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3 Colum. J. Race & L. 1 (2013)

handle is hein.journals/cjoral3 and id is 1 raw text is: COLUMBIA JOURNAL OF RACE AND LAW

CHANCES ARE: LESSONS FROM THE
1962 UNITED STATES CIVIL RIGHTS
COMMISSION HOUSING
DISCRIMINATION HEARINGS IN
WASHINGTON D.C. FOR THE CURRENT
FORECLOSURE CRISIS
BRIAN GILMORE*
Bj examining a prior government hearing that investigated instances and patterns of housing
discrimination in the U.S., a more accurate picture of the damage created by government policies that
supported housing discrimination, racial segregation, and economic inequality can be presented. This
Article focuses specit)cally upon the 1962 Housing Discrimination hearings convened in Washington
D.C. bj the United States Civi/ Rights Commission. The hearings ocused upon housing discrimination
and patterns of racial segregation in the Washington D.C. Metropolitan region produced as a direct
result of government policies pursued and endorsed for over thirty jears bj the Federal Housing
Administration (FHA). In addition, this Article will not only expose the ineffectiveness of the 1962
hearings in addressing these very important socio-economic issues but also identifj current racial
discrimination and economic equality at the center of todaj's damaging housing crisis. In sum, this
Article argues for addressing past, present, and future racial discrimination patterns in housing with a
much more aggressive and honest approach to a problem rooted in economic inequality and ineffective
government polig. Even in the age of resistance to governmental solutions to economic inequality, the need
forjust such an approach isjustified in this instance.
I.      INTRODUCTION.............................................. 2
II.     THE UNITED STATES CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1957...                        .............  3
A.      A Civil Rights Law, At Last....          .............................     3
B.      The Commission.......................................... 4
III.    THE APRIL 1962 HEARINGS ON HOUSING IN WASHINGTON, D.C.                             5
A.      The Commission Pursues its Mission.          .........................     5
B.      A Discriminatory Environment.           ..............................     6
C.      The Government and the Banks..............................                 10
IV.     WHAT DO THE HEARINGS MEAN?............................. 13

A.     Wealth accumulation.        ......................................

2013

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