Black poverty was blamed on Black behavior rather than housing discrimination

Evidence

Black behavior—not the wrenching housing and economic discrimination—was blamed for these impoverished Black enclaves. As early as 1793, a White minister protested that “a Negro hut” had depreciated property values in Salem. — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning, 451

Categorization

• XREF: Echoes the reader’s goal of placing any argument into Kendi’s scheme — the ‘Black behavior not discrimination’ framing is the classic victim-blaming move that assimilationists and segregationists both deploy. — connects to: American conservatives blamed poverty on personal failings while favoring free competition — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 1587; City neglect of black neighborhoods was misread by whites as black-caused decay — Kevin M. Kruse, White Flight: Atlanta and the Making of…, 180; Respectability politics blamed black victims for their own oppression — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent: The Women’s…, 923