if no action is taken within 90 days from the date of filing.

Title VII attempts to assist Indians in achieving their legal rights by requiring the Secretary of the Interior to revise and bring up-to-date various publications and documents and compile opinions relating to Indian affairs.

Title VIII of the Act-the open housing title-forbids discrimination based on race, color, religion, or national origin in the sale, rental, financing and advertising of dwelling units and vacant land to be used for residential purposes. It also prohibits "blockbusting' and requires that membership in real estate boards and participation in multiple listing services shall be on a nondiscriminatory basis.

COVERAGE

The provisions of Title VIII take effect in three stages:

1. As of the date the Act was signed (April 11, 1968), the Title applies to federally-assisted housing, with coverage substantially similar to the coverage of President Kennedy's Executive Order on Equal Opportunity in Housing (No. 11063) issued November 20, 1962. At this stage coverage includes:

(a) dwellings owned or operated by the Federal Government, such as homes and apartment buildings repossessed by the Federal Housing Administration or Veterans Administration for default on payment of mortgages guaranteed by those agencies;

(b) dwellings provided by loans, grants, or contributions from the Federal Government, such as Federally-assisted low-rent public housing projects. (Although coverage of public housing projects is restricted to those built under agreements entered into after November 20, 1962, and where repayment has not been made prior to April 11, 1968, most public housing projects receive annual contributions from the Federal Government and discrimination is forbidden by Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.) (c) dwellings provided under a slum clearance or urban renewal program of a state or local public agency, where the program has received Federal assistance since November 20, 1962 (e.g. urban renewal housing);

(d) dwellings provided by loans insured or guaranteed by the Federal Government unless the loans were fully paid off prior to April 11,

1968, e.g., one and two-family homes a family buildings built in recent years built in the future under FHA and i

gage insurance and guarantee program 2. The second stage goes into effect Janua when coverage will be extended beyond assisted housing to include, among other tra all apartment house rentals, sales of houses vision developers, and sales of units in c developments. Coverage in the second stage clude sales and rentals of residential proper ing all buildings containing five or more units; buildings with two, three, and four units if the owner does not reside in the bui one-family houses sold or rented by owners than three such houses. An owner of three such houses is covered at this stage if he se than one house, other than the house inva resides, within any 24-month period.

In the second stage, the Act also prohibits o nation by mortgage lending institutions. In real estate boards and other organizations re the business of selling or renting dwellings bidden to discriminate in their membership and in participation in multiple listing serv

3. In the third stage, effective January e coverage will extend to all one-family houses rented with the aid of a real estate broker or person engaged in the business of selling of dwellings. The law also will cover all 1 houses sold or rented by owners who have a the property offered for sale or rent in a disa tory manner.

PROHIBITED ACTS

The following acts are prohibited if they discrimination on account of race, color, rel national origin:

(1) To refuse to sell or rent or negotiate sale or rental of a dwelling.

(2) To discriminate against any person in or conditions of sale, rental, or financing a ca

(3) To make any statement or advertiseme respect to sale or rental of housing, indicating crimination or intent to discriminate;

(4) To represent falsely to any person that on the market is not available for inspection rental;

(5) For profit, to attempt to induce any pe

, among

e section of the Act makes it unlawful to coerce, 5. sales of date, threaten, or interfere with any person exeres of units; or encouraging others to exercise rights granted n the second otected by the Federal open housing law. This residential An authorizes civil suits against such interference. ing five oro, Title IX of the Act authorizes criminal prose, three, ads against persons who use or threaten to use reside in the which injures, intimidates or interferes, or atrented by s to do so, with any person because of his race, in owner of‡, religion, or national origin and because he has this stage selling, purchasing, renting, financing, or occupyan the house dwelling or exercising other rights granted under th period. Federal fair housing law, or lawfully aiding or Act also prouraging others to exercise rights under the law. g institutions

er organizatINISTRATION AND ENFORCEMENT

renting dene Act establishes three methods of enforcement: their meninistrative conciliation by HUD, private civil suits ultiple listing aggrieved persons, and lawsuits by the Attorney effective Jatral of the United States.

one-family e Department of Housing and Urban Development al estate broke imarily responsible for the administration of Title siness of s The Secretary of HUD is directed to conduct will cover ies and issue reports and recommendations regardowners who he the nature and extent of discriminatory housing ale or rent in tices in representative communities, cooperate with eral, State, local, and private agencies in preventing liminating discriminatory housing practices, and inister the programs and activities relating to sing and urban development in a manner effective> further the policies of the Act.

a

prohibited it onciliation efforts will be handled by the Secretary of race, colot HUD, who will refer the case to a State or local ncy if State or local law provides rights and remerent or neg similar to Federal provisions. Where State remedo not exist or are not promptly implemented, Secretary will proceed with his own investigation.

inst any person

1. or financing Secretary, who is authorized to subpena witnesses nent or adre examine necessary records, may attempt to elimi

housing, indica
riminate;

to any person
ble for inspect

ot to induce a

C

MMER 1968

nate discriminatory housing practices through informal conferences, conciliation, and persuasion.

An aggrieved person may bring a civil suit to secure rights granted by the Act. Such a lawsuit may be filed without filing a complaint with HUD or can be instituted after a failure of HUD or a State or local agency to settle the complaint satisfactorily. The court, however, must suspend proceedings if it thinks conciliation efforts by the Secretary of HUD or a State or local agency administering a fair housing law may resolve the matter.

A private civil suit must be brought within 180 days after the alleged discriminatory act. The action may be brought in a Federal court unless the aggrieved person has a judicial remedy under a State or local fair housing law which provides rights and remedies substantially equivalent to those provided in the Federal open housing law. In such a case the suit must be filed in a State court.

The court may appoint an attorney for the plaintiff and may authorize the commencement of the civil action upon proper showing without payment of fees or costs. If the plaintiff is successful, the court may award actual damages and up to $1,000 as punitive damages, in addition to court costs and reasonable attorney fees (if the court finds that the plaintiff is not financially able to pay the attorney fees).

The court may also issue a temporary or permanent injunction or other appropriate order. However, a sale or rental of the housing in question, to a third party who is a bona fide purchaser or tenant, made before issuance of the court's order and without actual notice to the third party of the existence of the complaint or court action, cannot be affected.

The Attorney General may seek enforcement of the Title, through court action, in cases where he has reasonable cause to believe that there is a pattern or practice of resistance to the full enjoyment of rights granted by the law or that a group of persons has been denied rights under the law and such denial raises an issue of general public importance.

DAVID RUBIN

Mr. Rubing is Deputy General Counsel of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.

47

Gentlemen:

In perusing your quarterly publication, the Civil Rights Digest, Spring 1968, with particular attention to the roster of Negro elected officials under the listings of Colorado officials who are elected and of Negro ancestry, we noted two important omissions.

The first is Elvin Caldwell, who was elected to the City Council in 1955 and has been re-elected on four occasions. Councilman Caldwell represents District 8 in the City and County of Denver.

The second is Mrs. Rachel B. Noel, who was elected to the Board of Education for the City and County of Denver, School District No. 1. Mrs. Noel's election is on a city-wide basis, and she is the first person of Negro ancestry to be elected to the Board of Educa tion for the City and County of Denver.

Gentlemen:

MINORU YASUI

Executive Director

Commission on Community Relations City and County of Denver

Having scanned your Spring 1968 issue, I regard it as slanted and unrealistic, and a waste of taxpayers'

money.

Be that as it may, I did note an omission. Councilman William Fountain was elected to his seat in January. As background, you may be interested to know that he is the first Negro councilman seated in this

, and the American Labor Movement, edited by cobson. New York: Anchor Books, 1968. 430 pp. 3 the position of the Negro in the American Labor from the Civil War to the present and points out how he movement has failed to meet its responsibility to

The Negro in American Life, by Mabel Morsbach. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc., 1967. 273 pp.

Successfully weaves the single strand of the Negros' history into the broader events of American history, vividly recording the diversity of achievement through capsule biographies of pioneers, industrialists, politicians, educators, scientists, soldiers, athletes, and artists.

The Police on the Urban Frontier: A Guide to Community Understanding by George Edwards. New York: Institute of Human Relations Press, 1968. 89 pp.

Examines the relationship between the police and minority groups in the big city ghettos and offers a guide for the development of better police-community relations.

The Puerto Ricans: Strangers-Then Neighbors, by Clarence Senior. Chicago: Quadrangle Books, 1965. 128 pp.

Debunks the myths of the Puerto Rican "invasion" and presents a factual, candid picture of the largest immigrating group in the Nation today.

Rebellion in Newark: Official Violence and Ghetto Response, by Tom Hayden. New York: Random House, 1967. 102 pp. Examines the Newark, New Jersey riot which took place in July of 1967 and seeks to explain why riots are occurring in so many of America's major cities.

Teachers' Guide to American Negro History, by William Loren Katz Chicago: Quadrangle Books, Inc., 1968. 192 pp. Provides a complete plan for integrating American history curriculums by using supplementary books and materials and provides up-to-date bibliographic and audio-visual information, a core reference library, and specific guidelines and objectives for classwork.

White Reflections on Black Power, by Charles E. Fager. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1967. 118 pp.

Describes the major elements of the "Black Power" concept and finds the concept not only legitimate, but sweeping in its implications and decisive for the future role of the white liberal in the Negro struggle.

RECENT STUDIES

Hunger, U.S.A., A Report by the Citizens' Board of Inquiry into Hunger and Malnutrition in the United States. Washington, D.C.: New Community Press, 1968. 100 pp.

Political Participation, by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1968. 256 pp.

Their Daily Bread, A Study of the National School Lunch Program by the Committee on School Lunch Participation. Atlanta, Ga.: McNelley-Rudd Printing Service, Inc., 1968.