White progressives’ racial myopia: Why their colorblindness fails minorities — and the left

[BumRushDaShow]

13. Love me some Joan

The fantasy "golden age" included this -

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The last episode, ''The House We Live In,'' examines how those erroneous views have left some racial groups at an economic disadvantage, particularly in housing, while accruing visible benefits to whites, which the filmmakers call the ''unmarked race.'' This episode traces the legal, financial, and social values that have defined the racial divide, from European immigration in the early 20th century to the post-World War II housing boom, typified by Roosevelt and Levittown, in Nassau County.

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Bernice and Eugene Burnett tried over the winter of 1949-50 to buy a house in Levittown, they tell the camera. Mr. Burnett was one of nearly a million black soldiers eligible for a federally guaranteed mortgage under the G.I. Bill of Rights, but precluded by housing discrimination from enjoying that benefit. He recalls being impressed by the tract houses sprouting on a former potato field and a salesman's response to his inquiry about buying one: ''It's not me, but the owners of this development have not as yet decided to sell these homes to Negroes.''

The Levitt family never did decide to sell to blacks, and as a result, Levittown remains ''95 to 98 percent white,'' said John A. Juliano, a real estate broker. Interviewed by telephone, Mr. Juliano added: ''It wasn't just Levitt. The federal government condoned it, and it set a precedent there that's lasted a long time.''

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From 1934 to 1962, less than 2 percent of the $120 billion in housing financing underwritten by the government went to minorities, while today, the net worth of the average black family is one-eighth that of its white counterpart, the film says.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/11/nyregion/memories-of-segregation-in-levittown.html

And all one has to do is look at the more recent issue of the Pigford and Pigford II setllements for black farmers, where jackass Coburn managed to block the settlement payout that had been approved by the courts and the USDA one final time for bullshit reasons - in essence, de facto racism. I actually watched that session when they were ready for a unanimous consent and he halted it. It finally breached that hurdle and was signed into law in December of that year after a year of back and forths and farm biggest advocate John Boyd, leading protests in D.C.