No one has ever turned me down for housing

12/13/2020

No one has ever turned me down for housing. 

My employers have always judged me as an individual, rather than a member of a group.

I have never worried about my safety when stopped by the police.  (In fact, I once luckily had a police officer let me off with a warning after I thoughtlessly ran a stop sign.)

This is my story – that of a white, heterosexual male.

Yes, when I was in school there were times that I was treated as an “other” by classmates because I am Jewish.  I do remember comments about my killing Jesus. I remember one student asking me why I didn’t go to private school because my parents must be wealthy.  I remember another student using the word “kike.”

These were the 1970s when hate speech and bullying were not even discussed.  I considered these to be aberrant events, not the norm for my teen years. I generally sailed through my school days in the bubble of a white male whose academic work was praised by my teachers.

Charlottesville brought back the memories of my youth.  Charlottesville made me feel angry and protective.  Those that I love could be in physical danger because of WHO they were and HOW they looked. It seemed that we had not progressed an inch since the 1960s Civil Rights legislation tried to outlaw such hate.

Dr. Martin Luther King and Justice Thurgood Marshall have long been my guiding lights.  I am privileged to be able to do civil rights work that is following in their legacy.  In looking to their examples, I knew my only response to the hate manifested in Charlottesville was to dig deeper into my fair housing work.

Americans MUST have the ability to choose where they live, without any form of discrimination!

As Ella Baker said: “We who believe in freedom cannot rest.”

-Ian Wilder
LIHS Executive Direct