The Real News Network, February 22nd, 2019, Racially discriminatory lending leads to Black community wealth decline
MARC STEINER: I mean there’s a couple of questions here. First question is I’m curious what you think about the question of policies.
DEDRICK ASANTE-MUHAMMAD: Yes.
MARC STEINER: And what policies have to occur. A, to not allow institutions, Wells Fargo and any other bank, to charge exorbitant rates to black people borrowing money.
DEDRICK ASANTE-MUHAMMAD: Yes.
MARC STEINER: Buying a home. It seems like for whatever reason they cannot put their hands around anything that governs banks to stop them from doing it. Everything seems to be back stepping or doing things after the fact.
DEDRICK ASANTE-MUHAMMAD: Well, and that’s something, I think we thought there was some progress happening after the Great Recession where – and we thought with the creation of CFPB -.
MARC STEINER: Which is?
DEDRICK ASANTE-MUHAMMAD: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that was, you know, kind of set up recognizing that – that we kind of – the whole deregulation of banks that had been so prominent since at least the 80s wasn’t acceptable and helped bring the economy to a crisis and that we actually needed a government agency to help protect consumers as they’re dealing with findings. But we’ve seen that, you know, that barely got off the ground before Trump got elected and has started turning back the few things that was happening with CFPB, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. So, I mean, I’m saying that to say that if we thought there were some steps. Moving forward in dealing with banking regulation. But even that’s being unwound and I think even what was happening under Obama still wasn’t taking the really serious racial economic inequality lens we’d have to look at if you want to deal with these issues.
