Quote:
Originally Posted by Steely Dan
let's also not forget how so many blacks have been shut-out from building wealth through home ownership the way that the white middle class has because whenever black people buy homes in a given area in great enough numbers, property values tend to drop because those areas are automatically seen as less desirable by those with money (white people) specifically because they have become "too black".
that's been one of the absolute toughest nuts to crack in the racial segregation game in cities like chicago. how can you legislate people to perceive real estate value in a color blind way?
|
It's a very insidious form of economic disenfranchisement. I'm not sure if you can legislate it away since it's just individuals acting in their own rational economic self interest. Even if you don't have a racist bone in your body, as a prospective homebuyer you have to consider how
other prospective homebuyers will value your property. Individually, people are acting with no ill intent, but the result of their collective actions basically leads to segregation, economic disenfranchisement, and the wholesale destruction of neighborhoods.