The Trump administration last week rescinded a Obama-era rule that asked HUD recipients to measure and consider fixes to racial segregation in their communities.
President Donald Trump then followed up the decision with a tweet that critics say was an explicit appeal to white, suburban voters.
"His tweet was aimed at a strategy of appealing to racial resentment and really people's worst ideas about how our communities should be structured," David Sanchez, director of research and development for the National Community Stabilization Trust, told Cheddar. "Attitudes like that are a big reason why we have such severe segregation by race, class, and opportunity in this country, and unfortunately the president is trying to use those fears to benefit himself politically."
The loss of the rule itself has gotten less attention, in part due to its low profile as more of a regulatory tweak than an aggressive federal policy.
The Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Rule that Trump's HUD eliminated asked municipalities and housing authorities to account for racial bias in their communities by writing a report and issuing recommendations, but it did not force municipalities to address segregation directly.
"It was about gathering data," Sanchez said. "It was about getting people talking about segregation. But it wasn't about forcing communities to do anything."
In the long-term, though, he added that cutting the rule will only contribute to the ongoing economic divide between the suburbs and cities.
"It's going to continue to concentrate economic resources, social privilege in certain people who can afford to live in high-opportunity communities," Sanchez said. "In the same way the COVID crisis has supercharged inequality in this country, this is just another step in that direction."
SEIU President Mary Kay Henry talked to Cheddar about how the Strike for Black Lives will fight for the causes of racial and economic justice simultaneously.
Teams of military medics were deployed in Texas and California to help hospitals deluged by coronavirus patients. Miami area authorities, meanwhile, began stepping up enforcement Friday of a mask requirement.
The ruse discovered Wednesday included bogus tweets from Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Mike Bloomberg and a number of tech billionaires.
Target and CVS Health have joined the list of the nation’s largest retailers that will require customers to wear masks as cases of COVID-19 spike.
The politicization of school reopenings by Trump has scared off teachers who before were "overwhelmingly" in support of heading back in the fall, Randi Weingarten told Cheddar.
Jamaal Bowman appeared to topple Rep. Eliot Engel, a 16-term incumbent, for the Democratic nomination in the 16th Congressional district, though Engel is now suing to challenge the validity of mail-in ballots.
Mayor Muriel Bowser weighs in on the Washington Redskins name change after the organization faced opposition from sponsors and advertisers.
The three nations alleged Thursday that hacking group APT29, also known as Cozy Bear and believed to be part of the Russian intelligence service, is attacking academic and pharmaceutical coronavirus research institutions involved in vaccine development.
Advertising agencies are expressing concerns about the potential for TikTok to share user data with its Chinese parent company, ByteDance — something the social media platform flatly denies is happening.
The number of laid-off workers seeking unemployment benefits remained stuck at 1.3 million last week, an historically high level that indicates many companies are still cutting jobs as the viral outbreak intensifies.
