The Color of Money: Black banks and the racial wealth gap by Mehrsa Baradaran is a book that was on an anti-racist list (Dr. Clint Smith on Pod Save The People) provided in response to the George Floyd protests. Read by Lisa Renee Pitts.
Started: 7/11/2020
Completed: 7/17/2020
Recommendation: Highly Recommended
Recommended By: Dr. Clint Smith
Review:
This book emphasizes how impossible it is to "pull yourself up by your boot straps." A black bank had black patrons who were largely paupers. Thus, the very people who needed lenient and understanding loans did not have the money to put in the bank which could provide those loans. This made it very difficult for black banks to have any hope of success. Couple that with the inability to coordinate with other nearby banks (due to racism) and black banks became exceedingly susceptible to races. In short, in order to have a bank, one must have capital and capital is the thing the black community (then and now) has strongly lacked.
The analysis of the rise of Credit Default Swaps which led to the collapse of the banking industry was particularly lucid. The staggering impact on black populations of sub-prime mortgages (51% of home loans in black neighborhoods as opposed to 9% in white neighborhoods) and abusive interest rates crushed the mortgagee and the mortgage loan market as a whole. Mortgages are provided on a racial basis.
On top of this, white people completely screwed black people in every way imaginable and far beyond many ways I had ever considered.
Somehow Ms. Pitts was able to read this book without screaming. She did not yell with outrage. She did not sound exasperating as she recounted horrible exploitation. What an incredible professional.
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