Allowing the Mistreatment of Black Americans
Each year the Department of Literature, Languages, Cultures, and Writing selects the very best final essays from ENGL 102 Critical Writing to be entered into a scholarship competition, evaluated by professors within the department, and ultimately selected by Emeritus Professor of English James Strickland. Below is the winner of the 2023 Strickland Award for Writing. Congratulations, Daniel!!
By Daniel Tooson
Original Drawing by Megan Krumpak
The United States Constitution was first authored in 1787. The Constitution creates
checks and balances within the government, orchestrates three branches, and establishes the
United States as a Representative Democracy and Republic (What is the Constitution). Within
the U.S. Constitution, there are amendments. These amendments allow the Constitution to
change and adapt to society (What is the Constitution). One amendment with dissecting
importance is the 14th Amendment. The 14th Amendment was developed to give Americans equal
protection of the law and protect Americans from discrimination. Unfortunately, in the course of
history, the government has failed to protect Black Americans’ rights under the 14th Amendment
equal protection clause, which negatively affects Black Americans today. One terrible way the
government has failed to protect Black Americans’ 14th Amendment right is redlining.
Congress founded the Federal Housing Administration in 1934. Ta-Nehisi Coates, the
author of “The Case for Reparations,” claims the FHA constructed “A system of maps that rated
neighborhoods according to their perceived stability. “These maps gave private mortgage and
insurance companies an idea of places to give or not give loans to buy houses too. It also
“Caused a drop in interest rates and a decline in the size of the down payment required to buy a
house” (43). The FHA did this by grading land areas around the city. These areas were graded
from A to D. Areas with A grades were labeled as safe, B areas were listed as “still desirable,” C
areas were considered “definitely declining,” and D areas were considered “hazardous.” Areas
labeled as hazardous would be lined out in red, which is why people call the system of the FHA
redlining (Krieger).
On the surface, what the FHA created looks pure and beneficial, but experts like TaNehisi Coates consider redlining a “racist policy.” Someone like Nancy Krieger, one of the many
authors of “Structural Racism, Historical Redlining, and Risk of Preterm Birth in New York
City, 2013–2017,” would more specifically describe redlining as a form of structural racism.
Kreiger and her colleagues describe structural racism as “the totality of ways in which societies
foster racial discrimination, through mutually reinforcing inequitable systems (in housing,
education, employment, earnings, benefits, credit, media, health care, criminal justice, and so on)
that in turn reinforce discriminatory beliefs, values, and distribution of resources, which together
affect the risk of adverse health outcomes.” According to Coates A rated areas rarely had a Black
person or any form of diversity. The D-rated areas had enormous numbers of Black people (43).
Loan and insurance companies in places like the Bronx believed D area were “unstable” because
there was a “steady infiltration of negro, Spanish and Puerto Rican into the area” (Kreiger). Race
was a critical factor in how the areas were labeled, which goes against the 14th amendment.
Curious minds might ask, how can a government agency like the FHA be allowed to develop a
racist and discriminatory redlining system?
According to Charles Lamb, the author of “Do Presidents control bureaucracy? The
Federal Housing Administration during the Truman-Eisenhower era” Lamb states that the “FHA
openly encouraged racial segregation in FHA-insured housing by virtually requiring restrictive
covenants.” Coates describes restrictive convents as “legally enforceable real estate contracts that
prevented a particular group of people from buying or occupying property” (43). Restrictive
Covenants would often target Black, brown, and sometimes Jewish people. Although restrictive
convents were discriminatory and racist, they were legal due to the groundbreaking supreme
court case of Shelly Vs. Kraemer. This case made it illegal for the court to enforce restrictive
convent agreements by any form of the government; however, the judicial branch also
disappointedly stated, “That Amendment erects no shield against merely private conduct,
however discriminatory or wrongful, this statement by the court.” This means private owners
were still allowed to discriminate with these policies freely. The courts let this happen without
intervention due to their interpretation of the 14th amendment. Presidents also allowed for the
system of redlining and the use of restrictive convents.
Another reason the FHAs racist system continued was that it was allowed by the
executive branch. According to Charles Lamb, The Federal Housing Administration during the
Truman-Eisenhower era” Lamb finds that presidents can influence bureaucracy. Bureaucracies
often change policies based on a president’s agenda and the pressure they apply for a change. A
president can force their political agenda within a bureaucracy by using appointees. Appointees
are helpful for a president because appointees can promote the president’s political agenda within
the bureaucracy through “rulemaking, budget requests, the allocation of agency resources,
personnel decisions, and the interpretation of laws and regulations” (Lamb). President Truman
was known to have a slight opposition to the system of the FHA, but the FHA was not
responsive. The FHA was not responsive because “Truman failed to truly expound on his
position and exert sufficient pressure” (Lamb). President Eisenhower is another president during
the time of the FHA. President Eisenhower, according to Lamb, did not apply pressure to stop
the racist system as well. In fact, Lamb believes that Eisenhower felt no need to change the
policies of the FHA. The President that finally put there foot down and stopped the FHAs racist
policy was Lyndon Johnson with his fair housing act of 1968(Lamb). Ibram x. Kendi describes a
racist as “One who is supporting a racist policy through their actions or inaction or expressing a
racist idea” (595). With Kendi’s definition of a racist, someone can argue that at the time, we had
a racist government since the three branches of government we have in place allowed and
created the racist and discriminatory bureaucracy of the FHA. This allowance of the FHA
policies consequently affects Black people to this day.
Redlining has had a terrible effect on Black Americans to this day. One way is the health
of newborn Black babies. In places like New York, researcher Nancy Krieger found that from
2013 to 2017, only 5 percent of newborns born were premature in areas with A ratings, while in
places with C and D grades, places containing Black people, a combined 14 percent of newborn
babies were premature. The statics Krieger found led her to believe that “Historical redlining
may be a structural determinant of the present-day risk of preterm birth.” Columbus, Ohio, is
another place where someone can see the effects of redlining. If someone looked at Columbus’s
redlining map in 1936, the same redlined cities are known today as high crime and poverty areas.
Being in poverty often is a complex cycle to get out of, especially without much education or
help and many Black people today are stuck in this cycle.
The 14th amendment was created to protect all Americans from discrimination. The
government failed to hold up their end of the bargain by creating the FHA and allowing for the
racist policy they created. Systematic Racism is real and constantly affects the Black community
in ways people will not understand unless there Black or truly educate themselves within the
topic. Our government and society need to be antiracist in all aspects of life. Being an antiracist
can help stop demoralizing things like redlining from happening in the future (Kendi 595).
Bibliography
Coates, Ta-Nehisi. “The Case for Reparation.” Rereading America: Cultural Contexts for
Critical Thinking and Writing,12th ed., edited by Gary Colombo, Uzzie T. Cannon,
RobertCullen, Bonnie Lisle, St. Martin’s, 2016, pp. 38-62.
Kendi, Ibram x. “Definitions.” Rereading America: Cultural Contexts for Critical Thinking and
Writing,12th ed., edited by Gary Colombo, Uzzie T. Cannon, RobertCullen, Bonnie Lisle,
St. Martin’s, 2016, pp. 38-62.
Krieger, Nancy, et al. “Structural Racism, Historical Redlining, and Risk of Preterm Birth in
New York City, 2013–2017.” American Journal of Public Health, vol. 110, no. 7, July
2020, pp. 104–53. EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2020.305656.
Lamb, Charles M., and Adam W. Nye. “Do Presidents control bureaucracy? The Federal
Housing Administration during the Truman-Eisenhower era.” Political Science
Quarterly, vol. 127, no. 3, fall 2012, pp. 445+. Gale Academic OneFile,
link.gale.com/apps/doc/A303641332/AONE?u=sshe_sru&sid=bookmarkAONE&xid=7fb6fe84. Accessed 6 Nov. 2022.
“Shelley Et Ux. V. Kraemer Et Ux. Mcghee ET UX. V. Sipes Et Al..” Legal Information
Institute, Legal Information Institute,
https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/334/1.
Lamb, Charles M., and Adam W. Nye. “Do Presidents control bureaucracy? The Federal
Housing Administration during the Truman-Eisenhower era.” Political Science
Quarterly, vol. 127, no. 3, fall 2012, pp. 445+. Gale Academic OneFile,
link.gale.com/apps/doc/A303641332/AONE?u=sshe_sru&sid=bookmarkAONE&xid=7fb6fe84. Accessed 6 Nov. 2022.
