The Stealing of Black Possessions in Mississippi

Mapping Inequality and Coates Article Quiz prep/Assignment

“So that’s just one of my losses.”

This first section explains about how black possessions were stolen in Mississippi, especially land. Coates then goes on to tell the story of Clyde Ross, a middle class African-American of the 1940s, and how he made a life for himself in Chicago, and everything seemed normal until his boiler blew out and he couldn’t make his down payment, and subsequently got evicted. He then explains the redlining project in Chicago, and how they rated the different neighborhoods. The main point in this section is to show how as far as homes go, whites got a distinct advantage. They were able to buy mortgages on their houses and actually own their homes. Blacks on the other hand were typically only able to buy on contract, which when something goes wrong, the landowners have no problem getting rid of them and giving it to someone else. The African Americans are expendable in their eyes.

“A Difference of Kind, not Degree”

The second section goes more into depth about the socioeconomic racism of cities, specifically Chicago. It talks about the income gap between white and black families. The main argument in this section is that no matter what the income is, black families are still restricted to certain neighborhoods and lives. Coates mentions that even upper class black families making over $100,000 are generally living in lower-middle class white neighborhoods. That’s what the section title “a difference of kind, not degree” means; it doesn’t matter how well off a black family is, they are still products of the shaky system that was set up so long ago during the New Deal, and have a sort of ceiling that they cannot break. Those who are born into poverty almost never make it out.

“We Inherit our Ample Patrimony”

This section starts out with a story about northern slavery in the late 1700s in New England, and how slaveowners generally paid reparations for blacks, emancipated them, and even granted them plots of land to start their own lives. However, the systems implemented in the North during the 1800s pushed these people into ghettos, and led to intense discrimination on the streets and in the workplace. In the South, the second wave of slavery was flourishing. This leads to the main point of the article: the lack of reparations and HR 40. HR 40, a reparation bill for African-Americans, has not been passed to this day. Coates mentions how the idea of white dominance is not gone, but rather has been pushed under the rug, ignored by everyone today. The discrimination is not gone, just different than it was before.

“The Ills that Slavery Frees us from.”

In the 1600s in early colonies of America, whites and blacks were enslaved by rich whites. White servants in some cases were treated the same as black slaves. However, through a couple hundred years, the people in power separated the two ethnicities and fought to bring white servants into citizenship, while leaving blacks behind. This led to the base of the American economy in the 1800s, cotton slavery in the south. These plantations led to incredibly wealthy family lines, with this wealth lasting generations after slavery ended. The argument here is that the effects of slavery are still being felt economically, as the base of wealth and democracy come from that time.

The Quiet Plunder

After the emancipation of slaves at the end of the Civil war signifying the end of slavery, the term “Reconstruction” was used to define the governmental intervention on the south to try and fix the 250 year institution of slavery and its aftermath. However, due to huge backlash from groups such as the KKK and other radical supremacists this effort was vague. Coates criticizes progressives pointing to FDR and saying this is a true progressive, when FDR’s New Deal programs set the foundation for Jim Crow. For example, a majority of blacks were exempt from Social Security. Black veterans were often left out of the veteran benefits granted by the GI bill. The Homeowners Loan Corporation often denied African-Americans to getting mortgages (as seen by Clyde Ross above). Blacks were not only discriminated against through violence in the streets, but also by “the quiet plunder” of the federal government.

Making the Second Ghetto

“White flight” was a product of the violence in the streets of ghettos. Coates explains that the first “ghetto” was defined as interracial communities. As violence against minorities increased, whites escaped to the new suburban areas. This led to the “second ghetto”, where whites left minorities behind (still seen in cities today).

“A lot of People fell by the way”

While white flight was happening, real estate companies and landlords saw this as an opportunity to make bank. They used pretty disgusting tactics to push the suburban move (Coates mentioned an example of hiring African-Americans to simply walk down the street as a fear tactic, and telling whites their home values would decline if they didn’t move out). The main point Coates makes in this section is that white flight was not an accident, it was a planned segregation effort for economic and social benefits for white people.

“Negro Poverty is not White Poverty”

In this section Coates criticizes the policies, specifically Affirmative action, created to fight poverty. In most cases, these policies, claiming to help poor people of all ethnicities, still left blacks behind. Many people claim that these policies are “giveaways”, and the Supreme Court has revised them to not be as such. This segregation of poverty has led to differences in lower class families, especially poor blacks in the Deep South.

Toward a New Country

The main argument in this section deals with the hesitancy of reparation efforts for African-Americans. The base of America’s economy no doubt rests on the foundations of slavery. People often forget this piece of history while celebrating democracy and freedom. People are afraid that reparations will further divide us, however, Coates argues we are already divided enough. The only way into a bright future of equality is to repay blacks for what the country has put them through over its lifetime, and to actually ensure equality of opportunity for them.

There will be no Reparations from Germany

Post WWII Germany reflects similarly to post Civil War America. Most Germans believed Jews were not entitled to compensation for the Holocaust. However, when this attitude quickly faded away, Germany paid over $7 billion to Israel and their own Jewish community to sufficiently fund reparation efforts. This led to a new era of forgiveness and sorrow within Germany, all within 20 years of the war. Coates argues that by ignoring the past, America will never see a similar bright future. The only way to start the reparation effort is to recognize the past and deal with it accordingly. It’s something no one wants to talk about, but it’s not too late.

Question 1c.

Coates’ analysis of the Chicago HOLC maps highlights and proves the problems he discussed in the entire article. It’s evidence of white flight and the “second ghetto”. It helped me understand that concept better by providing a visual argument for these problems. The maps provide proof of socioeconomic racism in a way other than words.

Part 2) Mapping Inequality

I chose Kalamazoo as my city of interest. What struck me right off the bat was the clear circle around the outskirts of town of “more desirable” neighborhoods, with the “less desirable” yellows and reds concentrated in the middle. Some of the notes that were taken about the better neighborhoods in the outskirts talk about better schooling, better infrastructure (roads and newer homes), and easy access to transportation. These are also areas of higher income and property values, with no relief families, and no “infiltration” of minorities. Something interesting that I found is that a lot of the yellow (less desirable/declining) areas also noted good schools in the area, but were less desirable because of low property values and old houses. The red neighborhoods are noted to be poor and polluted, with them next to industrial zones. These are the areas with high concentrations of minority groups and relief families. A common theme among these are that they “lack access to city facilities”. As far as terrain goes, the surveyors mentioned in the red zones that they are sloped and the houses are misaligned, and that many of the neighborhoods are along streams and are at high risk of flooding. Overall, it’s interesting to see that “white flight” had basically already happened in Kalamazoo during the 1930s-40s, before the term was coined.