Real World Monopoly
Redlining
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| Figure (1) |
Imagine being at home with your friends or family playing Monopoly. You land on a property you'd like to buy. The banker tells you "no, I won't give you any money to buy this home". You're shocked because "why not?!", you are now a victim of redlining. Redlining is a process that bank loaners use to pick and choose who gets a homeowners loan (1). A loan is borrowed money from the bank. Redlining has been around since the 1900s and is still an issue in society today. Thousands of people have been victims of redlining (2). In this case, it hurt your chances of earning the most money to be a winner. But, for others it's not just a game of Monopoly. It is a reality that hurts their plans to buy a dream home and live a better life.
How Does It Work?
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| Figure (2) |
During Monopoly, the banker didn't tell you the REAL reason why he/she rejected your request. Really it was because you currently live in a poor city. Or, they noticed your skin is a little darker than your friends. Maybe because your family's Muslim and you wear a hijab. Even could've been because you're a female and you have a girlfriend. All these reasons are very discriminatory (3). This means unfair treatment due to race, age, sex, background, etc. Redlining started off when real estate agents drew out lines and said certain people cannot live here, mostly people of color (POC). They labeled the areas with four colors similar to a Monopoly board. Green meant the best area of the city or it could even be a suburban area with modern houses and new houses being built. Green areas also have a high population of white people. Blue is similar to green but doesn't have new houses being built, it's just a nice neighborhood as it is. Yellow looks like old worn out housing and neighborhoods that have high population of POC. Red is a location of the city that is the worst, very low population of whites and houses in bad condition (3).
Why Should I Care?
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| Figure (3) |
Believe it or not, redlining affects many things around you. The color coding method caused a racial segregation among countless cities so far. If your friends and local town folks are mostly white then chances are you live out of a redlined location. This segregation of race caused job loss for people in redlined areas because the well paying jobs are located in the suburbs (3). Most aren't fit for the job because they did not receive the proper education. The low funds of redlined areas don't provide good education for public schools, meaning there are a lot of uneducated folks there. If the classrooms you are used to seeing everyday are up to date and have good technology, then you most likely do not live in a redlined area (4). If playgrounds are cleaned up and there's lots of places to have fun such as skating rinks, arcades, Chuck E. Cheese, etc. your area is most likely not red. Which is something to be happy about. Individuals from redlined areas must live a little differently and are used to an environment such as figure 3. They would have to drive out of their neighborhoods to have access in another neighborhood. Unfortunately, this is still happening and is commonly spread nationwide. There isn't much any organization or government can do because there's a lot of to do in order to fix it. Plus redlining works in bank loaners and real estate agents favor. There's only awareness to be spread!
References
2. Christensen,
L. (2015). Rethinking research: Reading and writing about the roots of
gentrification. English Journal, 105(2),
15-21. http://www.ncte.org/library/NCTEFiles/Resources/Journals/EJ/1052-nov2015/EJ1052Focus.pdf
Figure 1. https://www.vhtcx.com/blog/3-keys-creating-successful-customer-journeys-using-board-game-concepts/
Figure 2. https://www.citylab.com/equity/2016/10/a-digital-window-into-the-roots-of-redlining/504656/
Figure 3. https://billypenn.com/2018/08/30/how-redlining-shaped-philly-neighborhoods/
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