Ta-Nehisa Coats: The Case For Reparations
The Case for Reparations
Ta-Nehisa Coats “The case for reparations” was able to explain the two hundred fifty long and hard years of slavery. The very long ninety years of Jim Crow, and the depressing thirty-five years of racist housing policy. I completely and total agree with this strong article written by Ta-Nehisa Coats. The part of the article I agreed with the most and want to expand on more was the racist housing policy.
Many African Americans down south were robbed of the chance to vote out of fear. Most Mississippi black farmers lived in debt and between “1882 and 1968, more black people were lynched in Mississippi than any other state.”(page3). So it will be no surprise why many southern African Americans started to pack up and move …show more content…
north. A lot of black families headed to the great city of Chicago Illinois. From the 1940 till the 1970 hundreds of thousands of African Americans from the south migrated to Chicago. Some moving to Lawndale, which was once considered middle class. But what was once considered a middle class neighborhood soon took some dramatic changes.
Contractors would jump at any chance to make money.
They even resorted in a practice called block busting, where they would pay an African America women to walk down the street with a stroller. This of course would scare whites into selling their homes at low prices. Once African Americans started to move into these neighborhood whites started to move out. Because of course segregation and also the fear of property value decreasing. With whites quickly leaving real estate speculators were able to buy up these properties and sell them to African Americans at a much higher rate. Redling which is refusing to give out loans, and mortgages because they live in a certain area deemed as poor or as a finical risk, caused a lot of black families to buy houses on contracts. And With these contracts real estate speculators were able to charge high rental taxes. When it came to lights, taxes, gas, and something being broken the tenants had to fix and pay for it. If the tenates missed one month without paying they could easily be put out. If the tenate was kicked out, the owner would then move in another lost black family and start all over again. “Blacks were herded into sights of unscrupulous lenders who took them for money and for sport.”(page9) from this method “contract sellers became rich. North Lawndale become ghetto.”(page9).
Now North Lawndale is 92% black. What once was a considered a middle class neighborhood has turned into what some might call the ghetto. “Forty-three percent
of the people in North Lawndale live below the poverty line.”(page12). And forty-five percent of the household are one food stamps. This once beautiful neighborhood turned tragic because of greedy contractors who took advance of poorly educated African Americans escaping the south.
I completely agree with Ta-Nehisi Coates. This article fully explains why most neighborhood are segregated. It also explains the causes of the segregation. Coates was able to back up and explain the two hundred fifty long and hard years of slavery. The very long ninety years of Jim Crow, and the depressing thirty-five years of racist housing policy. And that is why I completely agree and support this article
Ta-Nehisa Coats “The case for reparations” was able to explain the two hundred fifty long and hard years of slavery. The very long ninety years of Jim Crow, and the depressing thirty-five years of racist housing policy. I completely and total agree with this strong article written by Ta-Nehisa Coats. The part of the article I agreed with the most and want to expand on more was the racist housing policy.
Many African Americans down south were robbed of the chance to vote out of fear. Most Mississippi black farmers lived in debt and between “1882 and 1968, more black people were lynched in Mississippi than any other state.”(page3). So it will be no surprise why many southern African Americans started to pack up and move …show more content…
north. A lot of black families headed to the great city of Chicago Illinois. From the 1940 till the 1970 hundreds of thousands of African Americans from the south migrated to Chicago. Some moving to Lawndale, which was once considered middle class. But what was once considered a middle class neighborhood soon took some dramatic changes.
Contractors would jump at any chance to make money.
They even resorted in a practice called block busting, where they would pay an African America women to walk down the street with a stroller. This of course would scare whites into selling their homes at low prices. Once African Americans started to move into these neighborhood whites started to move out. Because of course segregation and also the fear of property value decreasing. With whites quickly leaving real estate speculators were able to buy up these properties and sell them to African Americans at a much higher rate. Redling which is refusing to give out loans, and mortgages because they live in a certain area deemed as poor or as a finical risk, caused a lot of black families to buy houses on contracts. And With these contracts real estate speculators were able to charge high rental taxes. When it came to lights, taxes, gas, and something being broken the tenants had to fix and pay for it. If the tenates missed one month without paying they could easily be put out. If the tenate was kicked out, the owner would then move in another lost black family and start all over again. “Blacks were herded into sights of unscrupulous lenders who took them for money and for sport.”(page9) from this method “contract sellers became rich. North Lawndale become ghetto.”(page9).
Now North Lawndale is 92% black. What once was a considered a middle class neighborhood has turned into what some might call the ghetto. “Forty-three percent
of the people in North Lawndale live below the poverty line.”(page12). And forty-five percent of the household are one food stamps. This once beautiful neighborhood turned tragic because of greedy contractors who took advance of poorly educated African Americans escaping the south.
I completely agree with Ta-Nehisi Coates. This article fully explains why most neighborhood are segregated. It also explains the causes of the segregation. Coates was able to back up and explain the two hundred fifty long and hard years of slavery. The very long ninety years of Jim Crow, and the depressing thirty-five years of racist housing policy. And that is why I completely agree and support this article