Brief: Redlining

Redlining is a practice that can be dated all the way back to the 30s when it was an administrative process that deemed who received loans and who was ineligible according to the discretion of the government. This had evolved through the century into different forms in which they would discriminate against lower income families, and not allow them the opportunity to buy a home. Redlining entails the risk factors behind not only the individual applying for loans but also the value set behind homes and their communities. Thus giving all the power to one group of people, redlining also goes much further than just deciding who gets an insured loan and who doesn’t. In fact it allows for the people in power to created segregated area and disenfranchise many. Redlining works by identifying the areas in which they see are at the most risk. This being indicated by the color that they achieve based on the area that they are applying for.

Hence why the reading assigned is so prevalent, the color of the law indicates the racists policy that has been in placed by the people in power, more importantly they indicate the policy that causes the disenfranchisement of people of color. Redlining had done exactly that and created a system of oppression and allowed for a hegemonic power to tell people where they can and cannot live. If an area had a single black population they would be struck and identified as a red area, which indicated that they were ineligible for a loan, which had made sure that they would default of homes. This intern would develop a lower status home because of how the housing market works. This racial process is the key player to why suburbs are predominately white, as they are labeled as green areas, and why urban areas are mainly people of color. This happens entirely because redlining draws pockets and creates a concentrated area of color and keeps them there as long as possible. With keeping people of color in this area it also allows for the house and the community to depreciate in value drastically, and has adverse effects on various other important parts of the community. Redlining has now been normalized as apart of our system and has been historically the way for people of color to be segregated away from the more affluent families, and creating a segregated community.