Fifty years ago this week, the Fair Housing Act was signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson. Passed in the same month Martin Luther King Jr. was shot and killed in Memphis, Tennessee, the bill was a groundbreaking moment for the Civil Rights Movement, prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, or national origin.
But half a decade later, housing discrimination remains a pervasive issues, said Fred Freiburg, the executive director of the Fair Housing Justice Center.
"When we talk about all of the modern day inequalities that exist in our society, you really can point to housing and where you live as being fundamental in that cycle," Freiburg told WNYC's Jami Floyd.
The organization takes an aggressive approach to investigating and rooting out housing discrimination in the New York City region. Among other tactics, such as filing lawsuits on behalf of claimants, the FHJC hires actors to meet with landlords and collect information to see whether or not they are being illegally discriminated against.
Some of the actors, known as "testers," who have faced discrimination say the experience is deeply upsetting.
"What I take away from it is how devastating it is when you find out that you've been discriminated against," said Justin, who declined to use his last name. "Even though I'm an actor, even though I'm portraying a role."
"The impact that it has on you emotionally, it just cannot be overstated. It's just a really sick feeling in the pit of your stomach," he said.
According to Freiburg, housing discrimination is one of the building blocks of maintaining segregated neighborhoods.
A recent report authored by New York City Council Member Brad Lander found that New York City remains more segregated between black and white residents compared to other U.S. cities. More than 80 percent of New Yorkers who are white or black, according to the report, "would have to move to a different neighborhood" for black and white residents to be equally represented across the five boroughs.
This segment is part of a series from WNYC called 1968: 50 Years Later.