Proposition 14

Searching for Prop 14 brings up a couple articles from Time magazine about an older Prop 14 from 1967.

California: Proposition 14
The Supreme Court: Saying No to Proposition 14

That prop 14 was an effort to repeal the Rumford Act, a CA law that prohibited discrimination in housing. The far-right put together a law that was worded to sound like it would increase freedom, when, in fact, it would have allowed homeowners (and banks) to discriminate against minority buyers.

Even back then, the big bamboozle was in full effect.


W. Byron Rumford

The Rumford Act was written by W. Byron Rumford, the first African American elected to public office in Northern California. He was a pharmacist by trade, graduate of UC Berkeley, an a anti-racist activist.

During one stint doing election work, I learned that the Garvey hills were one of the few places where Mexicans could buy a house after WW2. Likewise the eastside was a destination for Japanese, Chinese, and Jews because they were unable to buy property in all parts of LA. So, there are concrete reasons why LA seems to be segregated: it's because it developed that way in the 20th century.

This also reminded me of a great interview with the owner of Kashu Realty, over at Calisphere, where he talks about integrating Crenshaw.

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