ECONOMIC JUSTICE FOR NATIVE AND AFRICAN AMERICANS AND DISPROPORTIONATE TARGETS OF PREDATORY LENDING

The economic system we are protesting is based on stolen land and stolen people unleashing generations of suffering and Historical Trauma on Native and African Americans. This was followed by barring people of color from wealth building activities for most of our nation's history and most recently, placing African American and Latin communities in the center of the bulls eye for the predatory lending that crashed the economy.

This Assembly has repeatedly called on the symbolism of the founding fathers but in order to avoid the tragic irony of replicating their exclusion of people of color from visions of "freedom," and "equality," with love and solidarity, it should immediately take up the sacred challenge of proposing justice based programs, policies and initiatives.

DISCUSSION POINTS: 1. A Federal Healing Fund for Sufferers of Historical Trauma.

"What is Historical Trauma? The collective emotional and psychological injury both over the life span and across generations, resulting from a cataclysmic history of (slavery) and genocide.

The effects of historical trauma include: unsettled emotional trauma, depression, high mortality rates, high rates of alcohol abuse, significant problems of child abuse and domestic violence." (http://historicaltrauma.com/)

2. Housing and Employment Aid to Communities Disproportionately Targeted by Predatory Lending.

From: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/26/hispanics-recession-blacks-wealth_n_909609.html

"Wealth disparities between white households and black and Hispanic households are greater than they’ve been in the past 25 years, a new study from the Pew Research Center has found.

The report, released Tuesday, shows that median wealth declined by 66 percent among Hispanic households between 2005 and 2009. For black households during the same time period, median wealth fell by 53 percent, while white households experienced a decline of only 16 percent.[/b]

The changes in median wealth over the four-year period measured mean that as of 2009, the average black household had only $5,677 in wealth -- that is, assets minus debts -- and the average Hispanic household had only $6,325. The average white household had $113,149 in wealth -- 18 times that of Hispanic households, and 20 times that of black households.

The Pew study is only the latest in a series of reports indicating that the recession took a greater economic toll on minorities than on whites. In 2009, the Center for American Progress examined the effects of the downturn on minority employment and earnings. They found that unemployment rates rose faster for blacks and Hispanics than for whites during 2008, and that median family income declined more for blacks and Hispanics than whites during the same time period.

A 2010 Congressional report found that the recession had hit especially hard in industries that employ a high percentage of Hispanics, like construction and manufacturing, and in parts of the country with large Hispanic communities, like California, Nevada and Florida.

That same year, a report from the National Urban League concluded that blacks and Hispanics were three times as likely as whites to live below the poverty line.

And earlier this month, the Associated Press reported that while overall unemployment has fallen slightly since the end of the recession in mid-2009, from 9.4 to 9.1 percent, unemployment among blacks has risen from 14.7 to 16.2 percent.

The Pew report suggests that the steep decline in household wealth among Hispanics, in particular, was largely due to the implosion of the housing market. The median level of home equity held by Hispanics was cut in half between 2005 and 2009, according to the report, and home ownership rates among Hispanics fell from 51 to 47 percent, a sharper drop than for blacks or whites.

The report also points out that home prices have fallen precipitously in states like California, Florida and Arizona, where a large number of Hispanics live. Studies have shown that Hispanics and blacks had disproportionately high rates of subprime mortgage borrowing during the housing bubble, and evidence suggests that some lenders were targeting minorities and steering them into higher-priced loans."