Journal Review, February 10, 2023, Slow March Towards Something Better, We Hope
By the 90s, many of us had to read “A Raisin the Sun” for high school English and it was the first we learned of covenants, codes and redlining policies, but many Americans didn’t have to read about it. They lived it. All it took was a landlord, a trailer court owner, a home association or loan officers for this to continue into the 2000s. Other subversive, pernicious practices continue, such as assessing home values differently based on the race of the owners, or neighborhood owners intentionally outbidding Black buyers to prevent them from moving there. The Pew Trusts reported in October 2022 that the U.S. Department of Justice settled a number of redlining complaints with lenders in New Jersey, Texas, Tennessee and Pennsylvania. Furthermore, it reported that “74.6% of white households owned their homes, compared with 45.3% of Black households — a gap of more than 29 points. In 1960, the white homeownership rate was 65%, and the Black rate was 38%, a 27-point gap.” Compare that to 2004 when 49% of Black Americans owned their home, according to the National Community Reinvestment Coalition.
