Name Of Famous Fictional TV Character Invoked In NYC Federal Fair Housing Lawsuit To Describe Alleged Race-Discriminatory Practices At Bronx Co-Op

In New York City, Courthouse News Service reports:

• A real estate broker barred black people from two large "racially segregated enclaves" in the Bronx, telling them that residents of Silver Beach Gardens and Edgewater Park are "kind of prejudiced" and the co-ops are "Archie Bunker territory," the Fair Housing Justice Center claims in Federal Court.(1) "Silver Beach Gardens and Edgewater Park (the Co-ops) are a throwback of the very worst kind - two racially segregated enclaves with over 1,100 single-family homes occupied almost exclusively by white residents who evidently wish to keep it that way," the complaint states. (Parentheses in complaint.)(2)

For more, see Bronx Co-Op Called 'Archie Bunker Territory.'

For the lawsuit, see Fair Housing Justice Center, Inc. et al. v. Silver Beach Gardens Corporation, et. al.

(1) According to their website, the Fair Housing Justice Center is a 501(c)(3) non-profit group organized to challenge systemic housing discrimination, promote open and inclusive communities, and strengthen fair housing enforcement.

(2) According to the story, the Justice Center says "although the Co-ops purport to 'require' three references from existing Co-op shareholders for applying purchasers, this 'requirement' is not truly applied to whites, who are told that a seller or the sellers' friends - whom the applicants do not otherwise know - can provide the 'references.' "In stark contrast, African-American testers - plaintiffs Justin Carter and Lisa Darden - were told of the strict reference policy, never even offered the opportunity to view available properties, and steered away from the communities because there are very few people of 'any kind of ... ethnic color' living at the Co-ops."

Defendant Amelia Lewis, dba Amelia Lewis Real Estate, allegedly told the tester that she had "raised all three of her children in Edgewater Park" and the co-ops were "very nice ... mostly ethnic Irish, German, Italian ... there's some Puerto Rican, not many." Lewis allegedly told them that when "people of color" bought a house just outside Edgewater 15 to 20 years ago, a cross was burned on their lawn. "Lewis also stated that she had once 'gotten some Spanish in, but they were kinda light, you know' and they had references," the complaint states.