Race for Profit and the Myth of Black Homeownership

Introduction

Home ownership in America has long been associated with the American Dream, serving as a powerful symbol of success and economic stability since early settlers began homesteading on the continent. However, in this era of widening inequality, an unfortunate reality is that not everyone can access that dream. Predatory lending practices have particularly harmed African Americans, preventing them from accruing wealth and leading to immense suffering for communities all over the nation. Eyes on the Prize is a documentary series that seeks to shed light on this issue and other related civil rights struggles, helping viewers confront stories of past injustices in order to foster greater understanding and more equitable policies going forward.

Taylor's Race for Profit: Argument and Structure

Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor's book Race for Profit: How Banks and the Real Estate Industry Undermined Black Homeownership sheds light on an often-unspoken problem with regard to home ownership in America. Her research reveals that many of the same systemic inequalities that have plagued communities of color for centuries continue to contribute to a large gap in home ownership between whites and minorities. Taylor's work further argues that even though government subsidies were intended to increase access to housing for people who had been historically excluded, government programs ended up fueling discriminatory and exploitative practices within the real estate industry. Ultimately, her analysis speaks to a tension between the idealistic rhetoric associated with the so-called American Dream of home ownership and the reality of still-limited access afforded especially to racial minorities today.

The central argument of Race for Profit is that the federal government's housing policies of the 1960s and 1970s — which were intended to increase homeownership among African Americans — had the unintended consequence of creating a predatory market in which real estate speculators and mortgage lenders exploited African American homebuyers. Taylor examines this argument through a close reading of the history of federal housing policy, the practices of real estate speculators and mortgage lenders, and the experiences of African American homebuyers themselves.

The book is written in a clear and concise manner, drawing on a variety of sources including interviews, archival documents, and statistical analysis. The chapters are organized chronologically, beginning with an overview of federal housing policy and then moving through the various stages of the housing market — from real estate speculators to mortgage lenders to African American homebuyers. This structure allows Taylor to trace the development of the predatory market and the experiences of African American homebuyers over time. The chapters also work together to build a comprehensive picture of the exploitative practices that defined this era and their consequences for Black communities.

Supporting Perspectives on Wealth Inequality

Taylor's work does not stand alone. It is supported by others, including the documentary Park Avenue: Money, Power & The American Dream by Alex Gibney. In that film, the issue of wealth inequality is explored in parallel terms. Gibney's main points are that the extreme wealth of the residents of 740 Park Avenue — one of the most expensive residential buildings in the world — has been used to increase their own power and influence, while the rest of the country has suffered from a lack of economic mobility and opportunity. The documentary communicates the message that the extreme wealth concentrated at 740 Park Avenue stands in stark contrast to the economic precarity of average Americans, illustrating how most of the nation's wealth is held by a few individuals who leverage it for personal advantage.

The film provides evidence of this inequality through interviews with residents of 740 Park Avenue as well as with people living in the Bronx — which falls within the same congressional district. It also illustrates the lavish lifestyles of the wealthy and the substantial sums they donate to political campaigns, reinforcing the argument that concentrated wealth translates directly into concentrated political power. Wealth inequality in the United States thus emerges as a connecting thread between Gibney's documentary and Taylor's scholarly analysis.

Conclusion

The American Dream is a myth that has been perpetuated for generations — one that suggests owning a home is the key to achieving success and financial stability. This myth has been used to encourage people to invest in the housing market regardless of their economic situation. In her book Race for Profit: How Banks and the Real Estate Industry Undermined Black Homeownership, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor dismantles this myth. Through her research, Taylor reveals how the federal government, banks, and real estate companies have systematically exploited Black Americans in their pursuit of profit. She shows how banks targeted Black communities with predatory loan practices — charging higher interest rates and fees — and how real estate companies used discriminatory practices to deny Black people access to housing.

Taylor's work highlights the fact that the American Dream of homeownership is a myth that has been used to exploit Black Americans and other marginalized communities. Her research reveals how the pursuit of profit has been consistently prioritized over the well-being of people, resulting in a system of inequality and injustice. By exposing the truth behind the myth of homeownership, Taylor's work helps dismantle the false promise of the American Dream — a promise that, as Swados, Allen, Gibney, and Eyes on the Prize each confirm in their own way, has always been far more available to some than to others.

Bibliography

Allen, Danielle. Our Declaration: A Reading of the Declaration of Independence in Defense of Equality. W. W. Norton & Company, 2014.

Eyes on the Prize: America's Civil Rights Movement. PBS, 1990.

Gibney, Alex. Park Avenue: Money, Power & The American Dream. PBS, 2012.

Swados, Harvey. "The Myth of the Happy Worker." In Josephson, E. and M. (Eds.), Man Alone: Alienation in Modern Society. New York: A Laurel Edition, 1962, pp. 105–113.

Taylor, Keeanga-Yamahtta. Race for Profit: How Banks and the Real Estate Industry Undermined Black Homeownership. UNC Press Books, 2019.