Fair housing

   I found a very interesting article about a lawsuit being brought against M&T Bank for alleged violations of the Fair Housing Act of 1968. Test subjects of all races were sent into the New York City loan office to get a loan for a house. All the actors said they were married with no children and presented their financial statements. The test found that white applicants with lower savings and credit than members of other races were approved for higher loan amounts. Bank employees also tried to steer whites away from buying homes in predominantly minority areas and minorities from buying homes in predominantly white areas.
   I consider myself a realist. I don't believe racism will ever go away on a personal level, Humans need to identify with a group. It's like one of the examples of what makes a person in The Moral of the Story. One tribe may look at another tribe as being unequal to them even if members of their own tribe have intermarried with the other group. I believe there are similar sentiments throughout the world. Also, as Americans we probably will never have an honest discussion about race or racism. There is a prevailing attitude that only white people can be racist. If we have people who are too ignorant to realize what the true definition of racism is, and that all people can be racist, then racism will always be around.
   What struck me about this article is that it was a major bank. One of the questions on my mid-term exam was why do businesses establish a code of ethics? My response was to give employees guidance when making decisions and to avoid possible legal issues. I haven't read M&T's code of ethics, but almost every company I know of specifically prohibits discrimination of any kind. I am assuming M&T does as well. Companies do this because discrimination is illegal and they can potentially face legal consequences. If these allegations are true then it means multiple employees were acting illegally. To me this means that these actions were probably unofficially condoned from higher up the food chain. If so, then shame on M&T Bank. It's one thing for an individual to hold racist views, it's another for a bank to prevent someone from buying a home based on their skin color.

Hannah-Jones, N. (2015, February 9). Housing enforcement group sues m&t bank for discrimination.              Propublica. Retrieved from http://www.propublica.org/article/housing-enforcement-group-                  sues-mt-bank-for-discrimination

     Rosenstand, N. (2013). The moral of the story: an introduction to ethics. New York, NY: McGraw-    Hill