Donald Trump famously said in 2008:
“I have a great relationship with the blacks. I’ve always had a great relationship with the blacks.”
According to the Department of Justice, that claim is far from the truth. In 1973, the DOJ filed a lawsuit against Donald Trump and his father, Fred, for violating the Fair Housing Act.
The Accusations
According to court documents, Trump Management employees told the managers of their buildings to mark an application with a ‘C’ if a person of color submitted it. For Trump Management, people of color were “undesirable” renters.
In addition to the code identifying “undesirable” renters, Trump Management allegedly used a host of other strategies to prevent black people from renting units in their buildings. These tactics included telling black applicants the rent was significantly higher than it was, and showing black applicants a phony lease.
The court documents also say that black people were often told there were no vacancies in the same buildings where white people were told that there were apartments available. Many of the people who inquired about apartments were “testers” for the New York Urban League, an advocacy organization for disadvantaged New Yorkers.
Immediately after the Department of Justice filed the lawsuit against Trump Management, Donald Trump publicly declared that the accusations were false and “ridiculous.” He even accused the DOJ of trying to force Trump Management to rent to welfare recipients, “who do not otherwise qualify for our apartments in our buildings.”
The Settlement
Trump Management settled the case in 1975. They did not admit to any wrongdoing. They did, however, agree to notify the New York Urban League about what vacancies they had every week, and to consider applications from potential renters that the New York Urban League would regularly present to them.
Just three years later, the DOJ accused Trump Management of not complying with the agreement. The DOJ filed a motion to make the agreement more stringent. However, Trump’s buildings did not appear to increase in racial diversity. In 1983, a non-profit fair housing group concluded that two Trump properties had among the smallest percentages of non-white tenants in the city.
Donald Trump’s Racism
It should come as no surprise that Trump’s company discriminated against people of color. The 1991 book, Trumped, quotes Donald Trump as saying,
“Black guys counting my money! I hate it. The only kind of people I want counting my money are short guys that wear yarmulkes every day. Those are the kind of people I want counting my money. No one else.”
And…
“…laziness is a trait in blacks. It really is, I believe that. It’s not something they can control.”
It’s worth noting that the DOJ lawsuit also alleged that multiple Trump Management employees said Jews made the best tenants.
And let’s not forget that we have video footage of Trump pointing to the one black guy standing in the crowd at one of his rallies and calling him, “My African American.”
Donald Trump’s racism is out in the open for everyone to see. It’s scary to think about what could happen to the Fair Housing Act and a host of other federal laws designed to protect people of color if Donald Trump becomes president.
If that thought terrifies you (which it should), do everything you can to get people out to vote against Trump in November.
Featured image screengrab from video.
