Cars and Parts Springfield Swap Meet
Carroll Commencement
Fairborn commencement
Ellen Belcher is the Dayton Daily News opinion pages editor. She writes about state government, education, the environment, higher education and all things Dayton.
Martin Gottlieb is an editorial writer and columnist for the Dayton Daily News opinion pages. He focuses on the political process itself and does such national issues as war, the economy, taxes and Social Security, as well as a hodge-podge of local and state issues.Home > Blogs > A Matter of Opinion > Archives > 2009 > April > 29 > Entry
Guest column: Diversity ads might change bad behavior
Jim McCarthy is president/CEO of the Miami Valley Fair Housing Center and chairman of the board of directors of the National Fair Housing Alliance.
Kathleen Parker did a tremendous disservice by manipulating the truth in her April 20 column, “Big Brother says to love thy neighbor — or else.”
The federal Fair Housing Act was passed in 1968 with two purposes: to eliminate housing discrimination and to promote residential integration.
She failed to mention the law’s dual purpose, as supported by Congress twice — first in 1968, when Sens. Walter Mondale, Edward Brooke and Everett Dirksen moved the legislation into law immediately following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and again when President Ronald Reagan signed the Fair Housing Amendments Act in 1988.
Research shows that white families want to live in communities where they and their children have the opportunity to grow up with people from different racial, ethnic and religious backgrounds. However, research and investigations continue to prove that some real-estate agents engage in racial steering — a practice that keeps buyers from even viewing homes in neighborhoods where their race does not predominate.
According to an analysis done for the National Fair Housing Alliance, it is estimated that approximately 3.7 million fair housing violations occur annually against African-Americans, Latinos, Native Americans and Asian Pacific Islanders alone. These illegal practices, coupled with data from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, show ongoing rental and sales discrimination, rendering invalid Parker’s notion that an “organic process” is the best way to promote diversity.
Not only has the law long been supported by Congress, but it has also been upheld in the Supreme Court.
In 1972, white residents claimed that their racially isolated community deprived them of the opportunities for multicultural and multiracial associations. The court found that when people of color are discouraged or denied the opportunity to live in a neighborhood, all residents, including whites, miss business and professional opportunities and have the stigma of living in a segregated community. (The case was Trafficante vs. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co.)
The national media campaign (www.ARicherLife.org) that Parker complains about, and warns against, simply promotes the benefits of residential diversity. I wonder if Parker was also against the “Don’t Be a Litterbug” campaign of my childhood.
What’s wrong with selling a positive message that changes bad behavior?
Jim McCarthy is president/CEO of the Miami Valley Fair Housing Center and chairman of the board of directors of the National Fair Housing Alliance.
Permalink | Comments (9) | Post your comment | Categories: Guest Columns
Comments
By George
April 29, 2009 9:53 PM | Link to this
Only a liberal elitist like Mr McCarthy could imagine a society whose government could force people to live where the bureaucrats think is best. Freedom and liberty are under assault once again, cloaked in the veil of “diversity”. Let people of all races live where they want. While real discrimination is (and should be)illegal, the frivolous lawsuits that your agency encourages are an insult to our judicial system. Tort reform is long overdue…let the loser be forced to pay. After all, doesn’t it make sense for both parties to have some “skin in the game”?By David Lauri
April 30, 2009 12:41 PM | Link to this
George, kindly point out where in McCarthy’s column he advocates the government’s “forc[ing] people to live where the bureaucrats think is best.” I sure didn’t see anything like that.By Bob540
April 30, 2009 1:02 PM | Link to this
Correction, Mr. McCarthy: People SAY they want to live in “diverse” neighborhhods, but where do they actually live? In segregated communities. People want to live near people like themselves. Maybe if everyone would quit trying to convince us how different — how diverse — we are, people would try living near those whose skin color or accent is different from their own.By Social Engineering
April 30, 2009 9:01 PM | Link to this
So white residents claimed their community was racially isolated and they were deprived of multicultural associations….so why didn’t they move to a black community? Was there a community organizer involved? Why was a lawsuit needed?By LP in DC
April 30, 2009 9:20 PM | Link to this
I’m a native Daytonian who moved to Washington, DC over 15 years ago. One of the biggest reasons I moved from my hometown of 36 years was because of the racial diversity that DC afforded. Dayton was just too white bread, milquetoast and I craved a more multicultural environment. While not perfect by any means, DC is no where near as segregated as Dayton. I’m living proof of the research cited in this opinion piece. I come back to Dayton frequently to visit, but when I step off the plane at DC’s National Airport and I see people who reflect the many colors of humanity, I sigh and feel like I’m truly “home.” You just keep doing the good work you’re doing, Mr. McCarthy. Maybe some day folks in Dayton won’t be so small-minded.By Randall Smith
May 1, 2009 10:01 AM | Link to this
Ms. Parker’s flippant statement “That not all people have access to all the same housing opportunities is called life in a free-market” demonstrates her complete lack of understanding or sensitivity to the historical and ongoing impact of individual and institutional racism on our housing market and the ongoing need to prosecute continued overt acts of discrmination and the need for public awareness as to the determental impact that segration has in our housing market, and that without the enforcement of fair housing laws or the changing atitudes our “free market” will continue to support this segration.By RAW
May 1, 2009 10:19 AM | Link to this
I generally think that any research done regarding diversity is biased because responders will provide answers that they think the researcher wants to hear or what is politically correct. Of course white people say they want diversity. They know if they do not say that, they will be ridiculed and perhaps sued. I, for one, do recognize the value of diversity. The problem is, humans tend to gravitate toward those that are similar to themselves. It is a basic need developed from our tribal day s as hunter-gatherers. Look at your own friends. How many of those friends are of a different culture, race, religion, or gender. Unless you make a concious effort to evenly split your social circle into properly represented groups, than you probably have more friends of the same race, religion, and gender. There is nothing wrong with that, despite what others may say, as long as you recognize that there is value in diversity, and that you do make an effort reach out to others different from yourself. —-I also believe that much of this residency segregation is brought on by the media. Especially in Dayton, the only things you hear about the African-American communites in Dayton are negative. Shots fired, home invasion, beatings, car-jacking are common headlines on the nightly news and 75% of the time, these activities are occurrring in predominantly black neighborhoods, also generally low-income neighborhoods which speaks to a larger issue, but that is not reported or talked about. The impression that white neighborhoods have is that diversity creates strife and the potential for crime. They do not want their neighborhood on the news for the very same headlines that they saw the night before. We need to address the real problem, and that is why are so many more African-Americans in poverty versus white America? I do not have enough time to address my thoughts on that subject.By Calvin
May 1, 2009 12:49 PM | Link to this
I am with RAW on the lack of meaning to any of these surveys. People say something and it’s interpreted differently by the pollsters. Also maybe the blacks need to consider the feelings of whites. I just read about Governor Paterson (NY) firing the white photographer in the senate and replacing him with a black photographer. Shouldn’t he consider the ability of the photograher rather than the race just becaue Paterson is black?By Bob540
May 1, 2009 1:15 PM | Link to this
when I hear some whites tout the virtues of a “diverse community” I note that there is only so much diversity they want. 20-30% black neighbers may be fine, but when the % gets above, say, 50%, all the sudden it’s not so nice. Why is that? Why does “too many blacks” in an area make these people uncomfortable? Guess.