20160225 (redlining)

One day when you’ve really got

Nothing better to do (that is,

After you’ve read my blog)

You can fill yourself with facts

About how the city of Cleveland

And surrounding communities

Developed and get a notion of

The tenor of the times by reading

Neighborhood “Security Surveys”*

Performed for the Federal Home

Owners’ Loan Corporation from

The later ‘30s to 1940. The papers 

Ostensibly reported on the suitability

Of granting mortgages in various

Cleveland neighborhoods based on

The age, type, and condition of 

Houses in the surveyed zones

Along with the populations therein

Categorized as executive, professional,

Etc., down to factory workers, laborers,

WPA laborers, relief clients. These are

The “redlining” reports which 

Played such a significant role

In the assignment of people to

Neighborhoods through the

Restriction of mortgage funds

In “chancy” areas. The reports

Rated each area as A through D—

A being the best for mortgages

Being repaid; D for those not

Only likely to default but 

In such cases the properties

Recovered would not sell

For enough to pay the mortgaged

Amount. What is shocking about

These documents is how blatantly

They assign the term “desirable

Residents” to “English-speaking”

Professionals and “undesirable”

To “foreigners,” “Slavish,”

Without so much as the wink

Of an eye, always linking “Negroes”

With “relief clients.” The Post 

Office even gave them lists of

Addresses where “Negroes” had

Purchased or otherwise come to

Live. Also ranked was the 

“Infiltration” of you know who’s

To which neighborhoods, Jewish,

Italians, Czechs, etc.. The study

Broadly announces its purpose,

Rationale, and methods in the 

First few pages, then lists the

Names, titles, and companies,

Banks, realtors, and newspapers

Of those underwriting the 

Surveys’ accuracy. They bother

To make a CYA statement that

Their findings do not mean 

High quality mortgages cannot

Be made in the D-class areas

But leave no doubt it’s unlikely.

Whether these home ownership

Wizards directly intended to 

Screw the incoming black

Population might be debated.

But there’s no denying that a

Lot of indirect intentionality.

They made no effort to exempt

Blacks who were executive, 

Professional, or managerial

From the strictures determining

Who might be considered

Suitable risks for mortgages

Like other “desirables.” No

Mention of exceptions. If you

Were Black, here’s where you 

Belonged. And nobody

Disagreed.

c. J.S.Manista, 2016

*https://library.osu.edu/projects/redlining-maps-ohio/area-descriptions/CuyahogaCounty_D1-D28_Area_Description.pdf