The next video I watched was Long Island segregation. This video was also super interesting and I learned a ton from just the one video. When I was watching the video all I could think about was how terrible I feel for these black people and how terrible it was for them to be treated the way they did and still are to the day. The thing that is even more disgusting to me is that a ton of discrimination is happening on Long Island where I live. When I heard that Long Island was one of the most racially segregated metropolitan areas in the county was so disgusting and made me so angry, and really made me think of how we can help stop this. We can do many things. We can start clubs in schools and ask our schools to be more open of segregation and how racism is still a huge part of today’s generation, and that we need to bring it to an end. I feel that most of the racism comes from immature people and many younger students should learn young so they don’t make the same mistakes others do. 

    After watching and reading numerous informative sources on redlining, I am disappointed that there are multiple ways racism within the U.S.A. is covertly and overtly ingrained in our institutions and that these systems have not yet been reformed. To elaborate, in the early 1930’s when new housing was available to lower income families the Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC) created residential security maps that perpetuate racism and segregation into real estate. They created special color coded maps which separated each community based on income, however redlined communities were based on race. The widespread use of these maps made it so that redlined areas had decreased property values, more crime and most significantly mostly minority groups. Even if a person of color (POC) wanted to move into a better suburban neighborhood, there were covenants that legally prohibited black people from moving in. Even today, as a result of this, black people have had more obstacles when it comes to real estate.

     As a current resident on Long Island — one of the most segregated places in the United States— it is especially important that I educate myself on it and others to spread awareness. I was not shocked that when Newsday News Channel sent undercover associates out looking for homes, contemporary white home brokers steered the minorities away from white neighborhoods, which is a clear violation to the Fair Housing Act of 1968. They consistently denied POC the same treatment as their white counterparts. This investigation lasted three years...I find it saddening that there’s still that many people in these mindsets. I’ve always found that proper education and having honest conversations on these subjects at hand from earlier ages can really make a difference. I also believe that holding these types of implicitly biased people accountable is 100% necessary in the process. It’s difficult to imagine a world without racism, biases and injustices, but it’s never too late to try to make a change.

        To this day, there are schools all over Long Island and the country that are predominantly one race due to racial covenants and therefore they have different budgets, causing students to get different educations. Due to this, I am happy we are learning about housing segregation in school and being educated about the complexity of racism because that is the only way to overcome it. In the video it said that most white people at the time were unaware of the racism happening in their communities and denied that there was ever segregation in the North. Still, sadly, some people do not agree that there are racial injustices in the world, because they have not been properly educated and have not seen or experienced it. The system of our country works against people of color, the only way to get past it is for people to be educated so they can understand the problem, then work to change it. 

       

     Redlining has been around since the end of WW2, and contributes to segregation of  back people. It is an unfair practice that deliberately excludes African Americans from having the same quality of life that white people do. In one video on housing segregation it said that “It’s still much harder for a black person to get a mortgage or home loan than white people.” This shows how this issue is still a big problem and you’d hope that it nearly 100 years after the war wouldn’t still be happening; but it unfortunately is. 

    Here on Long Island segregation is a very big issue in schools, housing, and more. In fact, ““LI is one of the most secreted areas in the metropolitan area.” I’m not surprised by this because in  my community it is very clear that there’s segregation between people of color and others.  According to a video on segregation on Long Island it said, “Levittown is an example of racial segregation because the five gave the power to the developers to exclude African Americans from homes. This is a common problem, where systemic racism oppresses black people from housing opportunities. To fix this problem I think there should be official legislation that prohibits faulty real estate practices. 

Black people living in the redlined areas couldn’t buy or refinance their homes. Crime also increased and housing values decreased as a result. It is amazing how people living in these redlined areas were set up for failure just because of their race. When the Fair Housing Act was set in place to try to solve this problem, it wasn’t even enforced. Not only was this legal at the time, but we are still experiencing the aftermath of it today. 

    Southampton is an example of an area where many people pay high property taxes which goes to fund the school. Our school has all the money they need and then some, while other areas don’t have as nice of a school because the areas were possibly previously redlined and/ or don’t have high property taxes. This creates an unfair balance. It is a positive feedback loop so it continues to happen while some people don’t even realize it or do anything to change it. 

I also never realized how some police justify racial profiling as “spacial profiling” which makes no sense. You shouldn’t be more likely to be stopped by the police because of your race, but what makes it even worse is that they call it “spacial profiling.” People need to be held accountable for this and understand how they are contributing to racism. This affects everyone in many major U.S. cities and contributes to systemic racism today. 

        I was dumbfounded when the residential security maps were shown where you can really see the red lining, or segregation. Redlining places where ones that have predominantly black and brown people, these places were almost impossible to move out of or refinance from. This has made its awful mark on society because for thirty years that black and brown people were living in red lining areas while, white people were moving into the suburbs. Furthermore, when these white people moved into the suburbs there was the rule that they didn’t need to sell their home to black and brown people. This made it impossible for people of color to move out of these areas that they were living in. In addition, real estate segregation affects schooling because taxpayer money goes towards the schools and if your neighborhood doesn’t have the funds to pay a lot of taxes they are not going to have as much as another school. Again, to think that this happened so close to home is very upsetting and eye opening. Even when you look around Long Island, you can still see how this history has implemented today.

       Education and Wealth is different for white and black families. 98% of loans were handed to white people, that means only 2% were given to black families. All that loan money is going to white neighborhoods and white schools. Further, this makes white neighborhoods way more wealthy than black neighborhoods. It was also stated in the video that still today it is harder for a person of color to receive a loan from a bank over a white person. It is mind blowing and appalling to hear that it still happens to this day.