The best Online drugstores

Adjust font size: AA

For Civil Minds Blog

Fair Housing Organizations Maintain Critical Role in Enforcing the Fair Housing Act

Posted on May 11th, 2012 by

By Melissa Rothstein, deputy director of the Equal Rights Center, and Megan K. Whyte, director of the Fair Housing Project at the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs.  This is cross-posted at ACSblog.

Fair Housing Month recently ended, and for most it was an opportunity to celebrate our country’s commitment to equal opportunity in housing for all people. Unfortunately, for some, it was instead another occasion for attacks on the crucial efforts to ensure enforcement of our country’s fair housing laws.

In one such example, Congress launched an investigation into why the City of St. Paul withdrew an appeal in the Supreme Court that had the potential to eviscerate the validity of disparate impact challenges under the Fair Housing Act (FHA), despite the rulings of eleven federal circuit courts of appeal that uniformly held that disparate impact claims are cognizable under the FHA. In another example, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney suggested that, if elected president, he would consider disbanding the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), an agency for which his father once served as Secretary. (more…)

Categorized as Civil Rights, Fair Housing
Tags: , , , , , , , ,
No Comments »


Work In Progress: Resistance Has Always Been Part of Process

Posted on May 10th, 2012 by

By Adrea L. Jaehnig

Guest Blog

Photo of President ObamaThe night before last, my partner and I watched online as the votes came in, county by county, on an amendment in North Carolina that would enshrine discrimination against an entire group of people into her home state’s constitution. Passage seemed overwhelmingly likely. With heavy hearts, we thought of our friends and family who live in the state and tried to imagine how they were feeling. To be fair, this is not simply a North Carolina issue. The distressing reality is that thirty states have passed similar laws over the past seven years. We were reminded that there is much work to be done, not only in NC, but everywhere.

Resistance to laws, policies, and practices that affirm and make the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people visible is nothing new. The harmful rhetoric used by opponents seeks to silence LGBT people, their families, and supporters and to create a perception that their views are universally shared and represent the views of all people of faith. This resistance is a sign that the movement to affirm the human dignity of LGBT people is making historic progress. Let resistance be our inspiration. (more…)

Categorized as Civil Rights, LBGT Rights
Tags: , , ,
No Comments »


Meet the ERC’s Corporate Partnerships and Training Program!

Posted on May 3rd, 2012 by

In this 4-minute video, ERC Corporate Partnerships and Training Program Manager Victoria Lanteigne explains how the CP&T program works, and what the ERC can do for your company or organization to help comply with civil rights laws.

Categorized as Civil Rights, Corporate Partnerships and Training
Tags: , ,
No Comments »


U.S. Supreme Court Hears Oral Arguments on Arizona’s Harsh Anti-Immigrant Law

Posted on April 30th, 2012 by

Stop SB1070 Sign in Front of White House

Photo by David Sachs / SEIU

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Arizona’s controversial immigration law, SB 1070. In this case, the Obama Administration is challenging certain aspects of Arizona’s law as infringing on the federal government’s power to exclusively establish and enforce immigration law.

Specifically, the federal government is challenging four provisions in the Arizona law: 1) requiring local law enforcement to question an individual if they have reasonable suspicion to believe that the individual is undocumented; 2) making it a state crime for an immigrant to fail to produce proper documentation, even if in the country lawfully; 3) making it a state crime for undocumented immigrants to solicit, apply for, or perform work; and 4) authorizing local law enforcement officers to perform warrantless arrests if they believe an individual is undocumented. (more…)

Categorized as Civil Rights, Immigrant Rights
Tags: , , , ,
No Comments »


End Racial Profiling

Posted on April 18th, 2012 by

This week is End Racial Profiling Awareness Week, as advocates around the country try to raise awareness about the problems of racial profiling and call for federal protections against this ineffective practice.

Racial profiling is the practice sometimes used by law enforcement targeting specific individuals based on their perceived race, ethnicity, religion, or national origin.  Sometimes described as “driving while black,” African Americans are significantly more likely to be pulled over, ticketed, or otherwise pursued by police patrolling for street crimes than white drivers.  Similarly, in their investigation of the death of Trayvon Martin, prosecutors assert that George Zimmerman “profiled” the 17 year old African American boy. (more…)

Categorized as Civil Rights
Tags: , , , ,
No Comments »


ERC Launches PSA Campaign on Emerging Housing Issue of “Visitability”

Posted on April 16th, 2012 by

Visitability PSA posterThe ERC and the D.C. Office of Human Rights (DCOHR), an agency of the District of Columbia government that seeks to eradicate discrimination, have launched a multi-faceted campaign about “visitability.” This campaign builds on the 2011 “what is WRONG with these pictures?” campaign.

Visitability is a movement to design new single family homes to include three accessible features that will help ensure all visitors can enter homes, move about the ground floor, and have access to a bathroom. These features allow individuals with disabilities to visit friends, family, and others in their place of residence, and are much cheaper to implement originally than to retrofit later. Although federal law requires some accessibility features in the construction of apartments, condominiums, and places of public accommodation, it does not yet require accessibility standards in single-family homes. The visitability movement seeks to address this significant segment of available housing. (more…)

Categorized as Advocacy, Disability Rights, Fair Housing
Tags: , ,
No Comments »


Corporate Partner Spotlight: Trammell Crow Residential

Posted on April 16th, 2012 by

By Sean Rae, Trammell Crow Residential
Guest Blog

Trammell Crow LogoFour years ago, Trammell Crow Residential (TCR) joined with the Equal Rights Center to bring accessible housing to the forefront of property developers’ agendas.  TCR was formed in 1977 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas; its entities develop, construct and acquire multi-family rental and condominium communities of the highest standards.  In 2008, TCR became the founding and first member of the Multifamily Housing Resource Program (MHRP), an ERC membership program for housing industry leaders that promotes compliance with accessibility requirements of federal, state and local laws. Through the MHRP, TCR has solidified its role as an industry leader in accessible housing. and is now better able to meet the housing needs of the more than 55 million people with disabilities across the United States.

When TCR began its partnership with the ERC to create the MHRP, much of the housing development industry seemed oblivious to compliance with accessibility standards. There was, and still is, a lack of government resources to assist developers in complying with accessibility regulations as mandated by the Fair Housing Act. Although TCR has always strongly believed in equal housing opportunity, complying with accessibility standards demonstrated challenges that were uniquely frustrating. With few educational resources available, and no room for leeway in the regulations, TCR recognized a need to develop a partnership with the ERC – thus the MHRP was born. (more…)

Categorized as Corporate Partnerships and Training, Fair Housing
Tags: , , , ,
No Comments »


Passing the Buck on Fair Employment

Posted on April 13th, 2012 by

Earlier this month, 72 members of Congress urged President Obama to sign an executive order prohibiting federal contractors from discriminating in the workplace based on an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity. While not addressing the request directly, President Obama released a statement this week suggesting that he wants Congress to pass legislation first.

The Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) was considered by Congress last year, but did not pass. The Congressmembers’ letter to the President noted that an executive order would help lay the groundwork for ENDA. Particularly in this election year, no one expect ENDA to have a real chance of passing before 2013.

The result is a Catch-22: Congress needs the momentum and leadership of the Administration to get ENDA – a bill the President supports – passed. The President seems to not want to act until Congress passes the law. As both branches wait for the other to take action, thousands of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals are denied basic fair employment protections. (more…)

Categorized as LBGT Rights
Tags: , , , ,
No Comments »


Spreading the Word

Posted on April 3rd, 2012 by

By Nicole Nagler, ERC Intern

boy with down syndrome looking at cameraThe “Spread the Word to End the Word” Campaign seeks to eliminate the derogatory use of the word “retard(ed)” from everyday speech and to “promote the acceptance, and inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities.” More than 290,000 individuals have taken the pledge to stop using the “r-word” inappropriately, and to recognize this as a form of hate speech.

Seven years ago, I became a member of the Best Buddies Organization, a non-profit organization that “creates opportunities for one-to-one friendships, integrated employment, and leadership development for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.” Best Buddies members meet individually or in a group setting, and do anything from playing sports, to watching movies, to cooking dinner together. In the last few years, I have had the opportunity to meet many individuals with disabilities and form friendships with pretty incredible people. As I have gotten to know members of the disability community, and I have been inspired to advocate for this cause. (more…)

Categorized as Advocacy, Disability Rights
Tags: , , ,
No Comments »


No Child Left Behind, Regardless of Race

Posted on April 3rd, 2012 by

By Mistead Sai, ERC Intern

One Caucasian and Two African American kids smiling outsideIn early March, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights released the Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC), reporting startling information about racial disparities within school systems across the U.S. This data is intended to be a national tool to analyze the equity and educational opportunities in K-12 schools and districts, and covers about 85% of the nation’s public school students.

The CRDC reported that African-American students are more than three and one-half times more likely to be suspended or expelled than their white peers. The study also found that more than 70% of students involved in school-related arrests or referred to law enforcement are Hispanic or African-American. In addition, African-American students have higher suspension rates than any of their peers; one in five (20%) African-American boys, and more than one in ten (10%) African-American girls received an out-of-school suspension. On the other hand, Caucasian boys had a rate of 12%, and Caucasian girls a rate of 3% for out-of school suspension. Despite these numbers, the Christian Science Monitor writes that the “data suggests that there’s little evidence that black children exhibit higher rates of actual deviance than white children.” (more…)

Categorized as Civil Rights
Tags: , , ,
No Comments »


Built by Firefly Partners Firefly Logo