MoveSmart.org will be live blogging from the first hearings of the National Commission on Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity. The Commission, created through a joint effort of the NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund (LDF), the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights (Lawyers’ Comm), the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA), and the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR), will be hosting four day-long hearings around the country to investigate the state of fair housing. Once the hearings are concluded, the Commission will make a series of recommendations for the next administration.

From around 9:00am until 5:00pm CDT on 7.15.08, we’ll be live blogging after the jump and the Miami Valley Fair Housing Center is video streaming the day as well (click here for the ASL video stream). The usual caveats about live blogging apply below.

Forty years ago today, April 11, 1968, President Lyndon Johnson signed into law the Civil Rights Act of 1968, Title VII of which we commonly call the Federal Fair Housing Act (FHA). The title of this post is the FHA’s opening line.

For more than two years, Sens. Mondale, Kennedy, Javits, and others had pushed for some form of what they termed an “open housing” bill. Time and time again, their maneuvering and planning fell short - a powerful block of southern and “states rights” Senators blocked its passage.

Next month, America will mark the 40th Anniversary of the passage of the Federal Fair Housing Act. While the past four decades have seen the aggressive enforcement and advancement of fair housing rights, too few people have made the decision to integrate. Enforcement alone cannot reduce residential segregation. Until families understand that moving to an integrative neighborhood is not only their right but also frequently a good decision for their families, severe segregation will persist.