we had a client for awhile who was in real estate. part of what we were doing with him was helping him publicize a series of books, videos, podcasts, etc. on how to avoid the sub-prime trap.
he was of the mind that these loans were being pushed on people, blah blah. so, the next thing to realize is that people who dole out loans have some discretion. IOW, if dude was making money teaching people how not to fall into the subprime mortgage trap, there's more discretion than anyone wanted to admit. Which means that the potential for bigotry comes in to play. blah blah.
that said, i have to agree with carrol that... oh i don't know. i guess it's the poverty of the discussions. there is structural racism *and* individual level bigotry. sometimes they work together, sometimes not. racism as a structural phenomenon isn't about individual level intentions of even beliefs about people based on skin color. rather, as writers who developed an analysis of *oppression* back in the sixtieshave pointed out: structural racism operates through what is normal, the norms, what is taken for granted, just the way it is.
Therefore, if you want to understand how racial oppression works, look at people when they're doing what they think is right or normal.
and you can also look at the role people of color themselves played -- but you don't have to blame here. you can just remember that, as my software dev mgr said to me at lunch, the first thing he learned when he got to these shores was that he needed to shed all his ideas about not buying on credit, yadda. the pressure was enormous: to fit into society by buying the house, the car, etc. etc. and naturally, he's been hard pressed not too, though he portrayed his Indian friends from college engaging in a lot more conspicuous consumption than he did.
those same pressures apply, and may even be sought after even more so because of the history of racism. in other words, they may well be easier targets because people of color have to work so fucking much harder -- or think they do -- in order to be accepted in this society.
and there you have a history of racism at play, where, as boots riley says, every mac want a cadillac, every mark want dey scrill back. (a cheap, cheesy marxish analysis of the production of desire on my part, i admit. but alas, outta time.)
http://cleandraws.com Wear Clean Draws ('coz there's 5 million ways to kill a CEO)