RACE IN OUR CULTURE
RACE
shines a spotlight on how we experience the concept of race in everyday
American life — at school and work, at the doctor’s office, in the halls of Congress
and even every time we switch on the television!
Experience of race in the United States:
housing, land and wealth
This is the first of three exhibit areas that highlight a different aspect of race and
racism in contemporary life. Here guests encounter a
Rowhouse
as a setting for
stories about housing practices, land ownership and wealth. Facing the rowhouse
stoop is a
Newspaper Box
, where “news” arrives in the form of video segments
about racism in U.S. housing practices. These video clips highlight the post-World
War II era, when federal, state and local governments fostered middle-class home
ownership, but systematically excluded or “redlined” qualified African Americans.
In a box on the stoop are
Reading Cards
that tell more stories about housing,
land and wealth. At a window in the rowhouse is the story of the
Taking of Native
American Lands
in the 19th century and the racism that attempted to justify the
near-genocide of American Indians.
Piles of Cash
shows in graphic form the vast
wealth disparities between whites and other ethno-racial groups, while text and
photos reveal the story of how those disparities came to be.
RACE: Are We So Different?
| 6
“The ache for home lives in all of us, the safe place
where we can go as we are and not be questioned.”
—Maya Angelou
“It shall be unlawful to refuse to sell or rent … or
to refuse to negotiate for the sale or rental of …
a dwelling to any person because of race, color,
religion, sex, familial status, or national origin.”
—Federal Fair Housing Act, 1968
Photo courtesy of American Anthropological Association and Science Museum of Minnesota
HOUSING IN OUR COMMUNITY
A place to call home
In King County the median-priced home remains unaffordable to
households with a median income (King County Equity and Social
Justice Annual Report, August 2012).
Unaffordable housing isn’t fair housing
The greatest financial investment most Americans make is buying a
home. Since the G.I. Bill made low-cost mortgages available to veterans
returning from World War II, homeownership has created the foundation
of many families’ long-term financial security. But affordable housing is
not within equal reach of all residents of King County.
Seattle renters encounter racial discrimination
In 2011, the Seattle Office of Civil Rights (SOCR) conducted fair-housing tests
to measure the degree to which racial discrimination still shapes the rental
market. Paired testers — African American and white — visited rental managers
at randomly selected sites to ask about housing. Test results revealed that 69%
of Seattle properties generally favored the white testers:
• White testers were quoted lower monthly rents for the same apartment.
• White testers were offered more rentals from which to choose and
more flexible leases.
• Black testers were quoted larger security deposits.
• Black testers were more likely to be asked to undergo credit and
criminal background checks.
