In the United States, the majority of household wealth comes from housing wealth and inheritance, as housing values increase over time and are passed along to the next generation. This video shows how people of color were systematically excluded from benefiting from this process. (In fact, you might be surprised to know that there are still racial covenants on many properties today, including here in Madison, although they are not typically enforced).
Did this video change any of your prior assumptions about racial segregation and how inequality was created and sustained in the U.S.? What are some implications of these findings regarding the assumptions underlying what we’ve learned in class so far, for example, about markets and perfect competition, willingness to pay, comparative advantage, or other topics? Does this violate any assumptions we’ve made so far?
What are some government policies or programs that could be implemented to remedy this situation? For example, many people argue that redlining is a strong argument for reparations (Links to an external site.) or affirmative action for African American households. While being sensitive to people of different backgrounds, would you agree or disagree? What other policies could be implemented?
Use this website (Links to an external site.)to look up a historical redline map for your home town or city, or a town or city that you are familiar with. If your city is not included in the data base use Madison to answer this question (map bellow). What do you notice when reflecting on the redlined areas of the map? Is there still a correlation between the redlined neighborhoods then and poverty and inequality today? What else do you notice?
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