Previous coverage: day one; day two.

6/10/08, Tuesday

6:15pm: NFHA formally launches the “A Richer Life” media campaign.

6:00pm: On behalf of Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, who was unable to make the reception, staffer Candice Cho accepts an award in recognition of Sen. Durbin’s support of the Housing Fairness Act of 2007.

5:49pm: Sen. Arlen Specter receives an award for his work to pass the FHA amendments of 1988. He is reminiscing about meeting Dr. King and the Pres. John and Atty General Robert Kennedy, who are depicted on the framed plaque he was given.

4:52pm: Squires concludes by quoting both Lawrence Lindsay and Frederick Douglass – great presentation.

4:49pm: “I think it’s easy to come up with ideas to improve things… the far greater challenge is to figure out what the political strategy is to actually get these ideas implemented.”

4:45pm: Squires proposes a number of possible solutions – increase the Earned Income Tax Credit, index the minimum wage for inflation and the cost of living, expand living wage ordinances, provide universal health insurance, strengthen union organizing efforts, create equitable school funding and desegregate schools, expand financial literacy training, voluntary actions by lenders, and more aggressively enforce federal fair housing and civil rights laws. He also references James Loewen’s (the author of Sundown Towns – highly recommended) proposal to limit the homeowners mortgage interest income tax deduction to only homeowners in diverse neighborhoods – making “the presence of diversity rather than the absence of non-whites” a priority.

4:35pm: From 1990-2004, the incomes of the top .01% has more than doubled while the lower 90% has barely increased at all. 24% of whites as opposed to 11% of African Americans receive an inheritance. The number of middle income neighborhoods since 1970 has declined from 58% to 41%. The depth of our economic inequality is staggering.

4:30pm: Gregory Squires takes the podium and begins his presentation, “Surging Inequality and Emerging Challenges to a More Integrated America”. He begins by quoting Phil Ochs, “I love Puerto Rican and Negroes | As long as they don’t move next door” (from the song Love Me, I’m a Liberal).

4:27pm: Missed the majority of Margery Austin Turner’s presentation – had a MoveSmart.org board conference call (awful timing). I return to her concluding, “We really need to focus on pro-integrative strategies as well as anti-discrimination strategies.”

3:36pm: After questions and answers with the first two panelists end, Shann Smith states that the original plan was to give an award to Senator Ted Kennedy at the evening reception. Given his recent health issues, Sen. Kennedy will not be in attendance. To ensure that he understands the great appreciation fair housing advocates have for his important work, NFHA is creating a video-card of sorts, recording their planned remarks to give the award and panning across the attendees as we give him a standing ovation.

3:11pm: An interesting possibility for increasing school quality – linking school improvement to community redevelopment.

3:00pm: “Housing choices are school choices for 7 out of 10 students in the US because of student assignment” policies; and “people will pay 2.5% more for a 5% increase in test scores.”

3:58pm: “We have to stop saying that schools are failing and ask how we are failing schools.”

2:50pm: McKoy begins with the mission of the Center for Cities and Schools: “To promote high-quality education as a critical component of urban and metropolitan vitality.”

2:48pm: In conclusion Kutty makes two recommendations to the new administration to remedy the crisis: expand CDBG funding to states with high foreclosure rates, and launch an education campaign on the causes of segregation and its potential remedies.

2:46pm: Kutty also blogs! I hope we’re not the only two bloggers in the room…

2:45pm: “The municipal cost of foreclosure can exceed $10k/event.”

2:41pm: “Minority households are more likely to receive a subprime loan even after controlling for credit score”

2:34pm: First up is Nandinee Kutty speaking on “Segregation, Predatory Subprime Lending, and Community Impacts”. She begins with the history of the the discriminatory impacts of FHA lending and redlining that helped shape our current severe segregation. She also notes that segregation has not always been a part of American history but is rather a creation of the 20^th century.

2:25pm: A stellar panel is now up and features a number of folks whose research has helped shape MoveSmart.org – “The Costs of Discrimination and Segregation Related to Educational, Health, Employment, and Wealth Disparities in the United States” featuring Margery Austin Turner of the Urban Institute, independent consultant Nandinee Kutty, Gregory Squires from George Washington University, Deborah McKoy of the UC Berkeley Center for Cities & Schools, and moderator Jim Carr of NCRC (who also delivered the morning keynote). Austin Turner’s research on the Moving To Opportunity Demonstration at HUD has heavily influenced the planned functionality and strategy of MoveSmart.org. All of the panelists were involved in writing or editing Segregation: The Rising Costs for America (highly recommended).

1:45pm: NFHA’s Lisa Rice introduces a video of Former Sen. Edward Brooke, who is unable to be here due to health concerns, speaking on the 35^th anniversary of the passage of the FHA.

1:40pm: Willie Brown of State Farm formally announces the launch of ARicherLife.org – State Farm is a co-sponsor along with NFHA.

1:30pm: Lunch wraps up with NFHA thanking all of the sponsors of the event, State Farm, Fannie Mae, Nationwide Insurance, Ocwen Financial, Freddie Mac, PMI Mortgage, Saxon Mortgage Services, Ford Foundation, MetLife, and Wachovia Home.

1:15pm: Sitting next to James Perry of the GNOFHAC, who notes, “This has got to be the best NFHA luncheon speaker ever.”

1:11pm: Citing the lack of federal enforcement of fair housing laws, he states, “If HUD doesn’t do its job we still don’t get the job done.” Sounds like Rep. Green is keeping his fingers crossed that a certain someone will be elected this fall. “I’ve waited 60 years to cast this vote, and we have early voting in Texas and I plan to vote as early and as often as possible.”

1:08pm: “If we can spend $329m on the war in one day we can spend $260m over 5 years to end housing discrimination.” Rep. Green is on fire – a great speaker.

1:07pm: “If we had fully funded this organization we would have ended or nearly ended housing discrimination by now.”

1:05pm: “We have no greater friends in Congress” than Rep. Barney Frank (who “takes no prisoners”) and Rep. Maxine Waters (who “does not cater to the well off, the well-heeled, and the well-to-do”).

1:00pm: “When fair housing legislation passes, it has been on your backs.”

12:57pm: Rep. Green, whose presence is required in the House for a vote shortly, begins by saying, “I believe that there is but one race, and that is the human race.” He thanks Henderson for the introduction and jokes, “I can hardly wait to hear myself speak.”

12:53pm: As lunch winds down, executive director Wade Henderson of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights introduces the Sen. Walter Mondale and Edward Brooke Fair Housing Award. The first recipient is Rep. Al Green of Houston, Texas, who is the House co-sponsor of the Housing Fairness Act of 2007 (HR2926). Henderson recounts how Rep. Green pushed Houston to welcome Katrina evacuees, is aggressive on predatory lending and foreclosure issues, and is “the conscience” of the House.

11:35am: Brancart begins the discussion by asking Prof. Harrell how, in light of his research, fair housing advocates can “make whole” those harmed by discrimination. He answers by saying that the goal of life is not to get to a specific point but rather to grow – we can make victims of discrimination whole again by “re-initiating the growth process.”

11:25am: “Discrimination is associated with reduced heart rate variability, perceptions of poorer health, elevated C-reactive proteins, higher blood pressure, and poorer executive cognitive functioning.”

11:10am: Polyvagal theory states that the “nervous system is sensitive to social interactions”. Prof. Harrell explains that, unlike with other animals, human interactions are governed by the interplay of our own nervous system responses and how those we’re interacting with ‘read’ those responses. For example, we can typically tell when someone is trying to fake a smile.

11:03am: Prof. Harrell points out that when a stressful event occurs (i.e. being discriminated against) there are two levels of response on a physiological and psychological level; the initial, short-term response and then the later, long-term implications for both mental and physical health.

10:56am: Prof. Harrell takes the podium and begins by explaining he is involved with the psychophysiology lab at the MOTEP Center at Howard University.

10:50am: Up next are Chris Brancart of Brancart and Brancart and Prof. Jules Harrell of Howard University in the session entitled “Discrimination is an Act of Violence Against the Dignity of the Individual: Assessing Psychological and Emotional Distress”. The first part of this title is a quote from Prof. Okianer Christian Dark.

10:47am: Describing how it felt that a land owner refused to sell to him when they learned he was African American, Dr. Phillip Eddington states, “When discrimination happens to you it is your own personal 9/11.”

10:30am: This session is a video featuring victims of hate crimes telling their stories. Eboni Stern John and her attorney tell the tale of repeated racial harassment by their landlord which forced them out of their apartment building and their community. While the Stern John’s attorney was able to secure a more than $1m judgment against the landlord, it is clear from Eboni’s story that the impact on their family will be impossible to erase.

10:26am: Late returning to the next session, “Hate Crimes in Disguise: Acts of Discrimination Against Families and Individuals”. On a personal note, I just learned that an elementary and high school classmate and friend was hit by a truck while riding his bicycle and killed yesterday. Ran into Colin about 6 weeks ago in New Orleans while attending NTEN’s National Technology Conference; hadn’t seen him in years. Can’t believe he is dead.

9:55am: He concludes by quoting James Baldwin and then states, “The time is now, America, for a conversation on race.”

9:53am: The final prong, he argues, is to address the growing income gap between the wealthy and everyone else. He cites an oft heard litany of problems – the top 1% control far more wealth than they should, pensions have been replaced by less-reliable retirement plans, and manufacturing along with its good-paying jobs have moved oversees.

9:48am: Carr’s second prong is to address poverty and the role that the legacy of discrimination plays in its perpetuation. He says that concentrated poverty and segregation leads to failed financial markets, citing the payday loan and check-cashers that drain money from poor neighborhoods. He calls it a “dysfunctional market” and argues, “we need the financial markets to work for all Americans”.

9:45am: Carr argues for a three-pronged solution. First, he says we must eliminate discrimination, starting with housing discrimination. “Forty years is a long time to learn that it ain’t working. We should ask for a cabinet-level agency on civil rights enforcement. This agency would report directly to the President of the United States and be responsible for eliminating discrimination from our society.”

9:41am: In what I think might be the most persuasive argument for whites to support policies that promote equality, Carr states that our current separate-and-unequal system has implications for all because it undermines our entire economy.

9:39am: Echoing Thomas Friedman in The World is Flat, Carr cites a recent education study that raises the alarm about the growing education gap between American and other countries. This gap will have increasing implications for this country in the coming (or some would say already-here) global knowledge-based economy.

9:34am: Carr explains that he sees a “poverty of hope” among those left out the ‘American Dream’ before referencing David Brooks’ now infamous column in the NYT that challenged the dream of residential racial and ethnic integration. Carr says that Brooks’ perspective likely represents the view of most Americans. Challenging the viability of Brooks’ rosy picture of a segregated America, Carr says that we have a century of proof that separate but equal does not, has not, and never will work.

9:27am: Picking up on what has emerged as a theme of the conference, Carr explains that the current disparities are not explained by personal choice or chance. Rather, more than a century of federal and state policies have led to the legacy of a gap in wealth and opportunity. He argues effectively that until whites understand this reality, they cannot be expected to nor will they advocate for policies to counteract this legacy.

Part of me wonders what will happen first – an effective dialogue that leads to a new understanding of race among whites OR the coming demographic reality of a minority-white America? Is our time better spent building the black-brown coalition that could come to dominate the American political landscape in most of our lifetimes?

9:23am: “The time is now for a dialog on race.”

9:21am: Carr starts with a stark assessment of where we are forty years after the passage of the Fair Housing Act. He states that for African Americans the homeownership rate is 30% lower than non-Hispanic whites, and the gap is growing; and African Americans have an average $10 of wealth for every $100 of wealth for non-Hispanic whites. He goes on to detail the gap between wealth for Native Americans, Latinos, and Asians and their white counterparts. “All of them are affected by illegal actions – discrimination.”

9:17am: Morning keynote speaker Jim Carr of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition has just started. His address is entitled, “Hope and Denial: The Need for a National Dialog on Race in America.”