Documentary Analysis: The House We Live In

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According to Nicki L. Cole’s article, “Definitions of Intersectionality,” the concept of intersectionality “refers to the simultaneous experience of categorical and hierarchical classifications,” including race, class, and gender. Consequently, the different forms of oppression, such as racism, classism, and sexism, depend on one another and intersect to form “a unified system of oppression” (Cole). Using the concept of intersectionality as an “analytical tool,” social scientists may research “how different forms of privilege and oppression exist simultaneously in shaping [one’s] experiences in [society]” (Cole). In the article, “The Case for Reparations,” the concept of intersectionality reveals that capitalists purposely pitted the various …show more content…

For decades, the housing market completely excluded African Americans (The House We Live In). In 1968, however, President Johnson signed the Fair Housing Act, which outlawed the refusal to sell a house due to one’s race (The House We Live In). Despite this effort to promote equality in the housing market, capitalists managed to profit from racial segregation. As stated in the documentary, The House We Live In, when even one African American family moved into a predominantly white neighborhood, the value of the houses in the area decreased. Then, capitalists “made moves to scare white folks to sell their homes at under market value” in order to prevent further losses (The House We Live In). After, to make a profit, capitalists resold these houses to non-Whites at “inflated prices” (The House We Live In). These practices encouraged “white flight” and transformed the new integrated neighborhoods into predominantly non-White ghettos, where house values were low (The House We Live In). In the documentary, The House We Live In, a white man in an integrated neighborhood claimed money as the reason for disliking the neighborhoods turning white to black. He explains that there was a huge difference of home value in a black neighborhood compared to other similar neighborhoods without

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