Racial Steering by Brooklyn Realtors
Press Release
October 17, 1975

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Press Releases, Volume 6. Racial Steering by Brooklyn Realtors, 1975. ee064426-bb92-ee11-be37-00224827e97b. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/f2cb4a0f-e706-4dae-8222-74e1cfab8d1a/racial-steering-by-brooklyn-realtors. Accessed April 28, 2025.
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a7 OCTOBER ELEASE.=" Racial Steering, BrooBlyn Realtors Distrioution - release; PR Newswire: Basic Wire, Atlantic Seaboard 65 black press 22 Brooklyn Weeklies and N.Y.Magazine, Village Voice Handdelivered: The New York Times Newsday Daily News Christian Science Monitor New York Post Wall Street Journal Amsterdam News Jet UPI AP Time & Newsweek ~ will not handle From: Norman Bloomfield NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. 10 Columbus Circle New York, New York 10019 Telephone: 212 586-8397 Contact: Melvyn R. Leventhal or Linda Greene FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE NEW YORK, N.Y., Oct. 17 - The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund today filed suit against four major Brooklyn realtors, charging that the companies uniformly and consistently practice racial steering in the sale of private homes. The case, the first comprehensive action against New York realtors charging racial steering, was filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York. The suit alleges that the realtors' practice of steering black buyers to black neighborhoods and white purchasers to white neighborhoods has played a significant role in perpetuating racially segregated housing in Brooklyn. The Brooklyn realtors charged with discriminatory policies and practices aré Best Realty Co., Dwork and Korn Real Estate Company, Eisberg-Lenz Ltd., and Morris Sardell Realty Co. The case was filed following a study of major Brooklyn realtors initiated by the Prospect-Lefferts Garden Association, and is based largely on information supplied by "testers" posing as prospective purchasers. The study was conducted between March and June, 1975 to determine whether blacks and whites are treated differently when they seek available housing and present identical housing needsand income data. Based on the testers' findings and the experiences of plaintiffs to the action, the suit charges that a line has been drawn by the Brooklyn ‘ (more) realtors along Avenue H, with white prospective purchasers given an opportunity to view and purchase available housing south of that line. Black purchasers, however, are only given an opportunity to view and purchase homes north of Avenue H and east of Flatbush Avenue. Commenting on the suit, Legal Defense Fund director-counsel, Jack Greenberg, said: "The tests reveal that a significant percentage of Brooklyn realtors maintain racially discriminatory practices and are preventing the development of stable, integrated, middle-class neighborhoods. In fact, the pattern of racial discrimination, which has helped create a dual housing market, is so uniform and consistent that we also have charged the defendants with illegal conspiracy." The suit, Monsonis v. Best Realty Co., seeks compensatory and punitive damages and injunctive relief on behalf of seven named plaintiffs and a class of all Brooklyn residents and black homeowners who have been injured by the real estate companies. As part of the relief, the plaintiffs are asking tthe court to require the realtors to establish an affirmative action sales policy to overcome the effects of their past discriminatory policy and assist in the development of integrated neighborhoods. Legal counsel for plaintiffs aze Linda Greene, Melvyn Leventhal, Peter Sherwood and Charles Williams of the Legal Defense Fund's staff. # # # NOTE TO EDITOR - The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund is a completely separate corganization, even though established by the NAACP in 1939. It has not been affiliated with the founding Association for more than 20 years. ‘The correct designation is NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., frequently shortened to Legal Defense Fund. The organization has a national staff and headquarters in New York City and works with 400 cooperating attorneys throughout the country.