Agenda - 04-06-2021; 4-c - Fair Housing Month Proclamation

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2 championed as improving returning veterans' economic prospects, promising each soldier the status of the "unforgotten man." Ira Katznelson in, When Affirmative Action Was White: The Untold Story of Racial Inequality in the Twentieth-Century America', contends that the New Deal and Harry Truman's Fair Deal Programs discriminated and contributed to the widening gap between Black and White Americans. Katznelson says the G.I. Bill "was deliberately designed to accommodate Jim Crow." He argues that President Franklin Roosevelt, to gain legislative support for the G.I Bill, made compromises with Southern legislators that allowed the G.I. Bill to be drafted in a discriminatory manner. As a result, the G.I Bill, while race-neutral, disproportionately impact black veterans because the legislation as written allowed the program to be in the hands of state and local officials who could interpret guidelines in a racially discriminatory manner, thus excluding Black veterans from receiving benefits. A study conducted by the Research Division of Veterans Administration in 1950 demonstrated that between September 1940 and August 1945, returning Black veterans participated almost at the same levels as their white counterparts in G.I Bill programs. However, they did not benefit in the same way. White local officials, businessmen, bankers, and college administrators were in charge of local programs that disenfranchised programs Black veterans. Depending on locality, Blacks veterans were denied housing and business loans, admission to white-only colleges and universities, unemployment benefits, and excluded from job training programs and career opportunities. It didn't take long after the G.I Bill's passage for reports of the obstacles Black veterans faced in obtaining benefits to come to light, from securing loans to being discharged without a hearing and given "less than honorable" ratings so Black veterans wouldn't be eligible for benefits.' The disparate impact was apparent even in the North, where in New York and Northern New Jersey, less than 100 out of 67,000 G.I. Bill VA Mortgages were provided to Black veterans.' Because of these past discriminatory practices, this year, the Department of Human Rights and Relations highlights the protected class of "Veterans" during Fair Housing Month and throughout this next year. The County honors all veterans' service and the missed opportunities of those who served and did not receive the full benefit of what the Country promised them for their service. This month the Department will host a Webinar with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC") regarding discrimination issues faced by Veterans in Housing and the Workplace, "Hot Topics for Veterans: COVID & Beyond." Wednesday, April 21, 2021 Veterans Housing and Employment 1:00pm -4:00pm Hot Topics COVID & Be and Later in this Spring, the Department will co-host a "Veterans Stand Down" with State and Federal partners, including the EEOC, the Department of Social Services, the N.0 Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to provide additional resources to Veterans in Orange County. More information about these events can be found at http://www.orangecountync.gov/departments/human rights and relations/index.php ' Katznelson, Ira (2005). When Affirmative Action Was White:An Untold History of Racial Inequality in Twentieth- Century America ([Norton pbk ed.]ed.). New York: W.W. Norton. ISBN 9 78-039334 714-2. 2Id at 121. 3 Id at 140.