Today’s Action: Final day to fight Trump’s changes to desegregation policy

We pause non-stop COVID-19 global pandemic news to remind you that Trump is barrelling on with the rest of his far right-wing agenda even as he continues to fail at providing basic coronavirus infrastructure. Notably: today is the last day to make a statement about Trump’s intent to shut down federal desegregation policy.

The landmark 1968 Fair Housing Act set standards for ending racial segregation across the nation. In 2015, President Obama implemented additional regulations to further the original goals. Naturally, Trump is attempting to undo these rules.

Specifically, he wants to remove the requirement of cities to make progress and eliminate barriers towards racial integration. Because, as Ben Carson, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development put it, it “costs a lot of money and man hours to do that analysis.” Yeah…that’s not a good enough reason to shut down desegregation, Ben.

The public comment period closes TODAY. Submit your comment to the Federal Register to OPPOSE the Housing and Urban Development Department’s proposed changes to the 2015 Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing regulations.

“There is an inextricable link between race, place and opportunity. The fact is that communities of color disproportionately do not have banks, do not have grocery stores, do not have basic infrastructure or equal access to municipal services and amenities like sewer lines and paved roads.” – Lisa Rice, president of National Fair Housing Alliance.

Racial integration does not happen without proactive attention from our federal government and local leadership working together. And segregation hurts absolutely everyone. Rolling back the 2015 regulations is not just an unacceptably racist and morally vacant move from the Trump Administration, but even an economically foolish one as well.

One final kicker: one of the proposed changes (ranking communities based on affordability and providing grants accordingly) will specifically hurt more diverse high-cost coastal communities while assisting in lower-cost areas. In other words, rewarding communities that vote for Trump and punishing those that do not. While we do not object to anyone gaining access to affordable housing, this move will neglect huge communities of people of color in major cities, even as it is couched under a law specifically meant to support them. And that is unbelievably gross.

Make a public comment with the Federal Register TODAY to OPPOSE the Housing and Urban Development Department’s proposed changes to the 2015 Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing regulations.