Our Rights, Our Future

Caveat Emptor: Court Strikes Down Housing Protections

We here at the National Campaign to Restore Civil Rights sincerely hope that your home complies with the Fair Housing Act, because if it doesn't, and it's more than two years old, you're out of luck. The 9th Circuit Court recently exported the tortured logic of the Ledbetter decision to the Fair Housing Act, restricting homeowners and renters to a limited two-year window to discover violations and file a complaint. After two years, the discriminatory developer and real estate agents skip along, scot-free of any responsibility or liability.

Is It Time To Wind Down The Senate's Extremist Confirmation Engine?

As the Bush Presidency sets and Senators tussle over which judicial nominees to confirm before Memorial Day, advocates are calling for the Senate to take a much-needed break from confirming right-wing extremist judges. The Senate Judiciary Committee is gearing up to confirm three more judges to the U.S. Court of Appeals, including a dapper 39-year-old who has never before served in any judicial capacity.

The Civil Rights Press Center - Making Our Stories Heard

Who is doing what this week on the topic of immigrant rights? What’s the latest in the work for marriage equality? Who do you call in Wisconsin to talk to regarding a woman’s right to choose? Who can give you a quote on the latest bill around disability rights?

The civil rights movement is alive and well and covering an ever robust range of focus areas. At any given point, there are a lot of people doing good work in a lot of areas. So many of us, in fact, doing good work, that it can be hard to keep track of the latest news and who to contact about that news. Realizing that our stories would be more accessible to the media if we had a one-stop shop where all forms of civil rights press releases are housed, as well as a directory of communications contacts at a range of civil rights organizations, the National Campaign to Restore Civil Rights has developed The Civil Rights Press Center.

“Sunny UES studio, gut renovated, washer/dryer, dishwasher, hardwood floors”

Not what you would imagine as the setting for tenant rights abuses?  Me neither—until I moved in.

I expected that I would have some problems with my apartment, and like anyone living in New York, of course I have.  Some of these problems came with living in an old building.  But most of the problems would have been avoided if only the large management company that owns my building had cared as much about its tenants as it does about its bottom line.  The tenants of my building have suffered the consequences of the crushing power of the management company and more specifically the unbridled greed of the individuals who head the company. 

The Lesson And Legacy Of California's Gay Marriage Case

By Stephanie Zúñiga
For members of the gay community as well as supporters of civil rights, a huge step forward was taken when on February 12, 2004 the city of San Francisco began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples -- that's right, marriage licenses, not civil unions (marriages grant couples over 1,000 benefits that civil unions do not). This didn't last long, however, as it was struck down months later by the state's supreme court which held that the city lacked authority to issue such marriage licenses, thus invalidating the marriages of more than 4,000 couples. At the time, the court conveniently declined to rule on whether the statutory exclusion of these couples from marriage violates the state's constitution.

This Angry Protestor Makes A Convincing Argument

"Excellent point: In Houston, a Texan protesting amnesty for illegal immigrants argues that anyone who can't master English doesn't deserve to live in America."

All LAPD Officers Never Racially Profiled Anyone. Ever. (So Says the LAPD)

In a baffling release of new statistics, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) has once more confirmed that every single complaint of racial profiling filed against the department is false. Yes, Every Single One.

In 2007, according to the LAPD, 320 lying, confused, or otherwise ill-informed individuals unnecessarily went through the process to file an official complaint for having been racially profiled by a member of the department. The LAPD would like you to rest assured that absolutely none of those complaint cases had anything to do with race. The department further went on to appreciate the texture of snow in hell and the latest design of flying pigs.