WEBVTT 00:00:06.114 --> 00:00:10.994 Decades of housing discrimination have helped create an enormous wealth gap 00:00:10.994 --> 00:00:13.406 between white and black families. 00:00:14.767 --> 00:00:19.287 - The enduring legacy of redlining, the legal government sponsored effort to 00:00:19.287 --> 00:00:23.547 deny mortgages and home ownership opportunities to African-Americans and 00:00:23.547 --> 00:00:29.756 other minorities continues to undermine their quality of life. This violation of 00:00:29.756 --> 00:00:34.872 basic civil rights continues to negatively impact education attainment, 00:00:34.872 --> 00:00:41.002 health outcomes, wealth accumulation, self-esteem, mortality rates, and 00:00:41.002 --> 00:00:42.348 civic engagement. 00:00:42.348 --> 00:00:47.503 Home ownership has proved to both the doorway and gatekeeper to success and 00:00:47.503 --> 00:00:52.694 well-being in America. It is at the core of today's racial wealth gap. 00:00:53.635 --> 00:00:57.944 - There's a very powerful myth in this country, and that is that residential 00:00:57.944 --> 00:01:02.172 segregation in this country is something we call de-facto segregation. 00:01:02.172 --> 00:01:04.098 Something that happened by accident. 00:01:04.098 --> 00:01:07.896 Every textbook that's used in American high schools and middle schools today 00:01:07.896 --> 00:01:10.703 lies about this history. It talks about how 00:01:10.703 --> 00:01:14.707 northern cities were de facto segregated, without government involvement. 00:01:14.707 --> 00:01:19.733 They talk about how the Federal Housing Administration did a wonderful job of 00:01:19.733 --> 00:01:23.533 creating single family homes in the suburbs for working class families 00:01:23.533 --> 00:01:27.233 without mentioning that the working class families they had created these 00:01:27.233 --> 00:01:29.515 homes for could only be white. 00:01:35.917 --> 00:01:42.788 - This began a history of excluding people of color from government housing programs. 00:01:42.788 --> 00:01:47.580 Intended to lower the cost of mortgages and increase home ownership. 00:01:49.113 --> 00:01:53.469 Segregated neighborhoods by race using a code system. 00:01:56.315 --> 00:02:00.649 Outlined minority neighborhoods using the color red. 00:02:02.636 --> 00:02:07.497 Intended to expand the secondary mortgage market by securitizing 00:02:07.497 --> 00:02:09.348 mortgage loans. 00:02:09.348 --> 00:02:13.007 Community boards often denied minority veterans mortgages. 00:02:13.007 --> 00:02:17.796 Many minority vets could not be buried in the same cemetery as whites. 00:02:17.796 --> 00:02:23.847 It wasn't until 1970 that lending to communities of color began to increase. 00:02:25.873 --> 00:02:30.230 - The way this manifested itself was through the drawing of maps. 00:02:30.230 --> 00:02:35.823 Different neighborhoods were underwritten as being riskier or safer and the 00:02:35.823 --> 00:02:40.324 principle component that determined riskiness or safety from a lending 00:02:40.324 --> 00:02:43.848 standpoint was ethnic and racial composition. 00:02:51.696 --> 00:02:55.417 - It was at that point that the real estate developers began to 00:02:55.417 --> 00:02:58.043 drop strings around areas. 00:02:58.043 --> 00:03:02.790 The local banker could choose who would get mortgages, where. 00:03:02.790 --> 00:03:08.122 So that we could not have gotten a loan out in the suburbs because 00:03:08.122 --> 00:03:11.019 those were whites only. 00:03:11.019 --> 00:03:16.187 The concept of a middle class Black only exists in the mind of a middle 00:03:16.187 --> 00:03:17.901 class Black. 00:03:17.901 --> 00:03:21.574 Everywhere else in the suburbs you are that nigger family on the 00:03:21.574 --> 00:03:24.247 corner of Warren Road and Boulevard Way. 00:03:30.993 --> 00:03:36.660 - Well the truth is that we've had in this country generations of affirmative action 00:03:36.660 --> 00:03:38.196 for whites. 00:03:38.196 --> 00:03:41.880 And the sad truth of it is that whites don't know that that's 00:03:41.880 --> 00:03:45.542 happened or they refuse to accept it or don't understand the history. 00:03:45.542 --> 00:03:51.969 And what that leads to is this false kind-of narrative that "I did it myself." 00:03:51.969 --> 00:03:57.467 You know, this Horatio Alger, individual responsibility narrative. 00:03:57.467 --> 00:04:02.024 - There were many federal, state, and local policies explicitly racial 00:04:02.024 --> 00:04:06.407 designed to create segregation in every Metropolitan area in the country. 00:04:06.407 --> 00:04:10.528 And policies that were so powerful that they still determine 00:04:10.528 --> 00:04:13.713 the racial boundaries of Metropolitan areas today. 00:04:13.713 --> 00:04:19.761 The Federal Housing Administration began a program to suburbanize the entire white 00:04:19.761 --> 00:04:22.917 working class population into single family homes. 00:04:24.284 --> 00:04:29.085 - This is Levittown, Pennsylvania. A new suburban community of 00:04:29.085 --> 00:04:32.963 60,000 people with it's giant shopping center, 00:04:32.963 --> 00:04:36.839 winding lanes named for flowers and trees. 00:04:36.839 --> 00:04:40.392 It is fairly typical of communities all over America. 00:04:40.392 --> 00:04:44.862 Where families are pursuing the American dream to give their children a better 00:04:44.862 --> 00:04:46.997 chance in life. 00:04:46.997 --> 00:04:49.873 Nearly all are young people. 00:04:49.873 --> 00:04:53.872 A large proportion are veterans. For many it is the first house of 00:04:53.872 --> 00:04:58.590 their own and it represents a major financial investment. 00:05:00.189 --> 00:05:04.144 In August 1957, Levittown, Pennsylvania attracted 00:05:04.144 --> 00:05:08.854 international attention as William Myers Jr. and his family moved 00:05:08.854 --> 00:05:11.064 into the three bedroom house. 00:05:11.064 --> 00:05:13.687 They are very close to the Levittown norm. 00:05:13.687 --> 00:05:15.990 Except in one respect. 00:05:15.990 --> 00:05:22.261 William Myers Jr. and his family are negroes in an all-white community. 00:05:22.261 --> 00:05:28.560 - If more colored are allowed to move in, Levittown is going to go downhill. 00:05:28.560 --> 00:05:32.057 - The only way that those developers could get the capital to do that was 00:05:32.057 --> 00:05:34.537 by going to the Federal Housing Administration. 00:05:34.537 --> 00:05:37.438 In order to get that approval, they had to commit 00:05:37.438 --> 00:05:40.124 never to sell a home to an African-American. 00:05:40.124 --> 00:05:44.674 - Access to leverage allowed middle-class whites to build wealth. 00:05:44.674 --> 00:05:47.958 - The white families who bought those homes were able to use their wealth 00:05:47.958 --> 00:05:52.487 to send children to college. And they use it to bequeath wealth to their children, 00:05:52.487 --> 00:05:55.501 who could use it as down payments for their own homes. 00:05:56.222 --> 00:05:59.383 - Restrictive covenants ensured that minorities could not 00:05:59.383 --> 00:06:01.550 buy into white neighborhoods. 00:06:01.550 --> 00:06:05.242 Properties shall continue to be occupied by the same social 00:06:05.242 --> 00:06:06.986 and racial classes. 00:06:07.716 --> 00:06:12.259 - When Karen and I purchased this home that was built in 1948, 00:06:12.259 --> 00:06:15.102 we found some documents in a closet. 00:06:15.102 --> 00:06:20.611 Neither the whole or any part of said tract shall be sold, rented, 00:06:20.611 --> 00:06:27.229 or leased to any persons or persons not of white or Caucasian race. 00:06:30.125 --> 00:06:34.976 - Created greatest growth of the middle class in the history of the world. 00:06:34.976 --> 00:06:40.707 In 1940, 42 percent of white families owned their own home. 00:06:40.707 --> 00:06:46.116 In 2000, 71 percent of white families owned their own home. 00:06:47.917 --> 00:06:53.951 - So consequently those 71 percent, 72 percent of white home owners 00:06:53.951 --> 00:06:57.394 who own their own home should be thankful to the 00:06:57.394 --> 00:07:02.102 federal government for providing them this opportunity. 00:07:02.102 --> 00:07:05.931 What did not happen or what happened at the same time 00:07:05.931 --> 00:07:11.581 was that we people of color were discriminated against and were 00:07:11.581 --> 00:07:16.775 prevented from taking advantage of those opportunities. 00:07:16.775 --> 00:07:22.295 - The recent housing and foreclosure crisis were a continuation of a form 00:07:22.295 --> 00:07:23.809 of redlining. 00:07:23.809 --> 00:07:27.650 - Financial institutions practiced unrealistic credit scoring and 00:07:27.650 --> 00:07:29.567 predatory lending. 00:07:29.567 --> 00:07:36.361 Subprime mortgages grew nearly 250 percent. In 1998, subprime mortgages 00:07:36.361 --> 00:07:44.039 made up 9.8 percent of the mortgage market. By 2006, they made up 23.5 00:07:44.039 --> 00:07:46.105 percent of the market. 00:07:46.105 --> 00:07:51.505 - And the gap between white home ownership rates and black home ownership rates is 00:07:51.505 --> 00:07:58.569 30 percentage points larger than it was back in 1968. In 1968 the typical Black 00:07:58.569 --> 00:08:03.335 family had one-sixth as much wealth as the typical white family. 00:08:03.335 --> 00:08:05.500 Now it is one-tenth. 00:08:05.500 --> 00:08:09.065 We have gone backwards since the civil rights era. 00:08:09.065 --> 00:08:15.598 - Latinos lost close to a 170 billion dollars worth of equity that they 00:08:15.598 --> 00:08:20.159 had accumulated in the home that they purchased many 00:08:20.159 --> 00:08:22.110 many years before then. 00:08:24.169 --> 00:08:27.897 - When they come to access products, 00:08:27.897 --> 00:08:31.664 the choices that they are given are limited. 00:08:31.664 --> 00:08:34.380 So you're given, instead of a conventional loan, you're given 00:08:34.380 --> 00:08:39.409 a special loans that have higher interest rates or higher fees 00:08:39.409 --> 00:08:44.201 that again set you up for foreclosure or failure as well. 00:08:44.201 --> 00:08:47.900 - The scandal of your tenure is your unwillingness to do your job and 00:08:47.900 --> 00:08:51.807 enforce the laws that reduce housing discrimination. 00:08:51.807 --> 00:08:56.106 - The housing crisis affected all communities but disproportionally 00:08:56.106 --> 00:08:58.405 devastated minority families. 00:08:58.405 --> 00:09:03.325 Black and Hispanic families lost nearly 20 years of wealth between 00:09:03.325 --> 00:09:06.331 2007 and 2013. 00:09:06.331 --> 00:09:11.166 Minority home ownership is the lowest it's been since 1996. 00:09:12.172 --> 00:09:15.244 - Redlining discrimination in the Asian-American communities, 00:09:15.244 --> 00:09:17.704 alive and kicking. And in California, 00:09:18.334 --> 00:09:21.766 you'll see that Asians have the second highest probability 00:09:21.766 --> 00:09:23.465 of going to foreclosure. 00:09:23.465 --> 00:09:27.349 Very comparable to Latinos. Latinos were 1.4, 00:09:27.349 --> 00:09:29.664 for Asians it was 1.3. 00:09:30.204 --> 00:09:34.945 And so whether it is in home ownership, rental, small business, 00:09:34.945 --> 00:09:39.958 foreclosure, across the board there is redlining. 00:09:39.958 --> 00:09:49.067 - Between 1934 and 1962, 120 billion in FHA and VA loans were issued. 00:09:49.067 --> 00:09:51.937 Over that period of time, 98 percent of the loans 00:09:51.937 --> 00:09:54.738 went to white families and less than two 00:09:54.738 --> 00:09:57.850 percent went to African-Americans and other minorities. 00:09:58.650 --> 00:10:04.395 Using the average Home Price Index between 1934 through 2018, 00:10:04.395 --> 00:10:10.015 those FHA, VA loans equate to at least three trillion dollars 00:10:10.015 --> 00:10:12.321 in current real estate value. 00:10:22.377 --> 00:10:26.954 Assuming that as loans were paid off and excess funds were invested in 00:10:26.954 --> 00:10:31.192 stocks and other investments conservatively, another two 00:10:31.192 --> 00:10:33.169 trillion were created. 00:10:33.169 --> 00:10:36.250 This "White Subsidy" is the major contributor to the current 00:10:36.250 --> 00:10:37.822 racial wealth gap. 00:10:38.442 --> 00:10:42.527 - So many white Americans experience this sense of self esteem, a sense of 00:10:42.527 --> 00:10:44.419 you know superiority, if you will. 00:10:44.419 --> 00:10:49.633 This sense of mastery, that they have created their own destiny 00:10:49.633 --> 00:10:53.112 in their lives. And they have no acknowledgment of this invisible 00:10:53.112 --> 00:10:58.969 hand that supported them throughout their lives and not just them, but there's 00:10:58.969 --> 00:11:03.598 a legacy of that invisible hand across generations that has translated itself 00:11:03.598 --> 00:11:09.734 from the original affirmative action to trillions of dollars of head start 00:11:09.734 --> 00:11:13.604 ahead of other communities, like African-Americans, Latinos, 00:11:13.604 --> 00:11:17.988 Native Americans, others who don't have the same benefit. 00:11:17.988 --> 00:11:22.985 - Children of homeowners are more likely to graduate from high school, have less 00:11:22.985 --> 00:11:26.991 childhood behavioral problems and achieve higher college 00:11:26.991 --> 00:11:28.593 graduation rates. 00:11:30.354 --> 00:11:34.465 - In segregated housing, and in neighborhoods that everybody is 00:11:34.465 --> 00:11:38.393 segregated that tend to be low income neighborhoods. 00:11:38.393 --> 00:11:45.111 There is the greater likelihood that the youngsters will be involved in 00:11:45.111 --> 00:11:48.674 gangs, or will be recruited to be in gangs. 00:11:48.674 --> 00:11:53.125 - I noticed an absence of hope, an absence of light. These kids 00:11:53.125 --> 00:11:56.461 were barraged with a message every single day of their lives, 00:11:56.461 --> 00:11:59.269 that they weren't valued, that they didn't matter. 00:11:59.269 --> 00:12:01.156 And they internalized that. 00:12:01.156 --> 00:12:07.582 And that caused frustration and anger, and eventually despair 00:12:07.582 --> 00:12:09.209 and a loss of hope. 00:12:09.209 --> 00:12:11.802 There is now a very good science that shows the sense of not 00:12:11.802 --> 00:12:16.431 belonging, the sense of lacking self-esteem raises cortisol levels 00:12:16.431 --> 00:12:21.070 in your blood. And cortisol is good for you when you're in an extremely 00:12:21.070 --> 00:12:26.097 stressful situation, but when you're constantly bathed in cortisol, 00:12:26.097 --> 00:12:30.083 because you're constantly feeling these stressors of being marginalized and 00:12:30.083 --> 00:12:34.194 being told that you're less worthy, less valuable and being in constant 00:12:34.194 --> 00:12:38.815 state of really fear and anxiety, it changes your physiology completely. 00:12:38.815 --> 00:12:42.493 It makes you more prone to cardiovascular disease, 00:12:42.493 --> 00:12:45.745 it makes you more prone to diabetes, it makes 00:12:45.745 --> 00:12:48.444 changes in your brain, which actually makes it 00:12:48.444 --> 00:12:52.611 more difficult to engage in what we call executive function. 00:12:52.611 --> 00:12:57.782 This kind of chronic stress which is driven by the policies that we've 00:12:57.782 --> 00:13:04.442 created is as lethal as any knife or any gun. 00:13:04.442 --> 00:13:07.039 - Suppose discrimination did end today. 00:13:07.039 --> 00:13:11.197 How many generations would it take to get to rough equality and wealth 00:13:11.197 --> 00:13:12.965 across races. 00:13:12.965 --> 00:13:17.832 France was seven generations, more than 200 years. 00:13:17.832 --> 00:13:22.040 - And so when white Americans hear about affirmative action 00:13:22.040 --> 00:13:26.145 for Blacks, or for Latinos, they're outraged. 00:13:26.145 --> 00:13:30.996 They think "I've done this by myself, why can't these people." 00:13:30.996 --> 00:13:33.236 "There's something wrong with these people." 00:13:34.698 --> 00:13:41.821 - The same programs that were provided to white Americans, that enabled them 00:13:41.821 --> 00:13:45.021 to accumulate this wealth through home ownership, 00:13:45.021 --> 00:13:49.103 those same opportunities have to be provided to us. 00:13:50.945 --> 00:13:54.893 - Imagine where minority families would be today if their grandparents had the 00:13:54.893 --> 00:13:59.164 same access to wealth through home ownership that white families had. 00:13:59.864 --> 00:14:02.455 What would the wealth gap be between white and minority 00:14:02.455 --> 00:14:07.876 families if minorities had the same access to wealth through home ownership? 00:14:08.413 --> 00:14:10.901 Would there be a gap?