For the Media

If you type “racial minorities mortgage meltdown” into Google, you will find a host of stories about how government pressure on banks to provide equal opportunity caused the financial crisis in this country.

This may or may not be true. I have not done the research to judge. But the manner in which the story has been propagated demonstrates an appalling racism by members of the political Right.

The claim is some variant on this: the Clinton administration pressured banks to make unwise loans to African-Americans and, sometimes, Latinos. The banks made the loans out of fear of retribution by the government. The accumulated inability of racial minorities to repay the loans caused the insolvency we now see in the banking sector and all of America has been left to pay the consequences. Sometimes the stories say it is the fault of “African-Americans”, sometimes they say “Blacks”, sometimes “minorities”, sometimes “inner-city people”, sometimes “Jesse Jackson”, sometimes “Barack Obama”, sometimes “community organizers”. Rush Limbaugh said that the mortgage meltdown has happened because liberals will never allow white people to be forgiven for slavery.

I will state again that I don't know if this accusation, in any general way, is true. Like most political scare tactics, there might be a grain of truth in it somewhere. However, it strikes me as dubious to claim that Wall Street banks, which were by most accounts reveling in their prosperity, were operating under coercion.

But the truth of the claim is insignificant in comparison to what it reveals about the continued use of race-baiting as a political tactic. The right-wing websites that post this material cannot verify these claims and neither can the right-wing radio hosts that are talking about it (and there are a lot of them). However, it serves a political purpose, whether intentionally or not, because it connects the Democratic Party to Blacks and it raises the classic GOP boogie-man of inner-city government-dependent Blacks.

Political scientists term this type of racial appeal “implicit racism” to distinguish it from the explicitly racist appeals that were once commonplace in American political discourse (and not just in the South). Republicans sometimes seem to take offense at the idea that the Republican Party has used racist appeals. To deny this is as ridiculous as to claim that the Democratic Party never did. You don't have to be a political scientist to know that Republican politicians leveraged racial appeals to win votes in past campaigns. Kevin Phillips, a Nixon aide, wrote an entire book describing how the GOP would gain from Democratic association with the “Negro”. Lee Atwater was a top political advisor to Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. He was indirectly responsible for the racially tinted Willy Horton commercial used by Bush to defeat Michael Dukakis in 1988. Atwater admitted that GOP strategists, after the 1960's, replaced racial slurs with codewords that appealed to the sentiment that Blacks were burdensome to the nation's economy and educational systems. When racial slurs became unacceptable campaigns were simply forced to adopt a new terminology that appealed to the same sentiments among a, not insignificant, portion of white voters. There is political science evidence, though it is controversial, that suggests that these appeals increase resentment towards African-Americans as a group and increases support for the politicians that use these tactics.

The suggestion that African-Americans caused the nation's economic ills has the potential to activate the same fears and prejudices. I don't know where the claim first emerged and I do not know to what extent it is propagated through conscious effort by people aware of its consequences. What I do know is that a disturbing number of public figures are wiling to repeat the accusations uncritically and that they are willing to do so demonstrates how racist and racially polarizing politics are in the United States. It is difficult to find any other reason that public conservatives would be so willing to repeat these accusations other than that the accusations are targeted at Blacks, a constituency of the Democratic party. If the story were about rural whites causing the mortgage meltdown, I guarantee that Sean Hannity would find something else to talk about. I also find it difficult to believe that intelligent and well-educated public figures are not aware of the historical pattern into which these appeals fit and the types of resentments that they are likely to feed.

I would also guess that most of the people that uncritically accept these claims do so because it fits with their prejudicial stereotypes about racial minorities as unscrupulous public burdens. That people are more willing to accept information that fits with their already held attitudes is very well established by political science and psychology research. This is not unique to conservatives, thus for many liberals every time President Bush misspeaks, it is, unfairly, evidence of his stupidity. But in this case, the claims are supporting attitudes of dangerous racial stereotypes. That intelligent people, that surely put a great deal of thought into how to persuade, would repeat these stories is quite disturbing. That such a large portion of the American public will surely accept them, whether accurate or not, demonstrates a tremendous ill in our society.

Permalink

On-topic comments that add to the discussion are welcome. Please respect each other and the forum by using your real name and a civil tone. Spam and comments judged by UCLA to be libelous, offensive or abusive may be deleted without notice

Comments

M Petrone says:

The mortgage problem could indeed have to do with racism. Many mortgage lenders and banks took advantage of poor, minority, people and got them into loans they could not afford. Check out http://www.RefinancingCondo.com for more information on the mortgage crisis.

wow gold says:

Good post,This was exactly what I needed to read today! I am sure this has relevance to many of us out there.

wow gold says:

Well, to soon to say if it’s good, but at least it’s well designed. I mean I thought I would be blocked after adding some interests, but the site helps you to add more. Cheers

chip says:

thanks for all the marvelous info much appreciated a http://www.cashgiftingcritter.com

Justin Bartlett says:

Thank you so much for the informative post, much appreciated! http://www.modificationzoom.com

pri says:

Sheen says:

A very good piece if I may say so myself. Good work. <A HREF="http://www.prudentiallease.com/truck-financing">18 wheeler truck financing</a>

Frank says:

It's a very well written piece but I'm not so sure of your sources.

Ditech says:

In their pursuit of profits, banks and wall street investment bankers gave loans indiscriminately to borrowers, even the ones that did not really qualify. http://www.ditech.com

Ditech says:

In their pursuit of profits, banks and wall street investment bankers gave loans indiscriminately to borrowers, even the ones that did not really qualify. http://www.ditech.com

welehweleh says:

This is actually really interesting regarding your fact article here, This article is very informative. http://www.moratmarit.com/2009/08/kenali-dan-kunjungi-objek-wisata-di.html | http://www.moratmarit.com/2009/09/oes-tsetnoc-contestants-from-indonesia.html | http://www.moratmarit.com/ | http://www.cahbagoes.com/ | http://blogger.moratmarit.com/

Making Home Affordable says:

More than 70%+ of homeowners are not happy with their lenders modification offering via the HAMP program. The banks are not representing the homeowners, they have a fiduciary responsibility to their stock holders and they are representing themselves. This is exactly why professional representation is critical. Get your loan modification here: http://www.homeaffordablemodificationprograms.com/prequalifynow/

Dennny says:

Janet says:

this spread throughout the lending networks .the gse's allowed much more cash to come,the bush administration tried many times to slow the flood of high risk mortgages http://www.mortgagebreakdown.com, the dems blocked it many times. yes many people were greedy,but the precident was forced to change that had kept banks safe for many years. i wish people knew the truth.http://www.peacefulsleeping.com Many homebuyers, of all races, took advantage of the relaxed lending standards, thus the subprime debacle occured. Pointing this out is not racist. Political correctness should not be followed, at the expense of the truth. The mortgage http://www.making-homes-affordable.com crisis is a perfect example of why the government should never legislate to private industry, about racial concerns

Johhny Milkens says:

It is difficult to find any other reason that public conservatives would be so willing to repeat these accusations other than that the accusations are targeted at Blacks, a constituency of the Democratic <a href="http://www.making-homes-affordable.com">Making Home Affordable</a> party.

Jennifer Martin says:

I agree i have seen postings like that after typing in those keywords too. But who knows who owns those sites. www.Therapycounseling.com

aoc gold says:

This is a great article. I’m new to blogging but still learning. Thanks for the great resource.

Michelle Randall says:

This is driving me so nuts that I needed http://www.melatrolreviews.com to get any sleep

Johnny Clamon says:

What about if you type “racial minorities affirmative action”, or “I think Democrats are racist”? Will those queries also generate evidence of the political racism acing through our nation? http://www.mortgagebreakdown.com is a wonderful resource on this and other mortgage information.

Janet says:

I think everyon should indeed look at the fact that minorities did infact cause part of the problem, but that everybody contributed to the misery and continues to contribute. <a href="http://www.making-homes-affordable.com"> :( </a>

RSS Alerts

Facebook Twitter Youtube

About

Election analysis and personal commentary by UCLA scholars, unfiltered.

News release

Contact UCLA Newsroom

RSS Feed

For the Media

Current Issues

Useful Links

Racism and the mortgage meltdown

Comments

M Petrone says:

wow gold says:

wow gold says:

chip says:

Justin Bartlett says:

pri says:

Sheen says:

Frank says:

Ditech says:

Ditech says:

welehweleh says:

Making Home Affordable says:

Dennny says:

Janet says:

Johhny Milkens says:

Jennifer Martin says:

aoc gold says:

Michelle Randall says:

Johnny Clamon says:

Janet says:

Tool Tip

Tool Tip

About

Our Bloggers

Archive