Well before the Detroit riots of 1967, which are often seen as one of the root causes of Detroit’s demise and white flight, white struggle to maintain white-only spaces was happening under the form of violent neighborhood vigilantes, as well as bureaucratic and federally sanctioned means, such as restrictive zoning in new suburbs.
The legacy of these practices lives on. For decades, in the second part of the 20th century, de facto redlining by the banks meant loans were difficult to come by for Detroiters. But during the subprime mortgage push of the 2000s, once-ignored Detroit residents were suddenly under siege with offers, and particularly at risk of predatory lending practices.
Two years ago, the American Civil Liberties Union helped bring a class-action lawsuit against Morgan Stanley for its collaboration with subprime lender New Century, which supplied the Manhattan-based bank with a steady stream of high-risk loans issued in communities of color across the nation. The pending lawsuit focuses on Detroit, which is deemed “particularly vulnerable”.
In many ways, the subprime mortgage crisis, which was explicitly and disproportionately destructive in communities of color, is a direct inheritor of the federally sanctioned redlining policies of the mid-20th century. And at least in terms of race transitioning into the colorblind discourse of economics, Kercheval Avenue’s barricade seems to be no exception either.