Redlining - The Jim Crow of the New Millennium By Chevon Fuller Service redlining is the practice of refusing to offer goods or services to residents of low-income minority neighborhoods. African Americans, Latinos, and other ethnic groups typically characterize the segregated areas. The result is disturbing and familiar: some retail establishments are creating demo, graphic-based service policies which, like Jim Crow laws, enable them to do business only with white communities. Delivery Services James Robinson remembers vividly the days when African Americans were refused service in public places: in 1950, "when you went to the bus station [in the south], there was a line for blacks and a line for whites. In the restaurants, there were [separate] sections for blacks and [for] whites. White people laughed - they didn't take our anger seriously," Mr. Robinson recalls. Almost fifty years later and despite myriad laws prohibiting such conduct, Mr. Robinson and his wife Joyce today have that same angry feeling. In November 1997, the Robinsons, who live in American Beach, Florida, sued Domino's Pizza because the company refused to deliver a pizza to them for security reasons. Although the pizza giant made residential deliveries to neighboring white communities, it had established a drop-off location for residents of American Beach. All but four residents of American Beach were African American. Domino's claimed that it had established the policy after speaking with law enforcement personnel and reviewing police crime statistics. However, the county sheriff disagreed, stating publicly that there was no additional danger in American Beach. "When my wife called Domino's last year, it took me back to the old days," Mr. Robinson recalled. "The guy [from Domino's] acted like he was happy" about refusing to serve the predominately black American Beach. The Robinsons accused Domino's of establishing a redlining policy, which violates the public accommodations provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In February 1998, the court directed Domino's to provide service to the area it had segregated. But to Mr. Robinson, the court's decision was bittersweet. "In 1998 1 have to go through all this to get an $8.00 pizza? No, I'm not happy," remarked Mr. Robinson. "It's all over Jacksonville, Florida. But, if the people don't rise, nothing will be done " In a similar case, in February 1997, Pizza Hut refused to deliver 40 pizzas to an honors program at Paseo, High School in Kansas City, Missouri because it considered the school to be located in an unsafe neighborhood. Rob Doughty, vice president and spokesperson for Pizza Hut Inc., was quoted as saying, "There is hardly a town that does not have a restricted area." Ironically, Pizza Hut regularly delivered pizzas to Paseo High School under the terms of a school lunch contract. Although the school board subsequently canceled the $170,000 contract with Pizza Hut, the impact of the company's treatment of the students weighed heavily on the minds of those involved. "If we are going to support you [through district contracts], we need you to provide services to our kids," Deputy Superintendent Phyllis Chase said. There is no disputing that the consequences of forcing residential delivery in unsafe circumstances can be deadly. In 1995, the Bureau of Labor Statistics ranked "driver sales worker" as one most deadly jobs the United States. Because of such statistics, pizza companies across the nation deny service to certain neighborhoods. Domino's spokesperson Maggie Monaghan says that crime "makes Domino's a victim as well." Pizza deliverers have been beaten and killed - but such incidents do not take place exclusively in inner-city communities. In April 1997, pizza deliverers Georgia Gallara and Jeremy Giordano were killed when they answered a call, which lead them to an abandoned house in suburban Sussex County, New Jersey. The Domino's and Pizza Hut disputes underscore the point that businesses often base service redlining more on stereotypes than on fact. Retail Services In March 1996, Dorothy Hudson called Americar to reserve a van to drive to her father's funeral. The company refused to rent to her because she "lived in a high crime, high-risk area" of town. In February 1997, Delores Howard was told the same thing. Americar calls it a business decision. Ms. Howard, the mother of a slain Syracuse police officer, calls it discrimination. "It's a shame that we have to sue to be treated equally. I was in shock when this happened. I felt like nothing. Crime is everywhere. My son Walley died trying to get drugs off the streets, not for black, white, or Jewish people, but for everyone Then, [Americar] tells me that I can't rent a car. It was a kick in the face." To carry out its policy, Americar created a map outlining redlined areas. Rental agents refused cars to persons who lived in the red, "high risk rental" areas on the map. Rental agents used heightened scrutiny for customers who lived in the yellow, "use caution" areas on the map. Most of the redlined areas lay at the heart of inner-city Syracuse, New York, but Americar also redlined a nearby Native American reservation. Not surprisingly African Americans, Latinos, and Native Americans constitute a significant portion of the population that makes up the redlined area. Chief Irving Powless of the Onondaga Indian Nation near Syracuse, New York stated that, 'Americar has no basis for a refusal. If you redline a group and you say that you are not going to do business with them that is discrimination. If I walk into Americar and they say, sorry, you can't rent because you are a Native American who resides on the reservation that is discrimination. In August 1997, New York's Attorney General Dennis C. Vacco sued Americar for violating State and Federal civil rights laws by maintaining a carefully crafted combination of service redlining, heightened scrutiny, and racial bias to decide who would be eligible to rent its vehicles. Although Americar claimed that its rental policies were based on crime rates in particular neighborhoods, the complaint charges that its rental policies, in reality, have more to do with the ethnic origin or skin colors of neighborhood residents than security. The large redlined zones were based on arbitrary reviews of news articles describing local crimes and encompassed only predominantly African American, Latino, and Native American communities. In Pennsylvania, Avis Rent-A-Car, Inc. has also been accused of refusing to rent cars to local minority customers. Although the company claims it has "zero tolerance" for discrimination, in October 1997 the Pennsylvania Attorney General filed a complaint against Avis with that State's Human Relations Commission (which is still pending) to stop the alleged redlining practice. Avis has also come under close government scrutiny for alleged discrimination in New York and in Florida. Remedies The Domino's and Americar cases help define the sometimes-blurred distinction between a legitimate nondiscriminatory policy and intentional discrimination. Thorough fact investigation and analysis will make clear whether a seemingly neutral, security-prompted geographic policy is in fact driven by stereotypes or tainted with prejudice In 1996, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors approved the nation's first service redlining law. The ordinance followed the murder of Samuel Reyes, a 22-year-old Domino's pizza deliverer, and the pizza company's subsequent refusal to serve San Francisco's high-crime neighborhoods. The ordinance makes it unlawful for a business which regularly advertises residential delivery services to the entire city to refuse to serve any address within the city Businesses may exclude a certain address if a customer has refused to pay or if the business has a good faith reason to believe that providing delivery service to that address would expose its employees to an unreasonable risk of harm. Undoubtedly, the San Francisco ordinance permits some neighborhoods to be redlined to the extent that a company can demonstrate good faith reasons to refuse service. Yet, the ordinance is a first step towards making businesses accountable for redlining policies. Linda Hall, the Executive Director of the Syracuse, New York Human Rights Commission believes that people must take action to stop such treatment. "People have to speak up about unfair treatment and give us the opportunity to fully investigate these situations" and bring lawsuits, explained Ms, Hall. "We have to network, find patterns of discrimination," and eliminate them. Businesses with safety or property damage issues which prevent them from servicing certain neighborhoods must work with community leaders to find creative solutions, rather than turning to widespread demographic based service redlining as the only alternative. In 1996, Domino's in San Francisco toured a redlined neighborhood and altered its policy to provide service to almost 2/3 of the area it had previously redlined. Domino's spokesperson Maggie Monaghan admitted that "in some cases, we have not evaluated the area enough. It is very important that we do." She admits that, "there is a new, heightened awareness" because of the publicity over recent disputes. Conclusion Even where nondiscriminatory reasons for service redlining exist, redlining has a substantial social and economic impact on the segregated communities. As service markets expand, we can expect that service redlining will increase. In response, we must sue, enact appropriate legislation, and create innovative, community-based solutions to insure that entire communities are not left to pay for the sins of a few. Chevon Fuller is Chief of the New York State Attorney General's Civil Rights Bureau. The opinions and analysis in the article are those of the author, and do not reflect the opinions, positions, or policies of New York State Attorney General Dennis C. Vacco, or of the New York State Department of Law.

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