Mortgages & Minorities

The article Mortgages and Minorities was really interesting, but something about the opinion of the author didn't set right with me, especially when he/she said this, "It seems clear at this point that minorities were more likely than whites to be steered into risky, high-priced loans". It just seems really racist to me. Now I guess it's only fair to include the sentences before that and after, "The mortgage crisis that has placed millions of Americans at risk of losing their homes has been especially devastating for black and Hispanic borrowers and their families. It seems clear at this point that minorities were more likely than whites to be steered into risky, high-priced loans — even when researchers controlled for such crucial factors as income, loan size and location." To me, something about that one sentence really hit me as racist.
Other parts of the article however were really interesting. The author talked about loans and mortgages companies which he/she called "fly-by-night mortgage-lending companies" which basically means these companies scammed entire neighborhoods by giving them pricey loans that would be near impossible for lower income families to pay off- then the companies would sell these loans to Wall Street and go out of business. This obviously caused a huge problem that we are dealing with in this weak economy. Unfortunately it's a guarantee that these schemers will be back and I agree with the author, we need to act on stopping them and educating the public about differentiating between scam and reality.
The author also includes these facts: "in 2006 by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition found that nearly 55 percent of loans to African-Americans, 40 percent of loans to Hispanics and 35 percent of loans to American Indians fell into the high-cost category, as opposed to about 23 percent for whites. There also were troubling gender differences. Women got less-favorable terms than men." Now I understand that this is fact- but it just really sounds like the author is favoring the white race and being a little demeaning towards others. Is he
she calling another race more intelligent or less likely to fall for a scam than the other?
Nevertheless, these facts are definitely sad. Some people in the world (the schemers specifically) are really cruel and obviously only care about themselves and money.
This article also talks about credit Lender's charging a possible "race tax" which is ridiculous. Now Congress requires Lenders to write down in a report why the person is receiving the credit score that they are- unlike how before people would just receive a credit score with no explanation as to why they got it.
Overall, this article was very informative and I learned about an issue that I otherwise would know nothing about. Although I did sense some discrimination in the article- the article on a whole wasn't candidly biast.

Gay Marriage is Legal in CT

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/11/nyregion/11marriage.html?_r=1&ref=connecticut&oref=slogin

I'm so happy that Connecticut has joined Massachusetts and California in legalizing same sex marriage, and I hope that the other 47 states join this union soon. However, it's troubling that Connecticut remains divided on this issue but it is comforting that the law cannot be appealed after October 28th. Hopefully Connecticut keeps this law.

Also, when Robert D. McFadden (the author of this article) compared the issue to gay rights to the limitations on women and blacks it was striking to me. I easily see the comparison and it frightens me. All of these issues seem to lead back to religious involvement in the government. Now I am not by any means criticizing religion, I think it's a wonderful thing, but I see the negative influence that it has on society. I believe that we should go back to what our founding father's wished: for the seperation of church and state.

Overall however, this article was well written and covered both sides well.

hello =]

Hi I'm Devon, and I'm a photo editor in Journalism class 2.
Hopefully I figure this out and you all enjoy my blog =]
~Devon