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Arguments Against Racism And Finance In America

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Racism in mortgage lending and finance is an unforgiveable crime that plagues the most vulnerable citizens of American society. Poor, Americans of color, with little opportunity who are willing to work hard to fulfill the American dream of owning their own home, are ruthlessly being ripped off and taken advantage of by heartless people who abuse their White privilege for their own financial gain. It is shameful that in the United States of America such an atrocity still exists. This kind of harmful institutional racism is a direct infringement upon the civil and constitutional rights of a free society and should never be allowed to continue under any circumstance. Racism in mortgage lending and finance is a greed based violation of human rights …show more content…

However, our history has shown that through grassroots community organization, social movement and community-based activism, big changes can be made and hope for justice is very possible. The United States of America is still a place where people of all races and backgrounds can work together to achieve amazing and powerful results in fairness even in the world of finance. With a good plan in place and a committed effort to work as a one stronghold, an impoverished community can take on the big guns, and begin to take back the rights that should have been theirs in the first place. The power of community spirit at work is a revolution that can’t be …show more content…

In many cases, racism in mortgage lending and finance ended up causing devastating results. During the mortgage crisis of 2008 for example, minorities who were given sub-prime mortgages suffered many more foreclosures on their properties than Whites. This is because they were offered low, affordable “ teaser” rates to get their business. Later on, people of color were often slammed with much higher variable rates that banks knew they couldn’t afford. This forced them to lose their properties that the banks later sold off for a profit to developers or White clients who were looking to make a good deal off of the backs of minorities that had suffered (marketwatch.com, 2009). Therefore, it appears that racism in American mortgage lending and finance is still going strong, despite the laws in place to stop

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785 Words | 4 Pages

The Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC) and the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) introduced long-term mortgage and guaranteed to lenders with low interest rate and extended payment period. The number of Americans who could purchase homes increased and Jackson pointed out how the American way of life transformed, which is to buy a home than to rent. It is said that “today, renters account for one-third of all households, suburbs house far more people than cities, and affordability has supplanted physical deficiency as the primary housing problem (Schwartz 2015, 17).” However, the HOLC and FHA excluded the black population such that the HOLC appraisal and rating system assessed neighborhoods with black inhabitants to be hazardous and the FHA concerned about white-black separation in terms of the investment values (201, 208). FHA helped the building industry to turn against the minority and inner-city housing market and its policies supported the income and racial segregation of suburbia (213).

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554 Words | 3 Pages

The writer does this by presenting facts that support their argument. Within the editorial, the writer states that” while investigating 2,300 foreclosed properties in 38 metropolitan areas between 2011 and 2015, about a third of those properties in minority areas had more than 10 problems, while only 7 percent in white areas had that many”. This statistic is meant to shock the audience and provide a factual foundation for the writer’s claim. Throughout the entire article, the Editorial Board mentions the Fair Housing Act of 1968, and how Fannie Mae was in violation of it. The law is something every citizen must follow, so the fact that corrupt companies like Fannie Mae decided to violate the law, suggests that they are unprofessional and are in fact capable of the accused allegations.

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574 Words | 3 Pages

Realestate agents prayed on racial fears of to get white homeowners to sell at less than market value, and sell quickly. Homes were then sold to nonwhites at inflated prices. Predominately white neighborhoods became nonwhite neighborhoods fairly quickly due to blockbusting. 8. How did the property appraisal system started by the federal government influence “white

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780 Words | 4 Pages

All of these different aspects of social stratification are found all over the US today. This article discusses events that took place in 2013. This shows that even today, racism is still alive and something that is a day to day battle for people all over the country. However, today it much more prominent in the fact that it is often hidden. Neo-racism is much more commonly found because it is

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414 Words | 2 Pages

FHA that made RRCs an important condition of mortgage insurance continued to enact their policies to segregate white families to new and exclusive suburbs. Even after the courts prohibited explicit racial zoning, FHA believed that African American families threaten home value and their insurability. “the FHA took the position that the presence of African Americans in nearby neighborhoods was nonetheless a consideration that could threaten FHA insurability” (quoted in Making Ferguson, pp. 16). The effects of their actions of racial segregation persists even today in most neighborhoods. (Making Ferguson, pp.

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329 Words | 2 Pages

Redlining is the act of denying someone a loan or insurance because they live in an area that is considered a financial risk. The practice of redlining began in 1934 when the Federal Housing Administration created “residential security maps” for many cities to determine the safety of real estate investments in that neighborhood (Bourne). Existing black and latino neighborhoods were already deemed “unsafe” due to high crime rates and high poverty rates. Redlining forced minorities to live in specific areas and deprived those neighborhoods of funding so that they wouldn’t be able to thrive (Bourne). Because of their inability to thrive because of the neighborhood that they lived in, they are subjected to certain jobs, poor health opportunities,

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1489 Words | 6 Pages

The first to do so was Baltimore, who in 1910, chose to formalize legislation that prohibited Black people from purchasing residences in majority-white neighborhoods and vice versa. In response to this injustice, President Lyndon B. Johnson ratified the Fair Housing Act in 1968, declaring it unlawful for real estate agents to discriminate on the account of race, religion, or nationality. Despite the FHA’s legalization, the racial wealth gap remains a current and significant concern in the African-American community due to the expanding racial wealth gap supported by Redlining’s legacy. Redlining and housing segregation continue to be interwoven with the racial wealth gap due to the low homeownership rates amongst the minority community, deflated home prices of residences in redlined areas – where most Black people reside –, and the lack of funding for education and resources in majority-Black neighborhoods. Chicago was among the numerous cities that were heavily impacted by the housing segregation crisis and continues to face the devastating effects, one of the many being the racial income disparities.

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1028 Words | 5 Pages

One of the most famous lines of the Declaration of Independence is that “all men are created equal…”, yet American society does not always treat people as though they are all equal. America’s roots come from the fight against oppression, yet as our country continued to grow we became the oppressors. Although America has tried to write some of its wrongs from the past there are still traces left behind. The effects of segregational laws and sketchy housing practices have carried on to hurt minorities in America. Segregational laws have been eradicated, but the societal sigmas created from the laws continue and have created a process of De Facto segregation in American society against all minorities.

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1721 Words | 7 Pages

Based on this we can conclude that the mere image of being black is shattered and anywhere you go you will be judged as lower class. The fear created by the media make it seem like if you were to rent your home to a black descent, they’ll destroy your home or yet create a hostile environment and make it uncomfortable to other people. Another fear that sticks around with Africans Americans is that they “promote the gang lifestyle or are anti law enforcement” (Glassner 122). Though the realtor shuns African Americans from renting the homes they would not even rent/sale the home to a black family, even if they were well qualified, with higher incomes, and was willing to pay a higher down payment. From the book The Black Image in the White Mind by Andrew Rojecki and Robert Entman, they present us with white beliefs stating “the media conveys “problematic” images of African Americans even after decades of heightened awareness and vigilance to rid the media of stereotypes”.

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485 Words | 2 Pages

So, many African Americans are denied jobs and receive much lower wages than people of European descent, and it's most likely due to the roots of slavery and discrimination. A possible solution to reducing the great wealth gap that exists between whites and blacks in the United States is to eliminate the discrimination in the realm of housing

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632 Words | 3 Pages

Loans in the redlined neighborhoods were either unavailable or unbelievably expensive making it almost impossible for people of color to buy homes and accumulate wealth. Racist methods practiced by banks and private sectors believed if African Americans acquired homes in or near suburban areas the property value will decrease and their loans would be at risk. When minorities attempted to buy homes or property in predominantly all white neighborhoods prices rose would raise outrageously, restricted to a certain area, or they were denied. Richard Rothstein the author of the publication color of law says Underwriting Manual of the Federal Housing Administration, which said that "incompatible racial groups should not be permitted to live in the same communities. "

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1714 Words | 7 Pages

One way in which this fear is implemented is by increasing the inequality between races. Urban planning, in particular, has played a large role in this as it has historically advantaged some people while putting others at a disadvantage. From gentrification and racial disparities in law enforcement to practices such as blockbusting and redlining, it is apparent that policies and decisions made by city planners were not designed to benefit everyone equally. Particularly the Housing Act of 1949 and the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956. Both of these policies displaced residents through the use of eminent domain and condemnation laws (Budds, “How Urban Design Perpetuates Racial Inequality – And What We Can Do About It”).

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899 Words | 4 Pages

Natalie Moore writer of The South Side says “In Chicago, black people always do the best with what they have, and so we see high rates of homeownership in a number of communities on the South Side. We see strong neighborhoods, but even if you’re doing the right thing, if you’re in a black neighborhood or in any neighborhood that’s 10 percent black, your home value

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745 Words | 3 Pages

They argue that institutional racism in the housing market enacted by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), private loan and real estate institutions and actors, and white residents effectively and permanently isolated African Americans. Institutionalized racist practices of the housing market such as redlining and steering, coupled with white flight and structural disinvestment in African American neighborhoods, effectively isolated African Americans and further contributed to the creation of black ghettos. Thus, residential segregation concentrates poverty, erodes institutional and economic support, and ultimately causes its residents to normalize their problematic social environment of high levels of joblessness, teenage pregnancy, drugs, and violence. If the segregation of African Americans were to be resolved by their economic achievement and class mobility, middle-class African Americans should be able to enter white neighborhoods of comparable income levels. However, as Massey and Denton show, once the threshold of “too many black families” is crossed, white flight occurs and poorer black families move into the neighborhood, creating (and expanding) racially segregated

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1517 Words | 7 Pages

Public Policy on Housing Discrimination Executive Summary Housing discrimination and segregation have long been present in the American society (Lamb and Wilk). The ideals of public housing and home buying have always been intertwined with the social and political transformation of America, especially in terms of segregation and inequality of capital and race (Wyly, Ponder and Nettking). Nevertheless, the recent unrest in Ferguson, Missouri and in Baltimore due to alleged police misconduct resulting to deaths of black men brought light on the impoverished conditions in urban counties in America (Lemons). This brings questions to the effectiveness of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in devising more fair-housing facilities (Jost).

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