African-Americans to Experience Greatest Loss of Wealth in Modern U.S. History

[Geronimo Pratt]

BOSTON, Jan. 15 --ADVANCE FOR RELEASE AT 12:01 A.M. EST TUESDAY, JAN. 15/

Racial Bias of Subprime Mortgage Lenders Accounts for 40% Difference in Losses Between Whites and People of Color

/ADVANCE/ BOSTON, Jan. 15 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A new report says the subprime mortgage crisis will cause African-Americans to experience wealth losses of between $71 billion and $122 billion over its duration. The racial bias of subprime mortgage lenders accounts for a 40% difference in losses between whites and people of color.

Foreclosed: The State of the Dream 2008 is available to members of the press under embargo until 12:01 a.m. January 15, the actual date of King's birthday, which will be officially celebrated on January 21 this year. This will mark the fifth year that United for a Fair Economy (UFE) has published its State of the Dream report.

"As we approach the 79th anniversary of the birth of Martin Luther King, Jr., it's important to realize how much ground middle- and working-class Americans have lost in the subprime crisis," said Amaad Rivera, Program Leader for the Racial Wealth Divide team at UFE and a report co-author. "Our estimates indicate that it will cause the greatest loss of wealth for African-Americans in modern US history."

"The dream of economic stability and opportunity for everyone living in the US, so eloquently described by Martin Luther King, Jr., is bound up with homeownership, the most significant source of wealth for most people," said Dedrick Muhammad, Senior Organizer and Research Associate at the Institute for Policy Studies, a co-author of the report.

"As a result of cold-blooded targeting of people of color, and low-income people in general, by the subprime mortgage industry," said Brenda Cotto-Escalera, Co-Executive Director of United for a Fair Economy (UFE) and a co-author of the report, "communities across the nation are being torn apart. As mortgages go into foreclosure, people move out, houses are boarded up, crime and fires increase, neighboring properties are devalued, and the tax base erodes."

The report details the types of subprime loans developed and offered by the industry since 1995, presents evidence of their effect on minority and low-income communities, and outlines potential solutions.

All co-authors of the report are available for interview or comment.

United for a Fair Economy is a non-profit, non-partisan organization that spotlights the growing economic divide and works across races, ethnicities and classes to help shrink it.

SOURCE United for a Fair Economy

[bobroberts]

I wouldn't be surprised if they start throwing a lot of black people in jail to improve the economic stats. It's essentially what they did in the "Clinton Boom" of the nineties.

[Geronimo Pratt]

For years the African-American middle class has been the false beacon of "racial progress" and "American equality". Now it has been shown to be nothing more then a wooden house on a beach standing on sandy foundations and easily demolished by a crisis. The already tiny African-American middle class was proven to be as large of a myth as the American dream in itself.

[#FF0000]

Between this, the racism targeted at Mexicans (and all Latin American peoples) that stems from the illegal immigration situation, and the anti-arab/muslim sentiment that seems to be spreading, all I can really say is that race-relations in the U.S. are gonna get fucked up pretty soon.

[blackstone]

They been fucked up for a few hundred years now.

[Sleeping Dog]

This "Racial Crap" is propaganda coup by corporate media. I'm blue collar born and raised in financial distress. Would you contend that because of the lack of melamine in my epidermal layer that I am invisible?

I am being censored in bing Blackstone Law to mind because of lack of posts.

[Zurdito]

This "Racial Crap" is propaganda coup by corporate media. I'm blue collar born and raised in financial distress. Would you contend that because of the lack of melamine in my epidermal layer that I am invisible?

I am being censored in bing Blackstone Law to mind because of lack of posts.

acknowledging the existence of racism doesn't mean denying that classism is the real problem.

3/4 of blacks in the US are not in poverty.

2/3 of people in poverty the US are white.

Obviously we need economic answers for the whole working class and not lame liberal reforms which are aimed at dividing up differently an ever shrinking pie.

However racism still exists, it is not a lie by the media, if anything the corporate media downplays it. Ask any black person in the US, who will tell you of experiences of being discriminated by the police, by employers, etc. It's real, and given the country's history, it's logical.

[Geronimo Pratt]

This "Racial Crap" is propaganda coup by corporate media. I'm blue collar born and raised in financial distress. Would you contend that because of the lack of melamine in my epidermal layer that I am invisible?

I am being censored in bing Blackstone Law to mind because of lack of posts.

I'm sure United for a Fair Economy is an organization taking its part in a "propaganda coup by the corporate media" considering the corporate media is the largest relayer of news on institutional racism and at its forefront is the UFE not CNN or Fox News. The report is on the subprime lending crisis that has disproportionately targeted African Americans and Latinos. The massive loss of wealth has driven the very little "middle class" of African Americans back into destitution and the entire African American community back into pre-1960s conditions.

Not to mention that although you may be poor and white, exploited and oppressed as blacks and Latinos, you are still granted "white privilege" which gives you an upperhand that people of color do not have.

[Sleeping Dog]

acknowledging the existence of racism doesn't mean denying that classism is the real problem.

3/4 of blacks in the US are not in poverty.

2/3 of people in poverty the US are white.

Obviously we need economic answers for the whole working class and not lame liberal reforms which are aimed at dividing up differently an ever shrinking pie.

However racism still exists, it is not a lie by the media, if anything the corporate media downplays it. Ask any black person in the US, who will tell you of experiences of being discriminated by the police, by employers, etc. It's real, and given the country's history, it's logical.

Excuse me, I grew up in a predominately black urban area! Predictably Geronimo Pratt next post denies that I've the scares to prove a personal understanding of racism.

I was subjected to this happy United affirmation of black victim front's presentation on today's C-Span Journal.

[YSR]

I don't care where you grew up. If you're white in the U.S., you have white privilege. Period. Regardless of your class status.

Us white workers have been used by the bourgeoisie as "cops" since the foundation of colonialism in the Americas. We have been systematically favored over workers of color in order to divide us and encourage us to identify with our oppressors. That's not to say that we're somehow "well-off". Just the opposite: white privilege gives us advantages in the short run, but in the long run it defeats proletarian unity and dooms us all.

You, Sleeping Dog, are falling perfectly into their trap. Until you wake up and realize that you have privilege, limited though it may be, you can't properly analyze the conditions of the class. And if you have an improper understanding of class composition, any attempts at "anarcho-syndicalist" revolution are useless.

Some suggested readings on white privilege:
White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack
RevLeft's Glossary of Social Discrmination

[Zurdito]

Excuse me, I grew up in a predominately black urban area!

Good for you. However 99% of the black Americans I speak to can cite examples of racial discrimination and second class treatment from the police. Do you think they are making it up? Because while I respect your potential authority on this topic, so far the arguments I have heard from blacks in the US far outwiegh yours. So, you better pull something pretty impressive out the bag soon if you hope to convince anyone.

By the way I don't necessarilly think the idea of "white privelige" is helpful - should we use this term speaking to white workers for example, even those going through considerable hardship (a lot of them). Perhaps it is enough to point out that blacks are the victims of racism: this is something we can prove. "White privelige" however is very hard to prove: not being the victim of racism isn't necesarilly proof that a person is enjoying a "privelige".

This is not an idle point: there is I think a qualitative difference between being a member of an exploited and opressed sector of society which doesn't suffer the added burden of racism, and being part of a layer of the working class which specifically enjoys "priveliges", i.e. that is parasitical on the mass of the working class (globally or nationally).

So can someone explain how the term "white privelige" can actually be justified?

[grove street]

This "Racial Crap" is propaganda coup by corporate media. I'm blue collar born and raised in financial distress. Would you contend that because of the lack of melamine in my epidermal layer that I am invisible?

I am being censored in bing Blackstone Law to mind because of lack of posts.

In times of economic hardships minorities usually end up becoming scape goats

[Sleeping Dog]

Those that are the useful dupes (or possibly mercenary accomplices) are those people and organizations that further the influence of monied interests by emphasizing racial inequities that might be addressed in any possible class restitution.

I don't care where you grew up (presuming you have) YSR. I'll always remain my shade of tan and you might catch on.

Zurdito

You are apparently unable to grasp that your imagined "white privilege" is in fact a handicap on those financial pressed that you fine liberals declare unworthy of affirmative action.

You children would be eaten alive by my old neighborhood black chums.

[Zurdito]

Zurdito

You are apparently unable to grasp that your imagined "white privilege" is in fact a handicap on those financial pressed that you fine liberals declare unworthy of affirmative action.

You children would be eaten alive by my old neighborhood black chums.[/quote]

No I think you understood me wrong. I said that white privelige does not exist and that we shouldn't use the term.

[Sleeping Dog]

Zurdito

You are apparently unable to grasp that your imagined "white privilege" is in fact a handicap on those financial pressed that you fine liberals declare unworthy of affirmative action.

You children would be eaten alive by my old neighborhood black chums.

No I think you understood me wrong. I said that white privilege does not exist and that we shouldn't use the term.

You are right I failed to give you appropriate heed. I apologize for my own prejudice!

Blacks suffer constantly for "driving while black" only in black neighborhoods am I annoyed by traffic stops for "driving too comfortably".

[Labor Shall Rule]

The working class is diverse, and ignoring the multiple oppressions that different ethno-racial groups face within it would be playing into white chauvinism. They do not have to be organized white supremacists, working with the Hammerheads or the Aryan Nations, to be active in a racist system.

For example, in the case of New Orleans, there has been community struggles against school funding and hurricane relief that would float money into 'minority' neighborhoods. The racist nature of capitalism is to divide and conquer, which is what it is doing with the white working class with the anti-immigrant movement today. Operation Dixie, the drive to organize the south, failed in large part because labor organizers would not take on race questions, and failed to organize the 'super-exploited' blacks. This failure lead to the conservatism of the 50s and the stagnation of the labor movement.

To many women and people of color, their oppression based on gender and race is more important to their daily lives than their class oppression. Why would they join a class movement that does not consider their issues?

[MT5678]

Some relevant statistics include that the average "white" man makes 50% more than the average "black" man, and is worth 8 times as much. (Some thing on Black Commentator or ZNET)

Race privilege exists. Africans from a very tangible underclass that they have comprised since the antebellum in the North, and slightly less in the South.

[Zurdito]

You are right I failed to give you appropriate heed. I apologize for my own prejudice!

no worries, I like happy endings.

[YSR]

Fuck that. This ain't no "happy ending". Sleeping Dog, your comments in this thread have been outright dismissive of the struggles of people of color in the U.S., a position which is totally out of line with the revolutionary left in general and anarcho-syndicalism in particular.

Now, I gave you some shit to look at, and I'm sure that you didn't even check it out. Do you know what the disparity of net worth between white and non-white workers is?

Check it:"Twenty-six percent of Hispanic, 32 percent of non-Hispanic Black and 13 percent of non-Hispanic White households had zero or negative net worth in 2002. These proportions are essentially unchanged since 1996."

Do you know that the black and Latino bourgeoisie counts for nearly all of the accumulated wealth in those communities, but wealth disparity is far less in white communities?

Check it: "The wealthiest 25 percent of Hispanic and non-Hispanic Black households own 93 percent of the total wealth of each group. Among non-Hispanic White households, the top 25 percent own 79 percent of total wealth."

And my favorite statement of all: "According to the study, the median net worth of Hispanic households in 2002 was $7,932. This was only nine percent of $88,651, the median wealth of non-Hispanic White households at the same time. The net worth of Non-Hispanic Blacks was only $5,988. Thus, the wealth of Latino and Black households is less than one-tenth the wealth of White households even though Census data show their income is two-thirds again as high."

Source.

Now, I'm sorry if your honky ass has gotten picked on. Mine has too. But I'm willing to forgive a little bit of (righteous) aggression against white people when you balance it against ongoing and historical campaigns to control, contain, and destroy the power of people of color in this country. Is it good? No. Is it cool? No. But can I understand it? Absolutely. Like the right wing, you're focusing on a tiny proportion of events (using anecdotal evidence, I might add) and totally missing the big picture.

White privilege is real. Deal with it or your "revolution" is going nowhere.

[Zurdito]

Fuck that. This ain't no "happy ending". Sleeping Dog, your comments in this thread have been outright dismissive of the struggles of people of color in the U.S., a position which is totally out of line with the revolutionary left in general and anarcho-syndicalism in particular.

Now, I gave you some shit to look at, and I'm sure that you didn't even check it out. Do you know what the disparity of net worth between white and non-white workers is?

Check it:"Twenty-six percent of Hispanic, 32 percent of non-Hispanic Black and 13 percent of non-Hispanic White households had zero or negative net worth in 2002. These proportions are essentially unchanged since 1996."

Do you know that the black and Latino bourgeoisie counts for nearly all of the accumulated wealth in those communities, but wealth disparity is far less in white communities?

Check it: "The wealthiest 25 percent of Hispanic and non-Hispanic Black households own 93 percent of the total wealth of each group. Among non-Hispanic White households, the top 25 percent own 79 percent of total wealth."

And my favorite statement of all: "According to the study, the median net worth of Hispanic households in 2002 was $7,932. This was only nine percent of $88,651, the median wealth of non-Hispanic White households at the same time. The net worth of Non-Hispanic Blacks was only $5,988. Thus, the wealth of Latino and Black households is less than one-tenth the wealth of White households even though Census data show their income is two-thirds again as high."

Source.

Now, I'm sorry if your honky ass has gotten picked on. Mine has too. But I'm willing to forgive a little bit of (righteous) aggression against white people when you balance it against ongoing and historical campaigns to control, contain, and destroy the power of people of color in this country. Is it good? No. Is it cool? No. But can I understand it? Absolutely. Like the right wing, you're focusing on a tiny proportion of events (using anecdotal evidence, I might add) and totally missing the big picture.

White privilege is real. Deal with it or your "revolution" is going nowhere.

Acknowledging racism against blacks does not mean that "white privelige" exists.

Homeless people have it harder than those with homes. Do we call everyone with a home "priveliged"?