Discrimination

For over a century, Black farmers have faced challenges in securing federal and local funding to aid their farms in times of need and during crises. COVID-19 has been no different. From lack of access to information about coronavirus relief provisions for farmers to difficulty finding spaces to safely vend during the crisis, the pandemic has made obstacles even more stark.

North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein joined 21 other state attorneys general in criticizing the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s proposed changes to the disparate impact standard.

There are 142 inmates on North Carolina’s death row, but the last time the state executed someone was 2006. North Carolina’s history with the death penalty is complicated.

A study from N.C. State University and the University of Chicago has found that exposure to racial discrimination is connected to the willingness of black teens and young adults to engage in activism.

Starting in the 1930s, the Federal Housing Administration practiced a policy called redlining, which permitted banks to deny loans to particular neighborhoods based on their racial or ethnic composition. That practice has been illegal since 1968, but African-Americans and Latinos continue to be denied mortgage loans at rates far higher than their white counterparts, according to new reporting from Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting.

When Joe Webster became an attorney, one of his first cases was a civil rights lawsuit he filed against his hometown of Madison, North Carolina. He successfully argued that it was wrong for the town to deny him, a black man, his own office space in a predominantly white neighborhood.

On July 2, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act, which outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. The law ended unfair voter registration requirements and racial segregation in schools and workplaces.

Unfortunately, that law did not end discrimination, and people around the country continue to fight every day for equal rights and freedom. 

The U.S. Supreme Court says housing discrimination does not have to be intentional to be illegal.

Last week's ruling in the case of Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs v. The Inclusive Communities Project held that while the state did not intend to create racially discriminatory housing policies, the negative outcomes for minority communities in Dallas meant a violation of the Fair Housing Act.

The decision could affect the way states across the country assign affordable housing projects, including in North Carolina.

One in five women and one in 16 men is sexually assaulted on campus according to the National Institute of Justice. 

Bank of America discriminated against more than 1,000 black job applicants, a U.S. Department of Labor Judge held Monday.

The ruling ordered the bank to pay $2.2 million dollars to applicants who were turned down for positions in Charlotte. Host Frank Stasio talks to Charlotte Observer banking reporter Andrew Dunn about the case.