Proclamation 5783 --
Fair Housing Month, 1988
By
the President of the
A
Proclamation
This
April is a milestone in the history of civil rights. It marks the 20th
anniversary of the passage of Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968,
popularly called the ``Fair Housing Act,'' which declared as a national policy
that housing throughout our country be made available to all citizens on the
basis of equality and fairness. The Act outlaws any discrimination in the sale,
rental, or financing of housing because of race, color, religion, sex, or
national origin.
The
Fair Housing Act reflects Americans' willingness and determination to make sure
that housing is available to all without discrimination. In the 2 decades since
its passage, judicial and administrative enforcement and public and private
efforts to induce voluntary compliance with the law have helped countless
people obtain the housing they desire.
Every
American is entitled to freedom from discrimination in housing; the 20th
anniversary of the Act is an appropriate time for all of us to reaffirm our
dedication as a Nation to the principles of equal opportunity on which the Fair
Housing Act is grounded.
The
Congress, by Public Law 100 - 248, has designated April 1988 as ``Fair Housing
Month'' and authorized and requested the President to issue a proclamation in
observance of this event.
Now,
Therefore, I, Ronald Reagan, President of the
In
Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-ninth day of March, in
the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eighty-eight, and of the
Ronald
Reagan
[Filed with the Office
of the Federal Register,