| Donald Trump and his father Fred’s real estate business kept blacks from renting apartments in the early 1970s. (RON GALELLA, LTD./WIREIMAGE) |
Donald Trump may be reaching out to blacks now, but the Trump family has a disturbing history of trying to keep them away.
The Trump family business, which included the Donald and was led by his father, Fred, went to shameful lengths to prevent blacks from renting apartments in the early 1970s, according to a New York Times story published Saturday.
Trump employees were instructed to attach a letter “c” for colored to any rental applications submitted by black apartment seekers.
After one perfectly qualified black woman dropped off an application, Fred Trump himself instructed an employee to ignore it.
“I asked him what to do and he says, ‘Take the application and put it in a drawer and leave it there,’” former rental agent Stanley Leibowitz told The Times. The racial discrimination allegations led to a Justice Department suit that ultimately forced the Trumps to change the way they advertised their apartments.