Is the U.S. a melting pot?
When the National Association of Realtors was established 100 years ago, its founding board and the 120 founding members were all white males. The word “diversity” did not exist in the real estate vocabulary because it was not necessary at that time. Today the profile and landscape of NAR is very different: The most commonly talked about subject throughout the group’s weeklong centennial event in Washington, D.C. in May was diversity. From the surface, it is easy to focus on diversity based on ethnicity or skin color. Diversity, however, is actually an all-encompassing term that leads one to think about the concept of fairness to all people. Not so long ago, laws prohibited people of a certain skin color, national origin or even marital status from buying properties. Today in California real estate practice, it is illegal to discriminate against people because of one’s age, ancestry, color, disability, national origin, race, religion, sex or sexual orientation. The laws are there to te
When the National Association of Realtors was established 100 years ago, its founding board and the 120 founding members were all white males. The word “diversity” did not exist in the real estate vocabulary because it was not necessary at that time. Today the profile and landscape of NAR is very different: The most commonly talked about subject throughout the group’s weeklong centennial event in Washington, D.C. in May was diversity. From the surface, it is easy to focus on diversity based on ethnicity or skin color. Diversity, however, is actually an all-encompassing term that leads one to think about the concept of fairness to all people. Not so long ago, laws prohibited people of a certain skin color, national origin or even marital status from buying properties. Today in California real estate practice, it is illegal to discriminate against people because of one’s age, ancestry, color, disability, national origin, race, religion, sex or sexual orientation. The laws are there to te
