“This is the most important moment, I believe, for fair housing since 1968, and we must use it to maximum advantage. This summer, because of Inclusive Communities and HUD’s [AFFH] rule, we stand for the first time in nearly 50 years with new laws and new energy that can make a difference…that can attack these barriers effectively.”
– Walter S. Mondale, remarks delivered at HUD’s National Fair Housing Training and Policy Conference, September 1, 2015.
On April 5, 1968, the day after the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr, Walter Mondale, then one of the youngest members of the United States Senate, took the floor of the chamber and declared, “The foremost proponent of a nonviolent confrontation between the races is dead. His generosity to the white man, his belief in the basic goodwill of all men, and his dramatic, nonviolent action enabled him to speak to both races.” Mondale, then a 40-year-old Democrat had emerged as one of the chamber’s most ardent advocates for civil rights.