Have African Americans Achieved Equality in Wealth and Housing

Addison Andronaco
Created by Addison Andronaco(User Generated Content*)User Generated Content is not posted by anyone affiliated with, or on behalf of, Playbuzz.com.
On Mar 6, 2017
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Years ago Martin Luther King Jr. dreamt of an America where blacks and whites were treated equally. This dream brings along the question, has it happened? With many aspects of equality it is easier to focus on one to define a conclusion. One of the biggest differences between races would be housing. As it is vastly unequal, and might never be fixed.

Life is very comparable to a race, if you start poorly chances are you won't finish the race well. This is very applicable to blacks and housing, as blacks were always treated unfairly in relation to buying houses, or receiving loans. This practice had been going on from the start, which is why African Americans still have not caught up to the where they would have been if they were not mistreated in such a way. In order to fully analyze this topic we must start from the beginning.

The National Housing Act (1934)

The National Housing Act was largely the first tremor in the earthquake of what is housing segregation. This act was passed as a way to make homes affordable for people with lower incomes. Though it tremendously impacted African Americans in a negative way. Redlining was created when the government enabled the Home Owners Loan Corporation to make Residential Security Maps. These maps outlined high risk neighborhoods in red, (Redlining). This "redlining" ensured that those who lived inside the red lines would not receive loans from the banks. This practice occurred in over 230 US cities, largely leading to the decay of urban neighborhoods.

Redlining in the City of Oakland

The Housing Act (1937)

In 1937 the Housing Act passed in an effort to increase public housing options. This effort further increased racial segregation in the housing sector. As poorer people would mostly consist of the people who lived in public housing. Without a home no equity can be acquired, and thus making it difficult to sell those houses and make money.

Public Housing

Post WWII

The return of American soldiers after WWII led to the passing of the Servicemens Readjustment Act. This being created by the federal government to give returning GI's loans for homes amongst many other benefits. The millions of returning soldiers obtained inexpensive mortgages for homes leading to the creation of the suburbs. Realtors would not show these new suburban homes to African Americans in an effort to keep them out of these "white" neighborhoods in fear of property values decreasing. These practices kept African Americans in the cities as they could not move into the Suburbs.

"Suburbia"

Progress

In 1968 progress was made in the housing front, as the Fair Housing Act was passed. This law made it harder for racism to exist in the housing sector, as those who refused to sell houses to blacks could be punished in court. Due to this blacks were given more opportunities to own a house. Of course this act could not completely stomp out racism in housing. This was just the first step in the marathon of what is establishing equal opportunities.

Equal Credit Opportunity Act

In order to plug the ever flooding boat of credit discrimination the Equal Credit Opportunities Act was passed. This "makes it unlawful for any creditor to discriminate against any applicant, with respect to any aspect of a credit transaction, on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, or age." This allowed for all races to receive credit not based on stereotypes, but on who they are. Higher credit scores thus makes banks more inclined to give you a loan, since a higher credit score shows you are trustworthy. With this new act, all races were given a slightly better playing field then the one they previously occupied.

Where It Stands Today

The racism of sixty years ago still affects us today. The obstacles set in front of African Americans have been hard to overcome, but hopefully it is with in reach. Progress has been made, but just not enough as blacks still suffer from what our ancestors did. In a 2012 study it found that only forty percent of African Americans owned homes, while in 2014 sixty-four percent of whites owned homes. This statistic is eye opening as it shows that these wounds will take a while to heal. Hopefully the wounds of yesterday will be sowed by the stitches of America's youth.

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