Housing Bias Suit Is Settled for $1.7 Million

A federal judge approved a $1.7-million settlement Wednesday in a housing discrimination case centering on claims that middle-class black males were being victimized by pop culture gang stereotypes.

The consent decree, approved by U.S. District Judge Kim McLane Wardlaw, was described as one of the largest of its kind ever in a housing discrimination case filed by private parties against housing owners and a private security firm.

The suit charged that African American families were evicted from the Park Apartments in Lakewood after teenagers were harassed or accused of being gang members simply on the basis of their youth, race and attire.

Defendants in the suit were the condominium association and other owners of Park Apartments, their security firm, Burns International Security Services, and others. The city of Lakewood and Los Angeles County were also named in the suit.

The Long Beach Fair Housing Foundation, which assisted the families in pursuing their case, lost its contract with the city of Lakewood and was sued by the city because of the case. That legal action is still pending.

The defendants denied the allegations but agreed to the consent decree to avoid a costly lawsuit, according to court documents. An attorney for the condominium association declined comment.

Pasadena attorney Bert Voorhees, who represented the families, said the youths were victimized by what he called racist stereotypes fostered by violent movies like “New Jack City” about drugs and gangs.

“The owners of the apartment complex acted as though they had seen ‘New Jack City’ one too many times and came to see all young black males as gang members involved in drugs,” Voorhees said. “In fact, a lot of these kids were A and B students, who played sports and were involved in other school activities.”

One of the youths whose family joined in the suit was DeAndre Austin, a basketball star at Artesia High School and Fresno State University.

One of the worst cases of harassment, Voorhees said, involved the family of Nellshawn Walker, a young man who was suffering from lupus. When friends and family made late night-calls to visit Walker, the apartment management and security officers insinuated “that the ‘traffic’ in and out of their house at night was the result of drug sales,” Voorhees said.

Private security guards hired by Burns to patrol the middle-class housing complex complex also placed young men under “house arrest,” threatening their families with eviction if they did anything but go to school and return, the plaintiffs charged.

Mickey Crump Jr., then 15, was one of the youths who was placed under “house arrest” and told he couldn’t leave his apartment, Voorhees said. Crump was not available for comment Wednesday, but Voorhees said his family was forced to move from what essentially was the only home Mickey knew because of the harassment.

“On a couple of occasions Mickey was so afraid of hurting his family that he had to talk friends into taking out the garbage for him,” Voorhees said.

In addition to the monetary settlement, the consent decree approved by Wardlaw requires that Burns, which no longer provides security for Park Apartments, institute anti-discriminatory practices and provide fair housing training sessions for its employees.

“Burns is pleased to be able to provide some positive training to its senior level management so that they can be more sensitive to these issues,” said Constance Norton, the attorney for Burns.

Voorhees said seven of the original eight families who sought legal relief were eventually evicted from the Lakewood apartment complex.

He said the families were middle class, with a number of professionals among the breadwinners. Rents at the complex were as high as $1,100 a month.

“What was especially difficult for these families is that many moved to Lakewood looking for a quiet, middle-class life,” Voorhees said. “What they are left with are feelings ranging from profound disappointment to despair. They thought they had found a safe place to raise their families and instead saw their children’s lives were profoundly shattered.”

Voorhees, who specializes in housing discrimination cases, said that although the apartment complex was located in Lakewood, the discrimination experienced by the families could be going on in any community.

“What we are facing is a different kind of racism based on unreasonable fears of young black males,” Voorhees said. “These fears played themselves out in this complex when management became obsessed that these young men were up to no good. They would be sitting on the porch talking, flirting with their girlfriends, playing basketball. Instead of seeing young teens doing what all teens do, they saw gang members.”