Justice Department (DOJ) Issues Report Highlighting Critical Enforcement Work Over the Past Four Years; But Trump Administration DOJ Then Cancels New Civil Rights Work

The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division has issued its 2021-2024 Civil Rights Division Highlights Report, outlining various accomplishments of the division and its partners in enforcing the nation’s civil rights laws and the Constitution from 2021-2024.

The report reflects upon a portion of the critical civil rights work across the division’s 11 sections where the career staff and leadership worked to bring to justice those who harmed, threatened and/or intimidated people because of their race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, English proficiency, or disability status.   

This work has included challenging discriminatory voting laws and abortion restrictions, to investigating police departments and prison conditions, to fighting modern day redlining, and working to combat hate and protect people with disabilities and LGBTQ people.

“Our Civil Rights Division has doggedly pursued justice for our nation’s most vulnerable through enforcement of our civil rights laws by combating hate and exploitation, promoting fairness and accountability in our criminal justice system, strengthening democracy, and expanding and ensuring opportunity and access for all. This report provides snapshots of some of that work,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “Over the past four years, I have had the privilege and honor of leading the Civil Rights Division and overseeing this crucial work. I am incredibly grateful for the tireless efforts of our career employees who have steadfastly abided by Attorney General Merrick B. Garland’s charge to uphold the rule of law, protect civil rights and keep our country and communities safe. And I am indebted to our communities and advocates who bravely asserted their rights and shared their stories in our common pursuit of justice and fairness.”

More information about the Civil Rights Division can be found at www.justice.gov/crt. To report a possible civil rights violation, please visit www.civilrights.justice.gov/.  

Unfortunately, on January 22, 2025, the Trump Administration Justice Department "has ordered an immediate halt to all new civil rights cases or investigations - and signaled that it might back out of Biden-era agreements with police departments that engaged in discrimination or violence, according to two internal memos sent to staff on Wednesday. The actions, while expected, represent an abrupt about-face for a department that had for the past four years aggressively investigated high-profile instances of violence and systemic discrimination in local law enforcement and government agencies."

Read the January 16, 2025 DOJ press release.

Read the January 17, 2025 Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights article.

Read the January 22, 2025 New York Times article.

Book Review: "Not in My Backyard: How Citizen Activists Nationalized Local Politics in the Fight to Save Green Springs" by Brian Balogh

Yale University Press, 2024. $35.00 hardcover. 385 pages.

This interesting book details how a woman-led citizens’ group beat a Southern political machine by enlisting federal bureaucrats and judges to protect their neighborhood from unchecked economic development. It is also one story of the beginning of NIMBYism and local political activism in a decades-long fight to save Green Springs, Virginia. It illuminates the economic tradeoffs of protecting the environment, the changing nature of local control, and the surprising power of history to advance public policy.

Political neophyte Rae Ely began a campaign in 1970 to stop a prison and later a strip mine, in Green Springs. The local political machine supported the proposed projects, promising jobs for impoverished Louisa County, Virginia. But Ely and her allies prevailed by applying some of the tactics of the Civil Rights movement - the appeal to federal agencies and courts to circumvent local control—and by using new historical interpretations to create the first rural National Historic Landmark District. When these middle-class white women spoke out in defense of their community, they expanded the space for political participation in ways that would have lasting consequences.

The Green Springs protesters fought to preserve the historic character of their neighborhood and the surrounding environment characterized the conflict in late twentieth-century America between unbridled economic development for all and protecting the quality of life for an economically privileged few. 

NIMBY tactics are now used by neighborhood groups across the nation, even if they have been applied in ways she never intended: to resist any form of development. Green Springs, in fact, reflects an atypical approach to NIMBYism. Ely could only turn to the federal government because the projects she sought to stop received federal funds. In most cases, the political power that NIMBY groups wield is overwhelmingly dependent on the turn toward local control - which was a change in urban policy that developed in reaction to urban renewal (often federally funded).

A good source for detailing the start of NIMBYism is Katherine Levine Einstein, David M. Glick, and Maxwell Palmer’s Neighborhood Defenders: Participatory Politics and America's Housing Crisis (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2020).

Read the February 4, 2024 article in the Independent Review: A  Journal of Political Economy.

Book Review: JOHN LEWIS: A Life, by David Greenberg

 

Simon & Schuster, 2024. $35.00 hardcover. 704 pages.

David Greenberg’s “authoritative…definitive biography” (David J. Garrow, Pulitzer Prize–winning author) follows Lewis’ life through documents from numerous archives, interviews with 275 people who knew him, and rare footage of Lewis speaking from his hospital bed after Selma. The author relates his history beyond the civil rights era, highlighting his leadership in the Voter Education Project, where he helped enroll millions of African American voters across the South. The book also covers Lewis' ascent in politics, first locally in Atlanta and then as a respected member of Congress. As part of the Democratic leadership, Lewis was admired on both sides of the aisle for his unwavering dedication to nonviolent integration and justice. Recommended.

Support Needed for Fair Housing Bill HB1239 in the Current Maryland Session!

 

The Fair Housing and Housing Discrimination - Regulations, Intent, and Discriminatory Effect Bill is sponsored by Delegates Deni Taveras (D-47B), Mary A. Lehman (D-21), Joe Vogel (D-17), Nick Allen (D-8), Julian Ivey (D-47A), Joseline A. Peña-Melnyk (D-21), and Jamila J. Woods (D-26). Go to https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Legislation/Details/HB1239?ys=2025RS to read the Official Document.

The bill was originally assigned to the House Environment and Transportation Committee. Its effective date would be October 1, 2025. It currently is in the House of Delegates, and a House Environment and Transportation Committee hearing about the bill is scheduled for February 28th at 1:00 p.m.

HB1239 authorizes the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development to adopt certain regulations related to affirmatively furthering fair housing; providing that certain discriminatory housing practices may be committed without intent; prohibiting a person from acting in a certain manner that has a discriminatory effect against a person related to the sale or rental of a dwelling; and providing that certain conduct does not constitute a certain violation.

This bill enhances fair housing protections in the state of Maryland by expanding the Department of Housing and Community Development's responsibilities and clarifying housing discrimination regulations. The bill requires the Department to administer housing programs in a way that "affirmatively furthers fair housing" and to collaborate with nonprofit and governmental entities committed to fair housing goals. Most importantly, the legislation introduces a new legal standard that allows claims of housing discrimination to be proven even without demonstrating intentional discrimination, meaning that practices with a discriminatory effect can be challenged regardless of the actor's intent. This statement refers to the legal concept of "disparate impact" in housing discrimination.

Disparate impact theory is a key legal principle in fair housing enforcement, ensuring  that policies or practices that disproportionately harm protected groups - regardless of intent - can be challenged under the law. Unlike cases of overt discrimination, disparate impact cases address systemic inequities that come from seemingly neutral policies. This doctrine is crucial for addressing racial disparities in housing, zoning laws that disproportionately exclude certain populations, and lending practices that result in unequal mortgage approvals. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the use of disparate impact claims in Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs v. Inclusive Communities Project (2015), affirming that policies with discriminatory effects can violate the Fair Housing Act, even in the absence of intentional discrimination. California, New York, and Illinois have state-level disparate impact protections similar to what this bill proposes.

The bill specifically prohibits various discriminatory practices in housing, such as refusing to rent or sell, making discriminatory statements, or providing unequal services based on characteristics like race, color, religion, sex, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, source of income, or military status. 

The bill also provides a defense for actions that meet three conditions: the action was without discriminatory intent, was justified by legitimate business necessity, and could not have been accomplished through less discriminatory means. 

The legislation empowers aggrieved persons to file civil actions and allows for remedies including damages and injunctive relief, with the Attorney General granted broad investigative and prosecutorial powers to address civil rights violations in housing.

Read the BillTrack50 summary.

Read the proposed bill.

Anne Arundel County Hate Bias Reporting Forum is March 29th at Anne Arundel Community College

 

Saturday, March 29 · 9:30 a.m. - 4 p.m. EDT

Anne Arundel Community College, 101 College Parkway Arnold, Maryland 21012

This forum is being presented by the Maryland Commission on Civil Rights, the Maryland Office of the Attorney General, and the Anne Arundel County Office of Equity and Human Rights. The Hate Bias Reporting Forum will provide community members and law enforcement with information related to the 2023 Hate Bias Report. 

   

The forum will engage local law enforcement, elected officials, and community leaders in discussions and information sharing on methods to facilitate more effective reporting as well as responding to bias incidents and hate crimes.

Please register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/anne-arundel-county-hate-bias-forum-tickets-1248414414119?aff=oddtdtcreator. 

There is a large parking lot in front of the Cade building, so parking should be easy to find: https://www.aacc.edu/media/college/images/maps/Campus-Map_WEB_09052024.jpg.

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Johnston Square Being Redeveloped Without Displacement

 

In 2013, Regina Hammond has been leader in community development in Johnston Square, a neighborhood historically plagued by racist lending practices and disinvestment for generations. She established the Rebuild Johnston Square Neighborhood Organization (RJSNO) and started listening to the needs of her neighbors. Conducting a survey, RJSNO made plans that would eventually become part of the Johnston Square 2020 Vision Plan. The plans were made alongside nonprofit ReBUILD Metro and Baltimore’s Department of Housing and Community Development.

Hammond and RJSNO’s plans for Johnston Square involve both refurbishing homes and creating a holistic and health environment that benefits the community. RJSNO has planted gardens and trees in Johnston Square, and their collaborators at ReBUILD Metro are currently spearheading the construction of Greenmount Park for the local schools, Saint Frances Academy and Johnston Square Elementary. RJSNO's bee symbol, started with a mural on the corner of Wilcox and Biddle streets, represents the organization’s grit and stands as a unifying sign for the neighborhood’s identity.

The city agency gains ownership of vacant houses to be refurbished and approves their community projects. Aside from Greenmount Park, ReBUILD Metro and RJSNO have also begun building a new Enoch Pratt Free Library branch. The library will provide a productive  space for learning and socializing. They are both scheduled to open in August 2025

Preventing displacement of current residents is a top concern for RJSNO and ReBUILD Metro as revitalization proceeds. A 2019 study conducted by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) found that Baltimore had the fifth-highest rate of gentrification from 2000 to 2013, with five neighborhoods displacing an average of 673 Black residents.

“The biggest way in which [displacement] happens is largely through property taxes,” said Andrew Samuel, an economics professor at Loyola University Maryland “And when the properties get reappraised at a higher value, even if the property tax rate doesn’t change, the liability that people are expected to bear now goes up. And that’s usually the most frequent way in which people find that they are unable to continue to afford to live in the neighborhood.”

Hammond and Closkey believe the path to revitalization without gentrification starts with community involvement. Lowering Johnston Square’s vacancy rates requires more than home repair. Examining how houses end up vacant and preventing future vacancies is just as important. For example, the city housing department collaborates with companies like LifeBridge Health and Meals on Wheels to help with the health of underserved senior citizens. “All of those components and helping our older adults age in place actually are preventing vacant properties,” said Alice Kennedy, commissioner of the Department of Housing and Community Development “We can’t demolish our way out of this, and we also have a focus on preventing the vacants as well.”

Rising from decades of disinvestment also must include building generational wealth through homeownership. ReBUILD Metro established a free program called Path to Own to help renters in Johnston Square take the necessary steps to buy a home, so residents can benefit from predictable mortgage payments and rising equity. Residents are urged to apply for the Maryland Homestead Tax Credit, a program designed to limit tax increases and assist homeowners experiencing large jumps in property tax that are often plague developing neighborhoods. 

ReBUILD Metro - whose programs serve to cure the root cause of vacant housing, rather than simply eliminate the symptoms - also refurbishes Johnston Square residents’ homes under their Legacy Homeowner Repair program. These renovations serve to improve the living conditions of the residents and assist in building equity in their homes, which keeps the houses occupied and the families content. 

RJSNO’s Johnston Square 2020 Vision Plan details their goals to maintain mixed-income housing within the neighborhood to help prevent displacement.

Read the February 19, 2025 Baltimore Fishbowl article.

Chicago Non-Profit Transforming Vacant Land Stripped by Redlining & Other Discrimination

Chicago's Emerald South is working to reverse the negative effects of historic redlining by revitalizing and transforming 205 acres of vacant land. Ghian Foreman leads the Emerald South Economic Development Collaborative, a nonprofit. Its Terra Firma initiative. begun in 2021, is a multiyear, $50 million land care initiative to beautify, maintain, and activate vacant land in the community. 

The Collaborative's mission is "to attract and coordinate investment through community convening and collaborative partnerships that increase local ownership and prosperity." It was started in 2017 with a $250,000 grant from the Chicago Community Trust and funding from the Polk Bros. Foundation. The goal is to create ways for local businesses and residents to benefit from the tourists expected to come to the area once the Obama Presidential Center is built in Jackson Park.

The project focuses on revitalizing neighborhoods across what the organization calls the Mid South Side: from Bronzeville to the north, down to South Chicago, to the south. According to housing policy experts, many of these areas were shaped by discriminatory housing practices. "There were policies that were put in place - redlining, restrictive covenants, urban renewal - where a lot of these buildings that sat here were actually torn down," said Foreman.

According to the Cook County Assessor, there are over 30,000 vacant lots in Cook County, both city- and privately-owned. The vast majority, 93%, are in communities of color, while only 7% are in majority-white neighborhoods. On Chicago's South Side, vacant lots account for 67% of the total, compared to just 4% on the North Side.

Emerald South is still in phase one of its ambitious plan. So far, the organization has cleaned and beautified over 100 acres. That land is marked by its signature split-rail fencing, a symbol of what's to come. "First, it's just clean and green, no trash, a fence, a sign that this land is cared for," explained Foreman. "Then, we activate spaces with murals and community art. And after that, we start imagining- What if we owned the land? What if we built on it?"

Read the February 19, 2025 ABC7-TV article.

Read the 2018 Chicago Tribune article.