Discussion: How did African Americans discover they were being “redlined”?

TPM Article Topics
1

Discussion for article #238552

2 Likes
2

“Primary Source” is already better than “The Slice”.

I like it.

4 Likes
3

“The pervasiveness of redlining forced African Americans and other people of color to rent from landlords, often at exorbitant prices”

Rather than stroll down memory lane and smile that, wow, redlining is now illegal, I’d much prefer a story about the here and now. Wake up. 21st century redlining is alive and well.

1 Like
4

Yup, we’ve moved very slowly. Now, at least, if you can prove redlining, you can get recompense. Back then, nothing. One of the “innovations” of the financial industry in the past generation has been to make redlining “objective”. If you steer black people to more expensive loans and credit agreements than white people of the same income level, then they’ll be more likely to default, or to have trouble paying their other bills, because, hey, less available income and less savings. And then you can point to that increased likelihood of default as a reason for steering them to more expensive loans.

2 Likes
5

Very nice start to History. Brief, interesting and something I could post to Facebook to get TPM a few more clicks (and hopefully readers).

2 Likes
6

That is one huge ‘if.’ And it’s not just in housing, either.

Banks, credit card companies and insurers can now use your social media data to determine the terms by which they’ll do business with you.

7

This article should have included additional federal laws that followed:

-Home Mortgage Disclosure Act
-Community Reinvestment Act

1 Like
8

Wilkins’ letter “made [such] a huge difference” that it took 30 years for the policy to be reversed, and only then in response to militant Black Nationalist organizing and ghetto uprisings, i.e., several years after the heyday of the King-Wilkins led Civil Right Movement. And, as other commenters have insinuated here, to the extent that there was real-world change it’s been undermined in other ways by banks, local government officials, court decisions, DOJ inaction, etc. Not sure what country writer N. D. B. Connolly lives in.

3 Likes
9

He’s a history prof at Johns Hopkins. At least that explains the historical nature of the article.

1 Like