Delaware Cited for Efforts to End Housing Discrimination
April 18, 2005
Dover, April 18, 2005 - "Delaware is nationally recognized" for its work in ending housing discrimination, attorney Gordon L. Joyner told an audience of about 130 people gathered for the 12th Annual Fair Housing Conference in Dover on Monday.
Joyner, a prominent national figure in the battle for fair housing, came to Delaware to celebrate the 36th anniversary of the Delaware Fair Housing Act and the 37th anniversary of Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968, known as the Federal Fair Housing Law. The Fair Housing Conference was sponsored by the Delaware Human Relations Commission and the Division of Human Relations.
Joyner, executive director of the Georgia Commission on Equal Opportunity, litigated the historic 1990 Herron v. Blackwell case, the first lawsuit to go to trial under the Federal Fair Housing Law. He noted that there is a reason that April is designated as Fair Housing Month, both nationally and in Delaware, by proclamation of Gov. Ruth Ann Minner.
"Two things happened in April 1968," Joyner said. He noted that the federal fair housing bill appeared to be on its way to defeat until Dr. Martin Luther King, the civil rights leader, was assassinated on April 4, 1968. In the turbulent aftermath of King's murder, "Congress decided to act," Joyner explained. Within days, Congress passed the Federal Fair Housing Law. Delaware's version of the law passed the following year. The housing legislation is "a testament to the life and good works of Dr. King-and a direct result of his death," said Joyner.
In a passionate presentation that traced the history of discrimination against African Americans in the United States, Joyner cautioned that "blacks do not have a monopoly" on being victims of discrimination. That is why Delaware's fair housing laws ban discrimination on the basis of race, age, marital status, creed, color, sex, religion, national origin, familial status, or handicap.
The program featured guest speaker Joyner, as well as Delaware State Senator Margaret Rose Henry. The conference offered four workshops: "Policies & Practices in the Appraisal Lending Industry"; "Fair Housing Law"; "Disability Law: Reasonable Accommodation"; and "Outreach and Education."
To learn how to recognize discrimination in housing and to prevent it, call the Division of Human Relations at (302) 577-5050. To learn more about your rights under Delaware law, download a copy of the Delaware Fair Housing Law (Title 6) at www.state.de.us/hr/fhtraining.shtml.
