Redlining

practice of redlining. Lending companies and banks withhold mortgages and other loans from people who live in neighborhoods of certain ethnic makeups. In a perfect world, arbitrary factors such as race would not affect someone’s ability to buy a home. Unfortunately, we do not live in a perfect world. Even in our supposedly “progressive” nation, prejudice against people of color runs rampant. Though there has been a definite decrease in blatant redlining, subtle redlining remains a prevalent issue in society today. Redlining has not improved much over time- it has only transformed. Many blame the Home Owner’s Loan Corporation (HOLC) for the creation of redlining. Established in 1933 as part of the New Deal, this organization created the infamous color-coded Residential Security Maps. The color red was assigned to the highest-risk areas. From 1936 to 1940, HOLC…

Preface: Historical preservation has been mostly understood by the means of preserving the physical artifact. However, in an urban context, what makes artifacts’ character “distinctive” and “definitive” is not only their physicality but also their memory. To this end, Also Rossi’s argues for “the soul of the city” as the city’s history, its memory. Although we all travel backward in time through memory, history and memory should be distinguished totally from each other, the former belongs to a…

What is Gentrification? Gentrification can have a negative connotation and is often compared to white flight, it also can be seen as a race issue. Whereas, a Caucasian population will take over poverty stricken mixed-race neighborhoods and revitalize them with their newly brought in businesses. Alex Schafran writes in the Berkeley Planning Journal, “residents of gentrifying neighborhoods have been "displaced" from the literature on the subject. [They] are so busy trying to define it, quantify…

The United States government has implemented many policies that ban redlining in the United States; However, many big business corporations and banks still practice redlining indirectly to this day. In 2008, congress passed the Safe Act in order to protect citizens from discrimination and fraud of redlining in their neighborhoods (Carson). This act was essential for American citizens, especially minorities because they were discriminated against when trying to own a home or take a loan out of…

Unjust Deserts: The Effects of Retail and Residential Redlining on Public Health in Communities of Color in New York City Introduction When one thinks of segregation in the United States, he or she tends to imagine segregated restaurants in a pre-1960s Southern community. It’s almost impossible for one to believe that in the following decades covert segregation would not only continue, but be pertinent in Northern cities such as New York City. However, through a combination of racism in the…

Credit Card redlining is a practice by Credit Card issuers who provide varying amounts of credit to areas based on their ethnic minority composition rather than economic criteria. Issuers often times reduce credit line for an individual with a record of purchases at retailers known to serve “high-risk” customers. Ironically, mortgages have played an unexpected role in today’s society that has still become detrimental. After years of people being denied loans in the inner city, lenders began to…

Banks used this concept to deny loans to any African American community that needed them. This discrimination led to economic crisis, because every company was trying to either deny service or raise the price so that African Americans wouldn’t afford it. It was called redlining, because these companies and especially banks put a red line of separation between races and the way services are offered to each race. The practice of redlining was spread almost everywhere until 1964 when the Civils…

shortages because of World War I and the immigration halt of 1921, it resulted in the Great Migration’s mass movement. While the Great Migration did offer better lives for some people, it also caused problems like crowding and increased racial tensions in urban areas. Attempts to move into white neighborhoods were met with threats, forcing many people to settle in tiny, underserviced, and segregated areas within the city. When coupled with redlining, this made life incredibly financially…

are real. Racial minorities typically find themselves struggling to wade through racism weaved into our political and social institutions. Institutionalized discrimination can take place in the accumulation of wealth, the legal system, and education. These institutionalized forms of racism result in social and economic inequities that people of color consistently have to face. With the institutionalization of racism, we find a new form of segregation. One not established by law or policies, but…

to help with the finances the social norm was telling them to stay home. This made the women afraid to even speak a word to themselves or their husbands. Black people were also facing segregation during this time period. Redlining was one of the major reasons why segregation was so apparent. Redlining was where banks wouldn’t give out loans to people who lived in an area that was deemed to be a poor financial risk. Most people who lived in these areas were black, very few were white. This made…