I affirm Resolved: The United States ought to guarantee the right to
housing
Value:Morality
And, ethics assumes recognition of moral agency --- structural violence
precludes that possibility classifying oppressed groups as morally inferior.
Winter and Leighton
|Deborah DuNann Winter and Dana C. Leighton. Winter|[Psychologist that specializes in Social Psych, Counseling Psych, Historical and
Contemporary Issues, Peace Psychology. Leighton: PhD graduate student in the Psychology Department at the University of Arkansas.
Knowledgeable in the fields of social psychology, peace psychology, and justice and intergroup responses to transgressions of justice]
“Peace, conflict, and violence: Peace psychology in the 21st century.” Pg 4-5
to recognize the operation of structural violence forces us to ask questions
Finally,
about how and why we tolerate it, questions which often have painful answers for the privileged elite who unconsciously support it. A
final question of this section is how and why we allow ourselves to be so oblivious to structural violence. Susan Opotow offers an intriguing set of
our normal perceptual cognitive processes divide
answers, in her article Social Injustice. She argues that
people into ingroups and outgroups. Those outside our group lie outside our scope of justice.
Injustice that would be instantaneously confronted if it occurred to someone we love or know is barely noticed
if it occurs to strangers or those who are invisible or irrelevant. We do not seem to be able to open our minds
and our hearts to everyone, so we draw conceptual lines between those who are in and out of our moral circle. Those who fall
outside are morally excluded, and become either invisible, or demeaned in some way so that we do not have to
acknowledge the injustice they suffer. Moral exclusion is a human failing, but Opotow argues convincingly that it is an outcome of everyday social
cognition. To reduce its nefarious effects, we must be vigilant in noticing and listening to oppressed, invisible, outsiders. Inclusionary thinking
can be fostered by relationships, communication, and appreciation of diversity. Like Opotow, all the authors in this section point out that
structural violence is not inevitable if we become aware of its operation,
and build systematic ways to mitigate its effects.
The role of the ballot is to endorse the advocacy that best combats
structural violence debate must deal with the concrete reality of
oppression.
Curry
http://www.academia.edu/9798210/The_Cost_of_a_Thing_A_Kingian_Reformulation_of_a_Living_Wage_Argument_in_the_21st_Century
Despite the pronouncement of debate as an activity and intellectual exercise pointing to the
real world consequences of dialogue, death, many of the discussions concerning these ongoing
challenges to humanity are fixed to a paradigm which sees the adjudication of material disparities and sociological
realities as the conquest of one ideal theory over the other. In “Ideal Theory as Ideology,” Charles Mills
value-weighing in Lincoln-Douglass are confronted with in their attempts to get at
the concrete problems in our societies. At the outset, Mills concedes that “ideal theory applies to moral theory as a whole (at
least to normative ethics as against meta ethics); [s]ince ethics deals by definition with
normative/prescriptive/evaluative issues, [it is set] against factual/descriptive issues.” At the most general
level, the conceptual chasm between what emerges as actual problems in the world (e.g.: racism, sexism, poverty, disease,
etc.) —This gap between what is actual (in the world), and what is represented by theories
and politics of debaters proposed in rounds threatens any real discussions about the concrete nature of
oppression and the racist economic structures which necessitate tangible policies.
Contention 1: Is refusal to give a home
Sub point A:Loan corporations continue to discriminate and give
customers preferential statuses based upon arbitrary characteristics.
Burns ‘14,
Rebecca. "They’re Still Redlining." Jacobin. N.p., 3 Nov. 2014. Web. 13 July 2016.
Housing discrimination occupies an ignominious role in US history: it’s is one of the key
mechanisms through which wealth has been stolen from blacks and other people of color.
Some officials responsible for regulating the housing market acknowledge that such
discrimination still exists, but they typically portray it as the work of a few bad apples. Last
month, for example, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced that his office
was filing a lawsuit against the parent companies of Evans Bank for allegedly engaging in
redlining, the practice of denying mortgage loans to borrowers in neighborhoods of color.
The suit against Evans Bank charges that it excluded residents of majority-black
neighborhoods in East Buffalo, New York from access to mortgage products, regardless of
residents’ creditworthiness. Schneiderman has opened a wider investigation into potential
redlining by banks operating in New York state, and warned that he might file further lawsuits
in order to ensure that all residents have an “equal opportunity to obtain credit,” regardless
of their skin color. But there’s more to the story than a few discriminatory banks. Prior to
2008, some of the same banks Schneiderman’s office is reportedly investigating flooded now
credit-scarce areas with high-interest or subprime loans. During the subprime lending boom,
such predatory loans were five times more likely to be made in African-American
neighborhoods than in white ones. This practice, sometimes called “reverse redlining,” was
merely the next stage in a cycle of exploitation enabled by a dual housing market.
Communities of color, having historically been denied access to credit, were next
aggressively targeted for subprime loans. As a result, black communities and other
communities of color are also now disproportionately impacted by foreclosures — which,
due to persistent segregation, remain concentrated in minority neighborhoods.
Sub point B: is Eviction:eviction rates are increasing and disproportionately affect minority
communities
Greenberg et al. quote Desmond 16 brackets originally in article
Deena Greenberg, Carl Gershenson, and Matthew Desmond. “Discrimination in Evictions:
Empirical Evidence and Legal Challenges.” 2016.
http://scholar.harvard.edu/files/mdesmond/files/greenberg_et_al._.pdf?m=1462385261
However, legal scholars and social scientists have generally overlooked the incidence of
discrimination in eviction, the forced removal from one’s home.7 Indeed, eviction has been
one of the “most understudied processes affecting the lives of the urban poor.”8 This lack of
attention is particularly troubling considering it is estimated that millions of people across
the United States are evicted each year.9 Matthew Desmond explained that “in 2013, one in
eight poor renting families nationwide was unable to pay all of its rent, and a similar
proportion thought it was likely they would be evicted soon.”10 In Milwaukee, Wisconsin,
residents from one in fourteen rental houses in majority black neighborhoods are evicted
each year.11 Jackson County, Missouri, which includes half of Kansas City, saw nineteen
formal evictions a day between 2009 and 2013.12 In 2012, New York City courts saw almost
eighty evictions per day based on nonpayment of rent.13 Also in 2012, one in eighteen rental
households in Chicago, Illinois, and one in nine in Cleveland, Ohio, received eviction
summons.14 Between 2010 and 2013, eviction filings rose by 21 in Maine, 11 in
Massachusetts, and 8 in Kentucky.15
Contention 2:IPV[intimate partner violence]
Discriminatory laws force IPV survivors to choose between reporting abuse
or losing their home
http://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1398&context=jgspl
CUt from there
Contention 3: Homelessness is unevenly distributed among minorities
NCH 2012. <http://www.nationalhomeless.org/factsheets/minorities.html>
People of color – particularly African-Americans – are a minority that is
particularly overrepresented. According the PBS Homeless Fact and Figures ’07, 41% are non-
Hispanic whites (compared to 76% of the general population), 40% are African
Americans (compared to 11% of the general population) 11% are Hispanic
(compared to 9% of the general population) and 8% percent are Native American
(compared to 1% of the general population).
Chicago Coalition for the Homeless reports
Many other urban communities cite similar or higher numbers. The
that 77% of its total homeless population is African-American.
Thus, showing that if the US was to help the homeless, then structural
violence will be reduced because minorities would be helped.
Contention 4:
Tars, Eric. "SYMPOSIUM ON BRINGING ECONOMIC & SOCIAL RIGHTS HOME: THE RIGHT TO ADEQUE HOUSING IN
THE UNITED STA." 45 Colum. Human Rights L. Rev. 738. April 01, 2014. Web. February 02, 2017. <https://litigation-
essentials.lexisnexis.com/webcd/app?action=DocumentDisplay&crawlid=1&doctype=cit e&docid=45+Colum.
+Human+Rights+L.+Rev.+738&srctype=smi&srcid=3B15&key=4 6b96d44dabde1be6a00c3c5de8cb098>.
Despite the concerns expressed by the courts in Pottinger, Jones, and Kincaid
that they cannot order substantial changes to other branches of government or
expenditure of funds, n60 federal courts have employed broader remedies,
particularly in the areas of education and prison reform. While the Pottinger court
felt it would overstep its judicial authority if it were to assemble and allocate
welfare-related resources, in numerous cases courts have fashioned remedies
doing just that, even against the express will of other branches of government.
n61 Such remedies, commonly called "structural" remedies, are directed to other
branches of government to solve the underlying problem that creates the
violation at issue.
Consistent with the concerns noted by the Pottinger court, federalism and
separation of powers concerns play a role in defining the boundaries of such
remedies. In a number of opinions concerning lower courts' use of structural
remedies, discussed below, the Supreme Court has provided principles
indicating the proper targets and purposes of equitable relief. Typically, federal
courts' remedial powers are limited by the nature of the constitutional violation at
issue. Courts must avoid remedies which aim either to eliminate a condition that
does not violate the Constitution or does not "directly flow" from such a violation.
n62 Similarly, courts should typically extend their remedial powers over other
institutions only so far as necessary to restore parties to the position they
occupied before those institutions violated their fundamental rights. The
Supreme Court has expected lower courts to determine--even in cases dealing
with [*751] unquantifiable values such as "quality of education"--the extent of
governmental institutions' harm and to fashion remedies narrowly providing
victims with exactly what they improperly lost. n63 Lower courts have interpreted
the Supreme Court's approach as "reflect[ing] concern that the district court not
go beyond the needs of the plaintiffs." n64
Where these principles apply, they prevent courts from addressing a city's
unconstitutional criminalization of homelessness with structural remedies
intended to address homelessness itself. Homelessness is not a direct effect of
governments' unconstitutional criminalization of homeless individuals. Rather,
widespread homelessness is a catalyst; governments violate the Constitution as
they seek to drive unsightly poverty behind bars or beyond city limits. n65
Moreover, while homeless individuals unquestionably suffer a wide manner of
harms when governments criminalize their innocent, inevitable behavior, n66 the
loss of their home is not among them.
Contention 5: LGBT discrimination
Armstrong, Carlie. "SLOW PROGRESS: NEW FEDERAL RULES ONLY BEGIN TO ADDRESS HOUSING
DISCRIMINATION BASED ON SEXUAL ORIENT." The Modern American. February 10, 2017. Web. February 06, 2017.
<http://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1156&context=tm a>.
It had never occurred to me that Jake and Sean would feel they had to represent themselves as anything other than the
federal law does not protect LGBT
loving couple I knew them to be. To my surprise, I learned that
individuals from housing discrimination.3 The Fair Housing Act, found in Title VIII
of the Civil Rights Act of 1968,4 prohibits discrimination in the sale, lease, or
rental of housing on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial
status, or national origin. If a prospective tenant or buyer is a victim of
discrimination on one or more of these bases, he or she can seek relief through a
formal process that enjoys the full scope of federal protections including public
representation in court and civil penalties up to $50,000. 5 However, if a landlord or
seller declines a particular individual based upon sexual orientation or gender
identity, the list of remedies shrinks considerably.6 To address this resource vacuum, states and
municipalities throughout the United States have instituted much-needed protections.7 In February 2012, Shaun Donovan,
the Secretary for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), announced new regulations to prevent
those who own or operate HUD- funded housing from inquiring about an applicant’s sexual orientation or gender identity.8
This article examines the methods by which advocates have attempted to curb discrimination against LGBT individuals in
the housing context absent an overarching federal solution. This article will highlight the rules of one of the oldest and
New York City Human Rights Commission,
most robust municipal entities created to address discrimination, the
as a counterpoint to the limited options available at the federal level. The federal
government’s inability to keep pace with changing public perceptions is
particularly apparent in this area.9 While HUD’s new rule is certainly an important step in the right
direction, nothing short of amending the Fair Housing Act can truly ensure full
equality.
Contention 6:
