Meet The Fair Housing Defenders!

Follow Justice, Aya, Taranjit, Liberty, Abel, Sang, Shilah, and Shenandoah as they experience challenges with housing discrimination and embody their protected class.

Justice

The power of the mind is not a joke, and teenager Justice uses his brain and wits to confront environmental injustice in his neighborhood, Fifth Ward. Once Justice learns about how discrimination has shaped his community, he makes a commitment to fight the effects of segregation that continues to persist today.

The protected class Justice represents is Race, a grouping of humans based on shared genetic or physical traits.

Aya

Like no one you’ve ever seen before, this bi-racial teen girl carries her colors with pride. While the right side of Aya’s body resembles her bi-racial complexion and straight blonde hair, and the left side is a deeper skin tone with curly black hair, advocating for equal treatment, especially for survivors of natural disasters, is always her best side

Aya experiences how differently she is treated based on the skin color that others like best. She represents the protected class Color, the shade of skin as an indication of someone’s race or ethnicity.

Taranjit

This young Sikh teen embodies the meaning of his name, victory over bondage. In his young age, he has seen how the assumptions on his appearance and belief system entrap a society into remaining ignorant. Taranjit remains true to his core belief to strive for justice for the benefit and prosperity of all by encouraging others to report acts of discrimination.

Taranjit represents Religion as a protected class, the particular system of faith and worship.

Abel

Proving limits only exist in the mind and not the body, Abel is an athletic Latin teen with aspirations to compete in the U.S. Paralympics. He won’t let discrimination stand in the way of his dreams. A leader in the classroom and on the basketball court, Abel shows his city not to see people as disabled, but for their many abilities as sources of strength.

Abel is a member of the protected class Disability, a person who experiences functional limitations in areas of life activity.

 

Liberty

Liberty doesn’t allow adults to prey upon females. Always wearing green hues to symbolize freedom and democracy represented by the Statue of Liberty, she not only leads the fight against sexual harassment committed by her greedy landlord, she shows other females that their gender is not a sign of weakness.

This character represents the protected class Sex, the characteristics pertaining to and differentiating between masculinity and femininity based on biological sex.

Sang

A recent immigrant from Vietnam, Sang tries to learn a new country that resists his presence because of stereotypes. Living up to the meaning of his name, “noble” or “peace”, Sang does his best to speak up for himself. When his voice falls on deaf ears, his state of the art drone, Whiz, captures acts of housing discrimination and shocks his neighbors. Whiz also teaches Sang English, along with many other languages.

Sang represents the protected class National Origin, a person from another country or part of the world.

 

 

Shilah & Shenandoah

These Native American teenage twins fight for their survival after their mother’s death from COVID-19. Shilah and Shenandoah must grow up fast and quickly learn how to navigate the resources for homeless teens. As they face housing insecurity simply because of their presence, they also advocate for all kids needing a safe place to sleep.

These teens represent the protected class Familial Status, the presence of minors or pregnant mother in a household.

Houston, TX

FHD Program Directors, Melissa and Sasha are happy to provide in person and virtual fair housing educational presentations, workshops, and facilitate booths at public events.

To schedule these opportunities or to request copies of the Fair Housing Defenders comic books, email [email protected].

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