I don't know if they'll display this honor

by: Jason Springer

Sun Nov 23, 2008 at 07:54:59 PM EST

The NJ NAACP performed a cannon ball into the pool that is the affordable housing debate with some pretty harsh language and an "award":

The group recently presented its uncomplimentary Jim Crow Award to mayors in 34 towns that have filed individual lawsuits against the state over new affordable housing regulations that increase the number of affordable units towns must provide. For those in need of a quick history lesson, Jim Crow refers to pre-1965 state and local laws that mandated the segregation of whites and non-whites.
Those laws are unconstitutional now, but the New Jersey NAACP says that hasn't stopped some from covertly trying to keep whites and people of color separated.
In the case of the 34 towns, the New Jersey NAACP contends they're challenging the affordable housing rules "so as to keep their towns predominantly white enclaves & hinder low & moderate income households a safe & decent place to live."

Ouch. I wonder if the honorees get a plaque or statue. Here's how they identified the "winners":

The New Jersey NAACP got the list from a report released this summer by the Fair Share Housing Center, an affordable housing advocacy group. In its report, Fair Share Housing said the 34 towns are the ones most resisting the new rules because they're the ones spending the most money on lawsuits to fight them. The group also cited 2000 census data that showed the towns in this group, on average, had 2000 populations that were 87 percent white, compared with 66 percent white statewide.

I know this is an emotional and important issue, but I don't know if that rhetoric is particularly helpful to solving the problem. Something obviously has to be done, but they're painting with a pretty broad brush.

Jason Springer :: I don't know if they'll display this honor

Tags: affordable housing, NAACP, jim crow, (All Tags)

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I don't know if they'll display this honor | 2 comments

Tactics and tone really do matter??? n/t (0.00 / 0)

by: Creed Pogue @ Mon Nov 24, 2008 at 04:10:02 AM UTC

Gee, I Wonder Why It Is That.... (0.00 / 0)

so many towns resist having any affordable or, God forbid, low income housing?

Why?

Is there anyone with the chutzpah to "spell it out" in any kind of fullness?

Simply claiming that it would "affect property values" won't do. If that's the reason, then why is it the reason?

Let's face it. At the core the resistance to affordable/low income housing comes from people who are afraid of the presence of classes of people whom they see as, in some way, less human/desirable. It's all about prejudice of one kind or another...and that ain't pretty.

"Jim Crow" isn't what anyone is proposing....but I suspect that there are those who would if they thought they could get away with it.

I know of one Bergen County town wherein the Mayor has been actively pushing to minimize the prevalence of something as innocuous as two family homes!

We continue to have this kind of insidious/ugly resistance to having a more equitable mix of people living in different places, and that's a shame.

by: Nick Lento @ Mon Nov 24, 2008 at 06:00:50 AM UTC