You'd think it was 1964 and not 2004, wouldn't you?
Federal agents and city police Monday studied fire damage at the Black Oak home hit by arsonists during the weekend, hoping to find more information about the suspects.
But Pam Pazera, executive director of Northwest Indiana Habitat for Humanity, said no matter what the legal outcome, she expects justice. "There is no need to feel anger against the people who did this, they need our prayers a lot more. They will have to answer to God for this," Pazera said Monday.
Habitat's latest project, a home at 2441 Calhoun St., was set on fire before dawn Saturday, just as the agency was set to obtain an occupancy permit for the Ferguson family.
The Fergusons are black, but the Black Oak neighborhood is predominantly white. During the four-month construction period, someone spray-painted "KKK" on a Habitat for Humanity sign on the lot. Based on that incident and other information, FBI Supervisory Senior Resident Agent Charles Porucznik said the fire is being reviewed as a possible civil-rights violation for discrimination in housing.
Not that I necessarily object, but I always thought that civil rights violations in housing were ... well, civil counts. Landlords refusing to rent to minorities, realtors discriminating against women who want to buy, that sort of thing.
In any event, one can see that for poor and minorities trying to leave segregated neighborhoods, sometimes, it just isn't as simple as, "We have a voucher/house for you, so just go get a place."
Posted by iain at September 15, 2004 12:02 AM
