"A 'Smoking Gun' on Race, subprime loans" (03/17/07) -- Boston Globe asks "Why?" and gives an unconsciously racist answer.

In this article, Kimberly Blanton, Globe staff, writes that “…it is well known that subprime loans are prevalent in minority communities in Boston and surrounding communities. What is much less clear is why.” She gives the following reasons: “…blacks and Latinos have lower incomes, on average, and fewer assets such as savings, investments, and real estate…lack of a down payment is the biggest issue for the black community. Black households…have accumulated one-tenth the wealth available to white households.” Blanton explains this racial wealth disparity by quoting Tom Shapiro, a Brandeis University sociology professor who says “blacks are more likely the first generation to attend college or get a professional job. Blacks and Latinos also earn about half as much as whites in Massachusetts…” Readers are led to believe that lack of college education explains why Blacks have accumulated one tenth the wealth of whites and thus must resort to subprime loans if they are to purchase homes.

Lack of college education leading to low paying jobs is indeed a contributing factor to the racial wealth gap. However, offering this fact as the sole explanation is misleading, unconsciously racist, and damaging to all of us. If we look at the history of the racial wealth gap, which this article fails to do, we see that the root causes of this disparity lie clearly with white institutions. Between 1934 and 1968, the Federal Housing Administration gave 120 billion dollars in loans for home ownership, 98% of which went to whites. Blatantly discriminatory policies gave whites the opportunity to build wealth through home equity while making it very difficult if not impossible for people of color to purchase their own homes. This has been a major factor creating today’s wealth gap of $116,000 between white and black families. Further, because property taxes support public education, these policies have also contributed to the disparities in the resources and thus the quality of schools between white neighborhoods and urban neighborhoods of color (see The Racial Wealth Divide Project: http://www.RacialWealthDivide.org/ for a detailed history and analysis). These interlocking systems of institutional racism are largely invisible to the white community. Because our mainstream media consistently fail to provide the historical background of institutional racism, injustice and inequality, readers are left to supply their own explanations for present day racial disparities. Most frequently, unless they are given other information, readers of mainstream press fall back on the myth of the American Dream, where equal opportunity is available to all, regardless of race, class, and gender. Clearly the American Dream to own your own home still applies mostly to those privileged enough to benefit from institutions, such as the FHA, which were designed by white people for the benefit white people, at the expense of people of color.

On 12/18/06 a Boston Globe editorial reflected on the McCormack Diversity Study, declaring that “Race Still Matters” and that “hardly a day goes by without further evidence that skepticism from minorities is justified – in housing, jobs, income, education, incarceration rates, and many other indicators. The Boston Diversity Project can perform a considerable service if it triggers real remediation.” The Boston Globe could perform a considerable service if it insisted that its writers provide the historical landscape of present day inequality and injustice.

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