Equal rights to housing is particularly important during this quarantine.
A quarantine can be a very different experience dependent on your housing situation. Some people are sharing a bathroom with ten others while others are navigating between their indoor pool and their gym. Some have country homes to escape the city while others must walk stairwells infested with COVID-19. This is our current reality as a society.
Make no mistake, in our capitalist society these differences should not only be accepted, but celebrated. Yet, these differences can only be caused by economic differences, not based upon the way we stigmatize people as a result of their demographic characteristics.
Unfortunately, not everyone is observing the law today. According to the CDC, "fear and anxiety about a disease can lead to social stigma toward people, places, or things." In fact, the CDC has identified individuals of "Asian descent" as the current victims of stigma during the coronavirus pandemic. Let's change that starting today.
Today is the start of Fair Housing Month. According to HUD, Fair Housing Month is a time to come together "as a community and a nation to celebrate the anniversary of the passing of the Fair Housing Act and recommit to that goal which inspired us in the aftermath of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s assassination in 1968: to eliminate housing discrimination and create equal opportunity in every community.”
We should do it. We can do it. We must do it.
