Testing as a Civil Rights Mechanism to Prove Discrimination

WHEREAS, Widespread discrimination against Black Americans continues to exist in housing, employment and other areas of American Life including public accommodations; and

WHEREAS, Discrimination is on the rise in the United States, as manifested by an increase in incidents of bias, hate crimes, hate groups, and mass shootings resulting from the proliferation of hate content in media, and the normalization of biased rhetoric; and

WHEREAS, The Pew Research Center in a nationwide survey found that 95 percent of Black adults felt Black Americans continue to experience discrimination and 80 percent expressed that Black Americans experience "a lot" of discrimination; and

WHEREAS, 54% of Hispanic adults, half of Asian adults and 38% of White adults say that Black Americans face "some" discrimination; and

WHEREAS, Living wage employment, affordable housing, and equal access to public accommodations, services, and opportunities are essential to well-being
and equal citizenship; and

WHEREAS, Conservative courts and the erosion of legal precedent have made proving discrimination more difficult to prove; and

WHEREAS, Direct and clarifying evidence greatly improves the record of proof needed to prove illegal discrimination but is frequently unavailable in legal cases; and,

WHEREAS, Redress through administrative or legal remedies is useful and necessary to fight against discrimination; and

WHEREAS, Housing testing is a proven methodology for establishing illegal discrimination in administrative and judicial matters and precedent; and,

WHEREAS, Effective housing testing requires training modules and certification to enable its use within NAACP units; and

WHEREAS, The National Office of the NAACP and its Housing Committee has historically supported the use of testing as a mechanism to prove discrimination in housing, public accommodation, and other uses.

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the NAACP will establish a fair housing testing and training program with a nationally recognized housing advocacy organization to utilize best practices in identifying illegal discrimination in administrative and judicial matters and precedent to be provided to each unit of the NAACP for implementation.