“Some of the ‘educated’ Negroes do not pay attention to such important matters as the assessment of property and the collection of taxes, and they do not inform themselves as to how these things are worked out.”
– Carter G. Woodson, The Mis-Education of the Negro
“…reorganizing the tax systems in the counties…that kind of thing’s pretty dry to most men”
– Harper Lee, To Kill A Mockingbird
The Kerner Commission report, released in 1968, studied the cause of massive race riots that disrupted cities across America in places like, Newark, Detroit and Chicago. The report concluded that, “What white Americans have never fully understood — but what the Negro cannot forget — is that where society is deeply implicated in the ghetto. White institutions created it, white institutions maintain it, and white society condones it.” The report goes on to say, “Our nation is moving towards two societies, one black, one white –seperate and unequal.” Much has been written in recent years about the policies that led to the creation of the Black ghetto. Numerous books and panel discussions have illuminated the scaffolding that upholds the system that keeps Black families isolated in homes that fail to appreciate and generate the wealth of White households. It’s hard to find someone who hasn’t heard of the constellation of causal factors frequently kicked around like redlining, restrictive covenants, contract buying, and urban renewal that laid the foundations for housing inequality, spatial segregation, and the racial wealth gap today. The financial cost of these policies combined with the otherwise taxing low-wage jobs available to Black families that struggled to make ends meet in cities has been aptly coined “The Color Tax“. Continue reading “Hidden in Plain Sight – The Cook County property tax system and racial equity”