CHICAGO – Speaking ahead of a joint hearing of several Illinois Senate economic committees, State Senator Jacqueline Collins (D-Chicago) called out structural racism in banking and said urgent change is needed to undo multi-generational barriers that now see Black families in Chicago less likely to own homes than they were before the Fair Housing Act passed in 1968.

“This is what systemic racism looks like and is reminiscent of the notorious era of redlining, the racially discriminatory policy that blocked Blacks from all legitimate means of obtaining a mortgage and opened the door for their exploitation and abuse by the housing, banking and mortgage industry,” said Collins, who chairs the Senate Financial Institutions Committee.

The Senate Financial Institutions, Commerce and Economic Development, Executive, and Local Government Committees comprised the joint hearing Thursday. The subject matter focused on the vast disparity in access to banking services between white and Black Illinoisans. The joint hearing is part of an ongoing series organized by the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus, with other hearings focusing on criminal justice, education and health care as part of the caucus’ efforts to build a specific legislative agenda leading into the upcoming fall session in Springfield.

Collins cited recent reporting by WBEZ that showed banks in Chicago lend just $0.12 to Black neighborhoods for every dollar they spend in white neighborhoods. For some lenders, that disparity is even more jaw-dropping: JP Morgan Chase, for instance, gave out 41 times the amount of money in home loans to white neighborhoods than it did to Black neighborhoods, according to the report.

“As the Kerner report stated more than 52 years ago, these embedded forms of racial discrimination were created by white institutions, are maintained by white institutions and are condoned by white society,” Collins said. “Now is the time for transparency, equity, accountability and transformational change.”