Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti appointed Capri Maddox to be executive director of the city’s new Department of Civil and Human Rights in February. Maddox said she’s grateful for the opportunity.
“I'm a long life Angeleno, born in the city of Los Angeles, and I really appreciate the texture, the diversity, of our region. I went to Fairfax High School, went to Cal State L.A. for undergrad and my master's degree, and also went to Pepperdine School of Law, and I really have been given so much. And to much is given, much is required.”
Maddox said she showed up to California State University, Los Angeles with two suitcases full of everything she owned and some money in her pocket.
“The school took me in, loved me, educated me, and I am proud to be a product of our region,” she said.
Maddox is married to a Black man and together they have a teenage son.
“Some of the things that are happening with race in this country are real to me, they’re personal, and as someone that has suffered discrimination, I am first to serve, which happens to be the model of my church here in Los Angeles,” she said.
The Department of Civil and Human Rights will focus on commerce, public accommodations, education, employment, and housing. The department will not deal directly with policing.
“As we saw George Floyd slip away to the other side, calling for his mother as he was murdered on camera, someone had their foot on his neck... there's so many ways where people have their foot on the necks of the underserved and the underrepresented communities here in Los Angeles,” Maddox said. “That is why I'm looking forward to working with banking institutions, educational institutions, landlords and others to make a difference in this phase because hate is manifest in many forms.”
Maddox said she believes it’s LA’s duty to set an example of equality for the nation.
“We are actually going to move forward to moving out hate in our region and hopefully the nation. We are Los Angeles, and Los Angeles is a message center for the entire nation and maybe the world, so I want to be sure that we address hate and inequities in every form,” she said. “I do not only want to deal with hate, discrimination, and then leave it there. I want to be sure that we move forward to deal with issues related to getting people into upward mobility situations as well, to level the playing field, and that’s what the mayor would really like us to do.”
Maddox said inequities can be found in home ownership.
“For so long, we had racial covenants on homes and some of my neighbors actually were able to get their homes because their parents owned homes in more affluent neighborhoods, maybe north of Wilshire and west of Crenshaw or La Cienega, and they were able to buy their home because their parents had enough equity in homes that my parents weren't able to buy in the late sixties, early seventies,” she said.
Generational wealth creates an equality imbalance as well.
“African Americans and Latinos pay every year $500 million more in their mortgages compared to Caucasians, and compared to Caucasians with the same credit score,” she said. “So many people of color feel like they have to work twice as hard for half as much and they need to be 10 times as grateful to be in that situation, and that's unacceptable, and that's why I wish to move forward with this equity movement.”
Maddox had trouble renting an apartment in the Palms neighborhood of LA before attending Pepperdine Law School.
“I have had a lot of life experiences, and even though I’ve been someone that had to deal with housing security or even discrimination in housing on a personal note, I contacted Westside Fair Housing years ago when I was trying to rent a place to live, right before I went to law school in Malibu, in the Palms area, and I had to get help myself in that space,” she said.
Now, Maddox is a landlord herself.
“I'm one of those small mom-and-pop landlords that deals with these issues, so I understand these issues a lot of times 360. I understand the Apartment Owners Association of Greater Los Angeles’ point of view,” she said. “However, I understand that I live in this skin, and we have to be candid here, your skin color speaks before you do in America.”
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