Like I mentioned before, I have been “twittering” (is that a thing) with someone who has since been challenging my understanding of some social issues. She was the one who drove me to read Baldwin’s book The Fire Next Time which was great which segued well to Glaude’s Begin Again. This was a great book after reading about Baldwin , our Jimmy, as he prefers to call him. It follows his life and takes you through the challenges he faced writing about civil rights as a gay black man. It details his ventures over seas and how he, as a black man, was received.
Feeling even more inspired I picked up Color of Law. This was truly transformative in my understanding of the effects of systemic racism against black people. One of the most impactful was the explanation of the wealth gap. On the surface, and easily recognizable, is the pay inequalities between whites and non-whites. That is without discussing gender inequalities from being both black and female. There is a more subtle component of the wealth gap, home ownership.
I have never thought about the ability to purchase a home outside of the price barrier. There is a large swath of America that is below the poverty level, so it is easy to reason that home ownership is a tall mountain to climb. What hides even underneath that, debatable is how hidden it is, is the prejudice towards black people even to this day. Ok, that sounds bad enough but it gets worse. For a hundred years after emancipation there was hateful exclusion from buying homes in white neighorhoods. This was so systemic that the FHA actually had policies that required builders to make the neighborhoods “whites only” before they could get a loan and permit to develop. Even when the law prevented the discrimination, they did one better. They required homeowners to enter into a community agreement that they will not permit black homeowners.
I used to wonder how people had the money to do xyz, but now that I am a home owner I realize the power in home equity. I can take a loan to do almost anything, send my children to college or buy investment properties. That is something that can accumulate wealth over generations after I am gone. This ability to accumulate wealth from home ownership has been denied to black people for over 150 years. If you did the math, I include the years to present day. This goes so deep that I cannot put in a single blog, and I am certainly not expert enough in the topic to go further. If this strikes a cord or you are interested, please buy Color of Law. This was a phenomenal book that really recommend.
I know that I did not do this topic justice, but it really was an eye opener.
I just finished Frederick Douglass’ book My Bondage and My Freedom. I will talk about that in a future post.
It's just me 