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Thread: Let’s tell a story about #LovellsLoan. Let’s tell a story about mortgages and Milwaukee. This is a “redline” map of the City of Milwaukee.
In Milwaukee, Black men and women moving north during the Great Migration were crowded into some of the older parts of the city. Most newer neighborhoods had “racial covenants” which prohibited the sale of homes to “non-caucasians.” https://shepherdexpress.com/news/features/redlining-racial-covenants-and-suburbia-how-milwaukee-became/
During the New Deal, the Federal Housing Authority commissioned local real estate board to determine which areas of the city were the best bets for scarce Federal relief dollars. People in low-risk areas got mortgages, those in high risk areas did not. https://www.npr.org/2017/05/03/526655831/a-forgotten-history-of-how-the-u-s-government-segregated-america
The maps were drawn primarily by the Home Ownership Loan Corporation, with the assistance of local authorities and real estate experts. Neighborhoods were given one of four colors green for “desirable”, blue for “still desirable”, yellow for “declining” and red for “risky”.
Older neighborhoods got lower ratings, so in Milwaukee the Black neighborhood to the northwest of downtown was rated as red.
Other criteria for assessing risk were more straightforwardly racist. For instance neighborhoods with “inharmonious racial groups” were penalized.
Black men and women, by and large, did not receive the mortgage assistance offered to white residents in “desirable” areas. Areas such as the east side, Shorewood, Whitefish Bay and Fox Point. Areas where older populations of white Milwaukeeans lived.
Many white Americans were able to build up wealth by owning their homes and passing assets on to their children, Black families were not given the same leg up.
This problem was exacerbated by the GI Bill. Whereas white veterans were able to take advantage of VA and FHA subsidized mortgages to buy homes in the suburbs of Milwaukee, Black residents were unable to do so. https://www.history.com/news/gi-bill-black-wwii-veterans-benefits
But it didn’t end there. Throughout the postwar period, lenders capitalized on racism to subject Black and other non-white populations to predatory mortgages which resulted in disproportionate numbers of foreclosures.
https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/02/blacks-hispanics-mortgages/471024/
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/06/the-case-for-reparations/361631/
https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/02/blacks-hispanics-mortgages/471024/
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/06/the-case-for-reparations/361631/
The result has been catastrophic. Black men and women have lower per capita levels of wealth.
Home ownership is drastically lower for Black families
And as a result of this long history of discriminatory housing policy, Milwaukee remains the most segregated city in America. The similarities to the red lining map above are immediately visible.
The north shore is wealthy and white, the northwest of the city remains disproportionately poor and Black. One of those wealthy neighborhoods on the north shore is Fox Point, where President Lovell lives.
We were told by a source close to the board of trustees that the $1.25 m loan made to President Lovell in 2015 was for the purchase of a home. We don’t have direct evidence there so take it for what it’s worth. #LovellsLoan https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/11/04/marquette-faces-student-and-faculty-pushback-planned-cuts
The irony is breathtaking. In the most segregated city in the country, whose Black and Brown residents have little hope of even a reasonably priced apartment, the President of Marquette allegedly leveraged a $1.25 m retention bonus for the purchase of a north shore mansion.
Meanwhile the school has abandoned its Race, Ethnic and Indigenous Studies job searches, and has taken its Hispanic Serving Institution initiative out of its strategic plan. #FundHSI #BLM #FixtheSeal
President Lovell’s vision for the university is self-serving, short sighted, and cruel. There is an alternative, and we will fight with every ounce of our energy to ensure Marquette University lives up to its values.
