Welcome to Combating Again, the Guardian’s new pop-up publication from our opinion desk. From now till the inauguration, you’ll hear from huge thinkers on what we will all do to guard civil liberties and basic freedoms in a Trump presidency. For those who aren’t already a subscriber, you may enroll right here.
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Take a deep breath. Go on a stroll. Meditate if it’s your apply. Speak with your loved ones, associates and longtime collaborators. After which, when you’re prepared, sit down and write a private mission assertion rooted in a problem that’s necessary to you.
Take into consideration all of the levers of energy – native, state, federal, company and within the broader civil society. Sketch how every of them relate to the issue you hope to sort out. Most definitely, Donald Trump and his administration could have numerous say on this challenge, however they received’t be the one gamers. Transfer ahead with the intention to confront that challenge, slightly than assault the US president-elect, and you might discover sudden allies. By doing so, you’ll give your self an opportunity to make a significant distinction.
It struck me, in 2016, that many within the media had been overlooking the truth that the US had elected an actual property developer president
As an investigative reporter, I spent the primary Trump time period centered on housing and financial fairness. It struck me, after Trump’s shock win over Hillary Clinton in 2016, that many within the media had been overlooking the truth that the US had elected an actual property developer president – one who had been pressured to settle a federal discrimination swimsuit, at that.
Housing is central to the American dream. It’s almost each household’s largest expense and the one most necessary supply of wealth for householders. However on Barack Obama’s watch, homeownership slipped to a 50-year low. Black and brown households bore the brunt of the decline. I and my colleagues at Reveal from the Middle for Investigative Reporting set out out to not confront Trump per se, however to assault the next downside:
Fifty years after President Lyndon Johnson signed the Honest Housing Act, which banned discrimination in mortgage lending, the homeownership hole between Black and white households is bigger than throughout the Jim Crow period. What can we do to make sure equal entry to credit score and a good shake on the American dream?
Confronting Trump straight appeared like a idiot’s errand. His treasury secretary, Steve Mnuchin, was a Wall Avenue govt who personally profited off the foreclosures disaster. The person Trump appointed because the nation’s high financial institution regulator, the comptroller of the forex Joseph Otting, was former chief govt of Mnuchin’s OneWest Financial institution. From 2010 to 2015, the years Otting was in cost, OneWest made simply 1% of its residence loans to Black households and three% to Latinos, regardless of being headquartered in southern California. However Trump, Mnuchin and Otting weren’t the one individuals with energy over mortgages. State, native and company officers is also held accountable.
In February 2018, my colleague Emmanuel Martinez and I printed an investigation, Stored Out, which used an evaluation of 31m mortgage data to reveal modern-day redlining in 61 US cities. In Atlanta, Detroit, Philadelphia, San Antonio, Washington DC and dozens of others, we discovered individuals of shade had been much more prone to be denied a house mortgage even after they made the identical amount of cash, sought the identical dimension mortgage and wished to purchase in the identical neighborhood.
This was a 12 months into Trump’s first time period. Republicans additionally managed each homes of Congress. However our method, concurrently sweeping and native in scope, gave communities the instruments they wanted to carry public officers and companies accountable.
Six state attorneys normal launched investigations. In Philadelphia, the place we performed our discipline reporting, town created a $100m revolving mortgage fund to assist first-time homebuyers. Jamie Dimon, the chief govt of JPMorgan Chase, the nation’s largest financial institution, visited town and promised a serious growth in group lending. After Trump left workplace, three states and the justice division reached a $20m settlement with one in every of Warren Buffett’s mortgage firms, which had been the biggest residence buy lender in Philadelphia.
That inquiry, launched by then Pennsylvania legal professional normal Josh Shapiro, discovered mortgage officers and mortgage brokers at Buffett’s firms shared photos of Black individuals holding wheelbarrows full of watermelons. One despatched a message that learn “PROUD TO BE WHITE!” One other complained: “Once I name you N****r, Okay*ke, Towel head, Sandn***r, Camel Jockey, Beaner, Gook, or Chink … You name me a racist.” A high firm official posted an image with the Accomplice flag. Along with settling the case, the corporate shut down.
We, the general public, can be well-served to step again from this partisan tit-for-tat and give attention to whether or not political leaders get stuff achieved
This historical past is value revisiting as Trump returns to energy and as soon as once more stacks his administration with cronies. Some blue-state governors, together with California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, and Illinois’s governor, JB Pritzker, have positioned themselves to guide the resistance, with Newsom convening a particular legislative session to “Trump-proof” the state.
However we, the general public, can be well-served to step again from this partisan tit-for-tat and give attention to whether or not political leaders “get stuff achieved”, as Shapiro stated in his post-election assertion.
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Housing is a serious concern for Individuals of all political views. A latest Pew Analysis survey discovered 69% p.c of respondents had been “very involved” about housing prices – with overwhelming majorities of each Republicans and Democrats frightened. On this metric, the blue states are failing.
California and New York have the bottom homeownership charges and the best rents, in accordance with the US Census Bureau. In California, a household should make $221,000 a 12 months to qualify for a mortgage on a “mid-tier” residence, in accordance to an October report from the state legislative analyst workplace. For those who’re a working-class particular person of any race, it’s no marvel Trump’s outrage is enticing. Democratic politicians aren’t fixing the issues most necessary to you.
Homelessness can be on the rise – particularly in blue states and particularly in California. In accordance with the Division of Housing and City Growth, California accounted for 49% of all unsheltered individuals in the US final 12 months (123,423 individuals) – almost eight occasions the variety of unsheltered individuals in second-place Florida.
None of that is Trump’s fault. California is the fourth-largest economic system on this planet with a state price range approaching $300bn. The Golden state has poured $24bn into fixing its homelessness disaster during the last 5 years, however a state audit discovered it didn’t adequately observe whether or not all that cash was spent successfully. In San Francisco, the place residents voted to oust their mayor in favor of the inheritor to the Levi Strauss fortune, town spends almost a billion {dollars} a 12 months preventing homelessness – and likewise has little to point out for it.
Middle a problem you care about, ask who’s accountable for fixing it, discover allies and transfer ahead with intention
So the place does this go away us? Again the place we began. It sounds fundamental, but it surely’s true. Individuals need a authorities that works for them. Middle a problem you care about, ask who’s accountable for fixing it, discover allies and transfer ahead with intention. Not solely will this method convey outcomes for you and people you care about, it’ll additionally present a possibility to uninteresting the political polarization that feeds Trump’s energy. You could not have the ability to reduce Trump’s rage or his need for retribution, however it is possible for you to to get one thing achieved – and that’s a very powerful step to creating the world you need to dwell in.
What provides me hope
I derive hope and power from the group round me. I do know that every one of us, pushing collectively, can weave a tapestry of power that propels affect. On this time, take into account supporting organizations that present house to mission-driven journalists to seek out frequent trigger collectively, together with the Maynard Institute for Journalism Training, the Pulitzer Middle for Disaster Reporting and the Carter Middle, residence of the Rosalynn Carter Fellowship for Psychological Well being Journalism.
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Aaron Glantz, a two-time Peabody award winner and Pulitzer prize finalist, is a fellow at Stanford College’s Middle for the Superior Examine of Behavioral Sciences. His books embody Homewreckers: How a Gang of Wall Avenue Kingpins, Hedge Fund Magnates, Crooked Banks and Vulture Capitalists Suckered Thousands and thousands Out of Their Houses and Demolished the American Dream (HarperCollins).
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