Redlining Nedir?

Redlining

Redlining is a discriminatory practice in the United States where financial services are withheld from neighborhoods that contain significant numbers of racial and ethnic minorities. This practice has historically been directed against African Americans, as well as Mexican Americans in the Southwestern United States, Jewish Americans, and Italian Americans.

The practical impacts of redlining are widespread and multifaceted. Common examples include the denial of credit and insurance, the denial of healthcare, and the development of food deserts in minority neighborhoods.

A related but distinct phenomenon is reverse redlining. This occurs when a lender or insurer targets majority-minority neighborhood residents with inflated interest rates by taking advantage of the lack of lending competition relative to non-redlined neighborhoods. Furthermore, this effect emerges when service providers artificially restrict the supply of real estate available for loanable funds to nonwhites, providing an alternative pretext for higher rates. Neighborhoods that were targeted for blockbusting were also subject to reverse redlining.

The term was originally coined in the 1960s by sociologist John McKnight to describe discriminatory practices in Chicago, Illinois, where banks classified certain neighborhoods as “hazardous” or not worthy of investment due to the racial makeup of their residents. In the 1980s, a Pulitzer Prize-winning series of articles by investigative reporter Bill Dedman demonstrated how Atlanta banks would often lend in lower-income white neighborhoods but not in middle-income or even upper-income Black neighborhoods.

The documented history of redlining in the United States is a manifestation of historical systemic racism that has had wide-ranging impacts on American society. Specifically, it has contributed to:

• Educational inequality across racial groups
• Housing inequality across racial groups
• Spatial inequality
• Economic inequality

Görsel Kaynağı: Wikimedia Commons