https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znU3VokYG8Y&feature=youtu.be
Mehrsa Baradaran, Professor of Law at the University of Georgia, was the speaker for the annual G. Homer Durham Lecture on Thursday, February 22, 2018, in room 250 SWKT. She provided BYU students and faculty with an intriguing history lesson entitled, The Color of Money: Black Banks and the Racial Wealth Gap.
Mehrsa Bradaran earned her bachelor’s degree from Brigham Young University and her law degree from New York University. She is currently an associate professor of law at the University of Georgia, where she was recently named Associate Dean for Strategic Initiatives. Having been born in Iran and immigrating to the United States with her family, she has written eloquently about her experience as a political refugee in America. Her research focuses on banking law. She has two published works entitled, How the Other Half Banks and The Color of Money: Black Banking and the Racial Wealth Gap.
Her lecture highlighted some of the key moments from her most recent book, as she shared the story of the racial wealth gap from the time of Lincoln’s passing of the Emancipation Proclamation up through the present day. She explained that there is an American myth that poor disenfranchised communities can bank their way out of poverty. She touched on Thomas Jefferson’s fear of big banks, the panic of 1819, the effects of the Great Depression and the New Deal on black banking. She pointed out the overarching effects of redlining by the FHA on black communities and the black economy. Baradaran also referenced Martin Luther King Jr.’s ten point plan for the black economy.
The overarching point of the lecture was to report on today’s continued prominent racial wage and wealth gap, and to illustrate how difficult it is to change since poverty is “expensive.” Banks and other lenders charge higher interest rates for those who are financially unstable, and therefore it is difficult for a poor person to get out of poverty by borrowing or relying on banks. However, Mehrsa offered encouragement going forward. Her presentation helped open our eyes to the problems this racial banking and wealth gap perpetuates.
Thank you to Mehrsa Baradaran for sharing your knowledge and research with us.
