Tim Kaine: How to make housing fair in America
I was a brand-new lawyer at a small firm in Richmond, Virginia. And fresh out of law school, as the rookie on the team, the pro-bono cases came to me. That's how I met Lorraine.
She was a young African-American woman. As she sat across the table, she told me how she had just graduated college, found a job, and was trying to move out of her parents' home and start a life of her own.
Lorraine saw an apartment advertised in the newspaper, called the number and arranged to meet the landlord. But as soon as he saw her in person, he said, "Sorry, we just rented the place."
Something didn't feel right. So Lorraine asked one of her white colleagues to call and inquire about the apartment. And lo and behold -- it was still on the market.
Long after the Civil Rights Act was passed, and our country declared that we are all created equal, I was looking at an open-and-shut case of racial discrimination. I won the case, and housing discrimination would go on to become the heart of my legal practice for many years.
But I could never shake the impact Lorraine's case had on me. She and I were about the same age. We were both starting the first chapter of our lives in the real world. And yet, simply because of our different skin color, we had radically different experiences finding a place to begin those lives.
A house is more than just a place to sleep. It's part of the foundation on which a family can build a life. Where you live determines the jobs you can find, the schools your children can attend, the air you breathe and the opportunities you have. And when you are blocked from living where you want, it cuts to the core of who you are.