It can be difficult to confront discrimination, even unintentional forms. But, it is incumbent upon us as well meaning human beings, to straighten up injustice in our own backyards.
Apparently, some in our community believe that the MAP program was found "innocent" of discrimination. Some folks don't believe us, the District, Chris Reynolds, the investigator who wrote the report on MAP's discrimination (click here to read about his qualifications) or the ACLU (click here to read about their work on educational equity). Will they believe former Attorney General Eric Holder and First Lady Michelle Obama (click here to read her statements - be sure to watch the video) sharing their thoughts on "subtle racism"? Holder said, on the 60th anniversary of Brown V. Board,
"This presupposes that racial discrimination is at a sufficiently low ebb that it doesn't need to be actively confronted," Holder said. "In its most obvious forms, it might be. But discrimination does not always come in the form of a hateful epithet or a Jim Crow like statute. And so we must continue to take account of racial inequality, especially in its less obvious forms, and actively discuss ways to combat it. As Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote recently in an insightful dissent in the Michigan college admissions case — we must not 'wish away, rather than confront, the racial inequality that exists in our society. ... The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to speak openly and candidly on the subject of race.' "(click here to read the full NPR article).
The Supreme Court ruled in August that unintentional discrimination is still discrimination and therefore, illegal and unconstitutional. According to the Washington Post, "The Supreme Court’s housing decision is a warning against subtle discrimination everywhere." From the article (click here to read in full),
"The idea of disparate impact," says Betsy Julian, the president of the Inclusive Communities Project that brought the case before the Supreme Court, "is if what you do has the same impact as what somebody would do if they intended to discriminate, then disparate impact means you’re still responsible for that harmful impact..."