' citizens of a society are supposed to have, e.g. the right to vote or to receive fair treatment from the law. These rights as conceived in U.S. law are set forth in the 13th and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution and in some congressional acts.

__ Humanitarianism First..

Posted by gwenn meltzer on 09/06/2009 @ 10:41PM PT
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Their were many rights lost to those who attempted to use them, before the Homeland began. Yes, a few people rights have been protected by the US Attorney General.

I think you are correct abot the 13th and 14th amendments and a few others.Signing a piece of paper, even one called a law, does not change judges attitudes, who want a clear docket. But it could be a great first step.

It is judges attitudes which must change from haviong a clear docket to protecting the rights of the poor which they take a constitutional oath to do.

Guess I will have to do some homework on this subject when and if I have time. They say even the courts reflect the will of the presidents. I will see.

Posted by jan Lightfootlane on 09/07/2009 @ 07:48AM PT
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Author

Leigh is a PhD candidate in urban planning at MIT, and a consultant on U.S. Gulf Coast recovery. She sits on the Board of the Allston-Brighton Community Development Corporation in Boston, and has worked with non-profits, foundations and local governments on policies and programs aimed at reducing urban poverty and inequality.