When the Fair Housing Act first came into effect in the late 1960s and early ’70s, a substantial share of white Americans supported the kind of discrimination the landmark law made illegal. They believed that whites had a right to keep blacks out of their neighborhoods. They said in surveys that they’d prefer a housing law that protected a homeowner’s right to discriminate.
While that era sounds long ago, these positions took many years to shift. CONT.
Emily Badger, Washington Post