The housing crisis devastated black Atlanta before engulfing black America

Evidence

The sprawling metropolis of Atlanta sat at the epicenter of the housing crisis that shook the foundations of the American economy. Once considered a promised land where good-paying jobs and affordable living offered a real chance for people to fulfill their dreams, by 2012, Atlanta was a wasteland of foreclosed homes and skyrocketing unemployment. In 2007 black unemployment in greater Atlanta was 8.3 percent, but by 2010, that figure had nearly doubled. Chris was among the casualties. According to the Federal Reserve, Atlanta held the dubious distinction of having “the most government-owned foreclosed properties for sale of any large city.” The hard reality was undeniable, and Chris was just one example among many: the housing crisis was devastating black Atlanta, and it hardly stopped there. Like an out-of-control wildfire spreading across dry brushland, the crisis engulfed black America. — Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Democracy in Black, 35

Categorization

• XREF: Frames the post-2008 foreclosure crisis as a racialized catastrophe, parallel to what Coates and Desmond document. — connects to: Postwar Atlanta’s housing squeeze forced black expansion into white transition neighborhoods — Kevin M. Kruse, White Flight: Atlanta and the Making of…, 105; Atlanta was simultaneously a civil rights center and a segregationist stronghold — Kevin M. Kruse, White Flight: Atlanta and the Making of…, 41; Post-2010 recovery bypassed Black-majority Atlanta neighborhoods almost entirely — Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Democracy in Black: How Race Still…, 69 (+6 more)
• yield-rescued: below the book’s yield-target cutoff, included anyway for connecting to: Postwar Atlanta’s housing squeeze forced black expansion into white transition neighborhoods — Kevin M. Kruse, White Flight: Atlanta and the Making of…, 105; Atlanta was simultaneously a civil rights center and a segregationist stronghold — Kevin M. Kruse, White Flight: Atlanta and the Making of…, 41; Post-2010 recovery bypassed Black-majority Atlanta neighborhoods almost entirely — Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Democracy in Black: How Race Still…, 69 (+6 more)