Scott Madin

This is a big part of why a lot of cities saw spikes in crime throughout the 70s-90s, which in turn contributed to the mythos of the “dangerous inner city,” encouraging further white flight while continuing to trap communities of color in poverty.

This is also a major part of how we’re still seeing reverberations of those racist choices back in the day. White families were able to build home equity in the 50s and 60s, allowing them to pay for their kids to go to college in the 70s and 80s, creating generational wealth.

Black families didn’t have that same access until the Fair Housing Act in the 60s, which officially got rid of redlining and made it possible for black people to purchase homes in the suburbs, too.

But by then, the cheap, new construction boom of the 1940s/50s had solidified into homes that were more expensive, and despite now having greater access to mortgages, the increased prices in many areas still largely meant segregation and a lot of trouble building equity.

There’s also a lot of influence of real estate being part of the global market at the time, which also made housing prices much more unpredictable and volatile - which we saw the impact of in the collapse of 2008.

there’s ALSO the fun part that I just learned about when it comes to tax law - black families tend to be dual income households with incomes that are largely equal. White families, because of their equity, tend to be one income with a stay at home wife.

Guess which scenario gets you a better tax rate when you file jointly? So black people are finally able to enter the housing market at a time when it’s getting volitale, more expensive, and harder to build equity because they are also taxed at higher rates.

All of that contributes to black families being structurally unable to build generational wealth in the same way whites do - all because of racist policies from 1933.