On July 2, 1964 President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the 1964 civil rights act, which outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origins. However, 54 years later, the Trump administration was trying to dismantle all progress made against discrimination, including and especially housing.
But just a few years after former HUD Secretary Julian Castro passed a rule requiring more than “1,200 communities receiving billions of federal housing dollars to draft plans to desegregate their communities — or risk losing federal funds,” his successor, Ben Carson, called it “failed socialist experiments.” Now, Carson was trying to end it completely, which is what Trump reportedly wanted all along.
“Republican lawmakers have urged HUD Secretary Ben Carson to review the rule,” Salon.com reported Monday. “Seventeen of the 18 House members who signed the letter have received $55,333 in campaign contributions so far for the 2018 election from the political action committee of the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America which has sued HUD over the rule.”
More than likely, Carson will agree because he does whatever Trump demands, which would allow “banks, landlords and insurance companies to discriminate against minority homeowners and tenants,” Salon.com also reported. As we all know, Trump is about big business. With Carson has secretary of HUD, there was no one left in the federal government to advocate for fair housing.
On the day of the anniversary of the Civil Rights Act, Dr. King must have been rolling in his grave.