Legacy Of Redlining Essay

The Legacy of Redlining: Examining the Lingering Impact on Communities of Color

Redlining is the insidious practice that drew a color line around neighborhoods, literally trapping generations of Americans of color in neighborhoods defined by disinvestment, segregation, and poverty. By limiting their access to quality housing, financial services, educational resources, and job opportunities, it perpetuates a cycle of poverty that is difficult to break free from. This form of systemic racism serves as a constant reminder of the inequality embedded in our society, which blocks individuals from achieving their true potential, affecting not only individuals, but entire communities. Redlining can specifically target young people of color because

The government became involved with the concept of redlining with the National Housing Act of 1934 (Madrigal 2014). The government color coded neighborhoods based on their viewed riskiness, so green areas were the most likely to be invested in while red areas were considered undesirable for loans and investment. These red areas, which mostly consisted of Hispanic, immigrant, or black communities, were systematically denied access to mortgage, insurance, credit, loans, and other financial services. Due to banks denying resources to these neighborhoods, businesses and other investors followed their lead, creating a cycle of disinvestment. As a result of this disinvestment, the redlined communities suffered from higher unemployment rates, lower property values, and a lack of access to capital. By drawing a line around these communities, redlining not only created a series of disinvestment, but it also encouraged a cycle of poverty that is still affecting ethnic neighborhoods today. Redlining is known to limit services to ethnic neighborhoods, but there are forms of redlining that not only affect financial stability, but the health and livelihood of people of

Education in itself has a huge impact on the development of children, but when it is combined with these other factors, it can have a detrimental effect on the mental health of youth of color. Kreisberg writes, “Identities vary in many other ways. They are self-designations and also attributions made about other persons. They can endure for generations or change with shifting situations” (2003). Identities are made up of multiple elements, including race, gender, socioeconomic status, sexuality, etc. Young people of color not only face systemic discrimination from their schools and the government, they put up with microaggressions and stereotypes from their peers and educators. These subtle types of racism can have a lasting effect on how people of color view themselves and their identity. It is commonly accepted that minorities can face systemic discrimination in terms of opportunities and education, but a topic that is typically minimized is how racism from their peers can affect the identity formation of young people of color. By growing up in a society that devalues people of color simply because of their skin, teenagers can have feelings of self-doubt and invisibility. This can result in them hating their skin color and alienating themselves from their cultural heritage, which makes it