A cascade of crises is forcing America to confront the racism of its past and present—from overt acts of hate to subtler injustices that shape our society. Over 16 weeks, City Limits and Enterprise Community Partners will feature prominent New Yorkers’ views on how race and housing policy intersect to create a legacy each of us must confront, and the way forward we should take together. These are not necessarily views we endorse. But they are views we fully believe are important to share with each other.
We wrap up our ‘Building Justice’ series with a discussion about how to talk about the legacy of a racist policy, and what to do to address it in the new political era that dawns January 20th.
‘We first need to understand why our current messaging strategies have failed to win the day.’
We must vehemently reject the basic assumptions of Redlining: that some are inherently more valuable and have more to offer society than others. It will require more than patches or policy fixes. We need an intentionally transformational approach.
School segregation is also blamed on residential patterns that are themselves seen as organic. In reality, the disparities of class and race profoundly and deliberately shape neighborhoods and schools.
The challenges that confront NYCHA today are in large measure the result of changed perceptions of public housing after the system’s one-time white majority fled for the suburbs.
‘The primary predictor of where a toxic waste site is located in this country is whether the location is in a community of color. ‘
Health outcomes–and things that depend on them like school performance–are shaped by housing quality. Housing quality is shaped by segregation. And segregation reflects policies that separated Americans by race.
A long history of de facto segregation in housing has enabled discriminatory and excessive policing of communities of color.
While the foreclosure crisis has largely receded from today’s headlines, its impacts continue to reverberate for many families and their communities throughout New York City and nationwide.
For many White families, owning a home is a foothold on the path to long-term financial security. Because of redlining and other discriminatory practices, Black homeowners—and their children—have been excluded from those benefits.