The Racial Wealth Gap
It is no secret that we as a nation carry an embarrassing weight on our shoulders, the weight of the wage gap. We love dearly the quotes of “Every man is born equal” and we all are promised the shot of the American Dream. These sayings are nothing more than unrealistic hopes of what we want to become. The wage gap is evidence of this, as systems such as redlining make it extremely harder for African Americans to obtain the same success and opportunities as whites. Redlining has had a domino effect on African American communities and has put African American Communities in a never-lasting cycle of oppression, poverty, and discrimination. Redlining has had a paralyzing effect on the African American community, making it extremely harder for those living in these communities to ever taste success, and ever feel the promised American Dream. Redlining has affected schooling, the justice system, life in the workplace, health, business, poverty, and violence in African American communities in negative ways. I'm sure we all have asked ourselves the questions of “Why do African Americans live in worse conditions” and “Why are African Americans in jail more”. The forgotten answer to all these questions is redlining, and its effects will be broken down and discussed throughout this website.
The Racial Wealth Gap
History
It all started in 1934. President Roosevelt, who is regarded as one of the greatest presidents in U.S history, gave leeway to redlining. His popularity and leadership were unmatched, and the people trusted and loved him dearly. Because of the effects of the great depression, many Americans were without homes and jobs. Roosevelt then signed the National Housing act of 1934, which helped millions of Americans get housing, but this act has plagued the African American community for decades. The act was known to help millions, but what many fail to realize is that it was made for lower and middle-class whites, and African Americans were left out of this innovative act. The Federal Housing Organization was then established and were tasked with giving out loans so that these citizens could afford houses in the newly established suburbia. Because the FHA profited off of these loans in the long run, and they wanted to invest in the suburbs, they refused to give out loans near African American inner-city communities, as they convinced whites that the value of their homes would depreciate if African Americans lived in the same areas. Also, loans were not given to African American who wished to move into suburbs, as NRP said “At the same time, the FHA was subsidizing builders who were mass-producing entire subdivisions for whites — with the requirement that none of the homes be sold to African-Americans” (Gross). This practice did not only happen around the start of the FHA, but continued for decades longer, as the same source also said “African-American families that were prohibited from buying homes in the suburbs in the 1940s and '50s and even into the '60s” (Gross). These restrictions were racially based, and not back by any evidence, as NPR also said “African-Americans were equally able to afford those homes as whites but were prohibited from buying them”(Gross). This shows how African Americans were discriminated against by the U.S government. The primary way for people to gain wealth in this country is through Real Estate, as those houses given to whites are now worth over $300,000. This is the start of the Racial Wealth Gap.