Challenging the code...

The last unit of A nation's Argument was pretty interesting. We looked at the constitution as well as talked to some government officials like aldermen and a governor. Through these interactions, we were able to get insight into what it's like to be in these positions and upholding a certain standard, but we also go to think about how different codes and laws are to be implemented into the everyday life of a citizen. After talking to these prominent figures in our government, it was time to start thinking about our action project. For this, we started to look at Chicago's municipal code in detail. there are many codes to be looked at but we were told to chose one of them and focus on amending one of the ordinances or subsections to this code. Becasue this class is more of a philosophy class than a policy we were tasked with amending or changing the ordinance. Changing it to make it better so that it could benefit the citizens a lot more or even make it easier to carry out or be implemented.

The code I chose for this project was Chicago fair housing regulations which was chapter 5- 8 of the municipal code. The Ordinance I chose was the section on the complaint procedure mainly for discrimination of any kind. The ordinance reads as follows: "Any person aggrieved in any manner by any violation of this chapter may file a written complaint with the commission on human relations. The complaint shall include the name and address of the complainant and of every person against whom the complaint is made, and shall set out the facts giving rise to the complaint. No person shall refuse or fail to comply with any subpoena, order or decision issued in the course of or as a result of an investigation of a complaint". My first thought when reading this ordinance was to amend it so that the complaint wouldn't go directly to the commission of human relations initially. I thought it was pretty absurd to have even the smallest of discrimination complaints go to them until I did a little research. To get more perspective on this topic, I spoke with a member of the Commission Of Human Relations, Joann Newsome. She said that the commission of human relations is specifically in place to enforce the fair housing ordinance. Apparently, this ordinance is pretty helpful because there are many benefits to taking discriminatory complaints to the commission of human relations. First, there wouldn't be any fees for trying to get change for a situation where you were discriminated against. There's also no need for an attorney when the commission of human relations is a faction that specializes in injustice in that way.

This talk with Joann Newsome made me think about what the ordinance was really about. As a result, I came up with some premises and a conclusion that properly summarizes this ordinance.

P1: If you're bothered by something that affects you substantially

P2: If it's based on discrimination of any kind

P3: Can't be resolved as a small matter

Conclusion: bring it to the commission of Human relations within 8 months of the incident occurring

At first glance, this seems to be the perfect ordinance but there are still a few things that are concerning to me. First is the fact that there are many people being discriminated against that don't know that they can file a complaint to the commission of human rights. There are just so many cases where people are discriminated against in housing, financial transactions, and other things as well, and not all of them are heard because not everyone has knowledge of this part of Chicago's municipal code. The second is that you have to take it up with the commission if you want justice to be served for you. I think that the landlord should be the one to take the complaint and either shut it down, attempt to, or attempt to shut it down but fail and then bring it to the commission. The fact that someone would have to file a discrimination complaint against the landlord themself is absurd because how are they being allowed to hold the title of the landlord if they are being discriminatory. With these amendments to this ordinance, this is what i think the new premises and conclusion would be like.

P1: If you're bothered by anything that affects your ability to live

P2: based on discrimination and can't be resolved like a small matter

P3: take it up with the landlord first 

Conclusion: take it to the commission after all three conditions are met

I think this ordinance of Chicago's municipal code, best pertains to the 9th amendment because its exercising the right listed that says any rights not listed in a governmental document should still be taken into account and is not void. Being treated the same as everyone else is a right just as not being discriminated against is a right. The commission on human relations really is just enforcing that once they get the call. I was talking to one of my friends and he said "when I was younger, my family moved into a new apartment on the north side. Every other person living there was white and it was obvious they were getting treated differently than we were. The landlord would be much more strict on us when we were maybe a day late with payment, but would trust that the other residents would pay eventually. There were random calls to police officers that we were suspected of having drugs in our apartment. It was just really crazy how different everything was. So to respond to what you were saying, I don't think going through the landlord first is always such a good idea so as of right now I'm pretty happy with how this section is described"