Percival Duke is an American singer, composer and author based in Germany. This week, he discusses why the racist history of America cannot be ignored by Europeans seeking to understand “what went wrong in the United States.”
Tag: Redlining
Posted inOPINION
Hidden in code: How tech reinvents Jim Crow barriers to housing
By Alice T. Crowe Black Americans have struggled to build wealth in America through property ownership. Owning land meant freedom. Government policies like redlining and restrictive covenants cheated Black families and communities out of wealth. Jim Crow’s color-coded paper maps were just one ruse in a trick bag of tactics used to normalize segregation and […]
Posted inOPINION
Block by block: How communities are torn apart
Steven Kappen, a staff attorney with Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Service who focuses on estate planning, probate and property issues, explains how Baltimore’s neighborhoods are hollowed out block by block through tax sales, foreclosures, and discriminatory housing policies. Using a study of the 500 block of N. Carrollton Ave., he shows how family homeownership has dropped sharply, fueling displacement and community loss.
Posted inOPINION
A blueprint for protection: Learning from New York’s fight against deed theft
A disbarred attorney in New York, Sanford Solny, was found guilty of 13 counts of third-degree criminal possession of stolen property and three counts of first-degree scheme to defraud, while states should follow New York’s lead in protecting homeowners against deed theft by empowering prosecutors to file legal actions on properties involved in suspected deed theft.
Posted inAfro Briefs
Black homeownership faces persistent barriers despite hard-fought gains
By Stacy M. BrownBlackPressUSA.com Senior National Correspondent@StacyBrownMedia Sonia Reed believed she had achieved the American dream. In December 2024, the Black grandmother and former homeless individual became a homeowner in San Leandro, California. But her triumph quickly turned into a nightmare when neighbors began harassing her with racial slurs and vandalizing her property. “I worked […]
Posted inHealth
Climate change’s toll on the health of Black communities
Black communities are 1.4 times more likely than their counterparts to be exposed to extreme heat due to historical and systemic practices such as redlining, which has led to health disparities and financial implications.
Posted inCOMMUNITY
How redlining’s legacies demand new policy action
Redlining, a policy rooted in the Great Depression, has led to a significant racial wealth gap in the U.S., with Black families having 62 cents to the White household’s dollar, and has led to increased risk for hypertension, kidney disease, strokes, diabetes, and lower life expectancy at birth.
Posted inCommentary
All about the ENOUGH Act and how it will influence Baltimore
By Phylicia Porter For too long, the scourge of poverty has plagued communities across Maryland, leaving behind a trail of despair, inequality and missed opportunities. Decades of systemic neglect, exacerbated by racially exclusionary policies such as redlining, urban renewal, and mass incarceration, have entrenched poverty in certain neighborhoods, perpetuating a cycle of deprivation that stifles […]