Subject: Reinforcing systemic racism in banking
https://www.contrabandcamp.com...

Banks are racist.

This is not my opinion. According to multiple studies, racial disparities at many large financial institutions are unrelated to credit or income. The data also show that white-owned banks are more likely to lend to Black borrowers when their lending processes are automated. Since 2008, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citigroup and U.S. Bank have paid billions to settle claims of racial discrimination.

Apparently, banks think banks are racist.

In fact, whenever anyone asks me to “name one thing Obama did for Black people,” I remind them that his Department of Justice successfully sued the five biggest banks in America for systemic discrimination.

Conversely, banks built by and for Black, Hispanic, Asian-American, and Native-American communities show up when Chase and Wells Fargo won’t. So, in 1989, Congress created the designation of minority depository institutions to protect and grow these banks. And because mainstream banking has a long, well-documented history of redlining Black neighborhoods, mortgage discrimination, auto loan bias and even cashing checks, the MDI designation comes with access to grants, technical assistance and federal deposits.

Until Trump changed the rules.

Now, everyone in Black banking is asking whether this is just bureaucratic housekeeping or the first crack in a foundation that took 37 years to build.