BIN Exclusive: Author Bernadette Atuanene Explains How Housing Policies 'Plundered' Black Families

BIN News anchor Esther Dillard speaks with author Bernadette Atuanene about her new book, Plundered: How Racist Policies Undermine Black Homeownership in America.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
I'm Esther Dillard on Your Home for twenty four to
seven News the Black Information Network. December fifth marks the
seventieth anniversary of the Montgomery bus boycotts. It's one of
the first large scale organized protests against segregation in the US.
This is deeply significant because it's not just a milestone
in civil rights history. It's a moment to reflect on

(00:21):
the struggle for economic justice, especially when it comes to
issues like black home ownership.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
Since two thousand and nine, one in three homes have
completed the property tax for closure process in Detroit. One
in three. We haven't seen this number of property tax
for closures in American history since the Great Depression.

Speaker 1 (00:41):
That's Harvard and Yale trained property law scholar Bernadette Attuahine.
She's done extensive research on how racist policies weaken black
families and why didn't the racial wealth gap. Recently, she
released a book called Plundered, How racist policies undermine Black
home ownership in America. Wh's The book focused on stories

(01:01):
of two sharecroppers, one Italian, the other Black. Both migrate
to Detroit, Michigan for auto industry jobs.

Speaker 2 (01:09):
Grandpa Bucci was a sharecropper in Italy under a system
called Mesadria, and Grandpa Brown was an American sharecropper from
North Carolina. And so two men with very similar starting points,
right they're coming to Detroit at the same time to
work at the same factory, you think they would have
similar outcomes. And the book shows you that because of

(01:31):
racist policies, Grandpa Brown had a very different experience than
Grandpa Bucci. But at no point did Grandpa Bucci have
to deal with racially restrictive covenants, which are covenants tucked
in deeds that prevented black people from living in the
best parts of the city and more importantly, from living
in the suburb. And at the end of the day,
Grandpa Bucci gave his house. His house was inherited by

(01:55):
his grandson in a city Detroit suburb called Livonia, and
it's work over three hundred thousand dollars and Grandpa Buchi's
grandson lives there now. Grandpa Brown, his granddaughter, Marisha, inherited
his home. And because of these layers and layers of
racist policies, Grandpa Brown's home was worth less than ten

(02:15):
thousand dollars when Marisha inherited it.

Speaker 1 (02:18):
She says, inflated property taxes on black owned homes have
been a major reason for massive foreclosures in Detroit, and
that's prompted her to join with the community to coordinate
the Coalition for Property Tax Justice.

Speaker 2 (02:32):
We have appealed the illegally inflated property taxes of over
one thousand Detroit homeowners completely free of charge. We've helped
over one thousand homeowners pay their illegally inflated property tax
debt by putting them in touch with ARPA money. And
we have already raised six million dollars for compensation. And

(02:56):
the Detroit News tells us that Detroit stole over six
hundred million, so six million is to be understood as
a as a start.

Speaker 1 (03:04):
She's hoping this mission spreads to other cities across the country.
You can pick up plundered how racist policies undermine Black
home ownership in America wherever books are sold. I'm Esther
Dillard on Your Home Black News First, the Black Information
Network