Posted on 04/16/2008 8:44:09 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
The subject of race is all over the media headlines. Reverend Jeremiah Wright told it like it is and conservative America could not take the strong medicine. Sen. Barack Obama had to prepare his greatest speech to address the frenzy that was and is taking place about it. Imagine, Black people having to explain to White America that there is a racial problem in this nation. That alone signifies the degree of importance this issue has. Denial can be the worst enemy and biggest problem.
Most recently, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had to weigh in on the issue. She endorsed Senator Obama’s speech and confirmed that indeed race is still a major problem in the nation. She referred to the matter as a “birth defect” that our nation must deal with.
It was there at the formation of this great nation and it lingers today—big time. Yes, racism in the United States is institutional and somehow, someway we must all come to terms with it if we are to truly become a most perfect Christian nation.
One of the biggest indicators that racism is still alive and well in America is the experience of the subprime mortgage fiasco. President Bush proclaimed with all sincerity that he would like to see a major increase in home ownership amongst minorities in this nation.
That was a noble goal. However, the racist minds listening to that announcement began to construct a very sinister plot. With the logic of the Ku Klux Klan, many mortgage houses began to set up a process targeted for Black perspective homeowners. Not just those looking for home ownership, but those who were already comfortable with it. They came up with the plan of “Reverse Redlining.”
Conventional “redlining” has long been used against Black neighborhoods victimizing homeowners, renters and businesses. Insurance companies, banks, investors, etc. would take a red pen and encircle a geographical territory. Nothing within that red circle would receive investment, coverage or business interaction. It was cold hard racism usually intended for Blacks and based solely on the color of their skin. It made no business sense as it is based solely on racial animus.
“Reverse Redlining” is somewhat different. You encircle that same geographical territory, but instead of starving the community from business interaction you flood it with activity —detrimental, fleecing activity. This activity will certainly not be economically enhancing. It actually will be predatory and designed to cheat the residents of those communities from fair financial practices. The activity is designed to economically destroy the people and the very land they live on. It is based solely on the color of the victims’ skin and the goal of quick, fast money.
The subprime mortgage hustle is indeed Reverse Redlining and the economic impact it is having on Black Americans is historical and extremely devastating. It is the biggest negative shift in assets and wealth ever put on a group of people in this nation. It is setting back the wealth of Black America by two generations. Is it racist? Certainly! Is it evil? Yes indeed.
The big question is: Is it illegal? Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan thinks so. He says, “It was an accident waiting to happen. Irrational robust exuberance over a scheme that was, in fact, serious criminal fraud.”
Serious criminal fraud is a crime. What we have here is a crime directed at a certain group of people based on race. That meets the parameters of a racial hate crime, which attaches harsher punishment at the end of the prosecution of such. So, when is the U.S. Attorney General going to start prosecuting the culprits for this historical hate crime?
What has happened so far is that the perpetrators of this very large conspiracy have gotten away with it. CEO’s have all received “golden parachutes” in retirement packages that will set them for life. $40 million, $50 million packages and more is what they are receiving for destroying the futures of hardworking Black families.
You can go down to the individual mortgage brokers who pursued people in these redlined zones and started them down the road to ruin. Most of them are getting off the hook. Why even the CEO of Ameriquest, one of the biggest perpetrators, subsequently served as U.S. Ambassador to the Netherlands for two years. It’s as if he received meritorious distinction for his sinister work against Black neighborhoods.
In essence, a major hate crime has just been committed against Black America and the question becomes:
“What are the U.S. Attorney General, state attorney generals and local prosecutors going to do?”
If the answer is nothing, then the “Birth Defect” that America has continues on.
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(Harry Alford is the co-founder, president/CEO of the National Black Chamber of Commerce, www.nationalbcc.org. This column distributed by NNPA.)
"..After many lectures like this, Obama decided to take a second look at Wright's church. Older pastors warned him that Trinity was for "Buppies"--black urban professionals--and didn't have enough street cred. But Wright was a former Muslim and black nationalist who had studied at Howard and Chicago, and Trinity's guiding principles--what the church calls the "Black Value System"--included a "Disavowal of the Pursuit of Middleclassness.'".."
The above article is the source of the claim that Wright was a Muslim. I have seen it quoted often but I don't know if he actually converted. .
Thanks for pointing that out. To be honest someone had mentioned that a few weeks back, and it slipped my mind. I appreciate you reminding everyone of that fact.
Let me play devil’s advocate here and ask you a question related to your point. I’m going to ask it, because I think a lot of folks are somewhat confused on this issue.
Due to lending and banking deregulation that supposedly took place in the 80s, it had been my understanding that the industry wasn’t watched as close as it once was, and that was allowing these bad loans to go through unchallenged.
Don’t take this as a dispute of your claim, but could you explain the straight scoop, so I and others can understand exactly what are the facts along those lines.
Thanks in advance.
BTW: I do understand where you were coming from as it relates to minority loans and the government urging banks to make loans available to minorities.
Google RESPA
When lending institutions made it tough for low income people to get loans, it was called racist. When government forced these institutions to set up a loan system wherein the same people would eventually default, that too was racist. With people like Mister Allfraud “helping” minorities, they’ll never get over the hump. It’s obvious, like all libs, Allfraud believes minorities really are too stupid to make it without special “help”. Forget about the KKK, people like Allfraud are anchors around the legs of the people they purport to help.
Bust Bill Clinton for it. He added the subprime trap to the CRA in 1995, which is the root of today's subprime ills.
That begs the question of whether he is actually so blinded by his racism that he cannot see the huge logical fallacies in his argument or whether he simply believes his black readers are that way.
Louis F. and the Nation of Islam don’t care about white people. Take that Kanye...
Credit Reinvestment Act (CRA) and Equal Credit opportunnity Act (ECOA) and Fair Lending Notice are good places to start. Giving 100% loans to people with 550 credit scores was idiotic. People who could not or would not pay minor bills within 30 days. However, if a person qaulified based on the underwriting guidelines, I could not turn them down. Doing so would violate ECOA. Damend if you do, damned if you don’t. I wish someone would point his out to the jerk offs in congress.
BTW, with all the noise they have been making, they have maded it harder to qualify for a traditional FAnnie/Freddie loan. Now everyone suffers.
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Of course. Even my office in Iowa had black & Hispanic people working there.
Regarding Ameriquest, why, who other than our very own Governor Deval Patrick (Moonbat-MA) graced their Board and even lobbied on their behalf from his MA State House office.... tsk tsk!!!
I believe "The Final Call" merits serious consideration for their insightful reporting and thoughtful editorials. Those who really want a fresh perspective on the events of the day should consider regularly perusing this paper.
;=)
Alford is Jesse Jackson in a businessman’s disguise. And just as vile a race hustling poverty pimp and lib as Jackson is.
See the “logic”? No loans=Redlining. Sub-prime loans=Reverse Redlining. The games is rigged and either way whitey plays it, it comes out as a hate crime and “you owe us more of what you worked for, honkey”. Sickening.
And for you DU lurkers out there — Alford, Jackson, and their assorted groups like ACORN only speak for about the 20% of the black population in the country — the completely dysfunctional 20%. The “people of color” that I know and work with are regular people with the same things going on in their lives that I have. Two generations after MLK, when are we going to look at each other in this country and say “it ain’t about the melanin anymore, it is truly about the content of your character”.
Idjits like Wright, Alford, Jackson, and yes, Obama are pushing that day further and further away. And to the ultimate detriment of those that would find the door to the American Dream wide open and waiting for them to walk through, if they would only get up and try the doorknob, instead of whining about not getting carried through the doorway.
Thanks Georgia. The more of this that hits the light of day, the better. My thoughts had run along the lines of what you posted. It really bothers me that we have such terrible people representing us in Congress.
Haven’t some judges hurt lending practices also, demanding equal access? (which of course isn’t equal at all as it relates to credit worthiness)
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