Teaching for Change has Released the Second Edition of Its "Putting the Movement Back Into Civil Rights Teaching"

Teaching for Change has released the second edition of Putting the Movement Back Into Civil Rights Teaching, an important teaching tool originally published jointly with the Poverty & Race Research Action Council (PRRAC) in 2004. Edited by Deborah Menkart, Alana D. Murray, and Jenice L. View, Putting the Movement Back Into Civil Rights Teaching is used in school districts and with community groups across the country.

The 2nd edition of the 576-page book is $29.95. Order

The Civil Rights Movement is one of the most commonly taught stories about the fight for democracy and equal rights. However, the powerful stories of everyday people organizing and working together for social change are lost in the focus on a few major heroes and dates. The book and its companion website offer a collection of lessons, essays, articles, primary documents, and poetry to help K-12 educators delve more deeply than a "heroes and holidays" approach to teaching about the Civil Rights Movement in their classrooms. The book's focus is on the themes of women, youth, organizing, culture, institutional racism, and the interconnectedness between social movements. The resources are organized in eight sections: Critiquing the Traditional Narrative, Framing the Movement, Desegregation of Public Spaces, Voting Rights, Black Power, Labor and Land, Transnational Solidarity, and Student Engagement.

There will be a book release event on Wednesday, October 30th in Washington, D.C. at the Busboys and Poets in Brookland (telephone 202-636-7230 625 Monroe St NE, Washington, DC 20017). Presenters include the editors (Jenice L. View, Alana D. Murray, and Deborah Menkart), SNCC veterans (Courtland Cox, Judy Richardson, and Jennifer Lawson), and lesson authors. Educator Jessica Rucker is the emcee. Attendees will hear about the book and engage in some of the activities. Free and open to the public. Books available for purchase and signing. The first 20 classroom teachers in attendance will receive a free copy of the book.

Go to the book's webpage.

PRRAC Advocates Fairer Screening Rules for HUD-Assisted Housing

On June 10, 2024, the Poverty & Race Research Action Council (PRRAC) submitted comments in support of HUD’s proposed rule to eliminate discriminatory uses of criminal records in screening tenants for admission to HUD-funded housing (89 Fed. Reg. 25332). PRRAC is a civil rights policy organization dedicated to the cause of fair housing, and the urgent need to address the continuing segregation of many low-income families of color in high poverty, low opportunity neighborhoods, a condition that is perpetuated by housing, land use, transportation, and education policies at every level of government.

PRRAC's comments included strong support for the elimination of the long-standing (and illegal) practice of re-screening voucher tenants who move from one public housing authority's "area of operation" to another PHA’s town. PRRAC also stressed the relationship of government-sponsored segregation and disproportionate policing and arrests in predominantly Black and Latino communities as a relevant fair housing consideration in HUD’s reassessment of the use of criminal records. 

A few weeks after HUD issued the proposed rule, HUD's Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity also issued helpful general guidance on fair housing impacts of some common, but often discriminatory, tenant screening practices.

The PRRAC also recently released an update of its "State, Local, and Federal Laws Barring Source-of-Income Discrimination (originally published as Appendix B to Expanding Choice: Practical Strategies for Building a Successful Housing Mobility Program, 2013), June 2024. According to the Center for Policy Alternatives’ calculations, at the time the original report was released, source of income discrimination laws protected 34% of voucher holders in the nation. With the addition of seven states since December, 2018 (New York, California, Colorado, Rhode Island, Maryland, Virginia, and Illinois) and a number of new municipalities, the PRRAC now estimates that over 57% of voucher holders are now covered.

Read the PRRAC Source of Income Laws Report

RECENT FAIR HOUSING NEWS

Same-Sex Couples 73% More Likely to be Denied Mortgage. The just-published analysis of 2009-2015 national mortgage date compared same-sex couples' experiences to that of heterosexual couples with the same financial worthiness, according to an analysis of national mortgage data from 1990 to 2015. The researchers say their findings signal a need to include sexual orientation as a protected class under federal lending laws. 

Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the study also found that when same-sex couples were approved for a home loan, they were given inferior terms. They paid an average of 0.2% more in interest and fees, which totals annually up to as much as $86 million. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/04/17/same-sex-couples-applying-mortgage-face-higher-rejection-worse-rates-study-finds/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.c072a491e8cb.

State Farm Agrees to Pay $250 Million, Avoids Racketeering Trial. The payment is to customers who claimed the company tried to rig the Illinois justice system to wipe out a $1 billion jury verdict from 19 years ago. The largest U.S. auto insurer apparently led an effort to get a judge friendly to its cause for the Illinois Supreme Court, secretly funding Judge Lloyd Karmeier’s 2004 election campaign by giving money through advocacy groups that were not required to disclose donors. Under the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, any damages would have been tripled. A judge granted preliminary approval to the accord and set a final fairness hearing for December. https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2018/09/04/500127.htm.

IN THE LATEST FAIR HOUSING NEWS:

Providence, RI Considers Banning Landlords Who Refuse Section 8 Vouchers. Read the March 21, 2019 WPRI.com article.

New Study Finds that Residents of  Historically Redlined Neighborhoods are Over Twice as Likely to go to the Emergency Room (ER) for Asthma. People of color are far more likely to breathe polluted air. Read the May 23, 2019 Citylab article.

Pattern Reversed in Diversifying Neighborhoods: The Decline in Racially Segregated Neighborhoods Between 2000-2017 is Caused by Whites Moving into Minority Areas. Read the April 27, 2019 New York Times article. Read the May 1, 2019 New York Times analysis article.

New Report Discovers that America's Most Polluting Incinerators Disproportionately Affect Low-Income Neighborhoods and Communities of Color. Read the report. Read the May 21, 2019 London Guardian article. Read the May 21, 2019 Pacific Standard article.

Multiple Complaints of Racial Discrimination in Harford County. . Read the April 1, 2019 Atlanta Black Star article. Read the June 1, 2019 Baltimore Sun article.

Study by the Poverty & Race Research Action Council (PRRAC) Finds that “Immigrant Integration” – New Immigrants Inclusion in American Society – is Endangered by their Housing and School Segregation. Immigrant Integration and Immigrant Segregation. Read the April 2019 PRRAC report.