>> Coronavirus has had a devastating impact on everyone, but specifically black and brown
communities. Oftentimes, many essential workers are disproportionately black, Latino, different
minority groups. And it's extended further than that into the PPP loans that the Trump
administration, the federal government were giving out haphazardly, often to people like
Kanye West and his company that didn't deserve it.
The Trump administration says more than $520 billion in loans were given out, and then
around 130 billion remains uncommitted. But minorities in this country are having a hard
time accessing these loans, even though apparently there's still money left for the for there
to be had. So a survey conducted by this activist group, National Community Reinvestment Coalition,
found discrimination in the program definitively.
So we found that only 12% of Black and Latinx owned businesses were successful in receiving
the full funding amount that they requested, and that 41% had not received any assistance.
We conducted 63 fair lending matched-pair audit tests of financial institutions in Washington
DC, and found a difference of treatment in 27 out of 63.
So 43% matched-pair tests with the White tester being favored over the Black tester in the
pre-application arena, and that's a 43% preference for PPP loans for White people over Black
people in the pre-application process. They also found different levels of encouragement
to apply for loans, different products offered, and different information provided by bank
representatives.
So this is the kind of discrimination that is invisible when you're looking just straight
at the information, but when you dig a little deeper, that's kind of the invisible hand
that moves things. And people have these implicit biases. It's like when you see a purse being
advertised and it's held by a black hand or a white hand.
The white hand, the person is purchased more, famous studies like that, and now it's having
devastating economic impacts on the black community in this country in black and Latino
communities when we all need so much help right now.
>> So this is a really interesting study that definitively proves racism in my opinion.
I'll explain why in one second. But first I want you to understand what those matched-pair
testing is. So that's when they send in white and black people in to the same institution
with nearly identical background info. So same income, same revenue, same collateral,
etc. They've done this for decades in the civil rights movement.
In fact, Bernie Sanders used to do this in Chicago when he was a student in the issue
of housing, and so they'd send in a black family first, they get rejected. And then
they send in a white family and sometimes Bernie Sanders would be posing as the white
family, and then they will get accepted at that point.
And they come in and say you violated the law and they actually got fair housing for
minorities through that. And not just in Chicago, but all across the country. It's a wonderful
program, is the right way to do things. And so now they're doing it with these loans,
and when they did that, the reason why I say it proves racism definitively is the banks
in this case are not the ones lending you the money.
They're taking zero risk. The government is not only loaning the money, but if you follow
the rules, you will get to actually keep the money. All the bank is doing is making a certain
percentage on each loan they give out. So since they have no risk at all, and they make
money for each loan that they helped to authorise through PPP.
They should say yes to every non-scam person that walks in. You own a real business and
you could prove it, the banks should be thrilled to help you. What difference does it make
if you're white or black? They make the same amount of money. And I don't think, I don't
know but I'd be surprised if this was anything that was conscious, if there were these banks
that got together and were like, okay.
Even though we would make more money from it, let's just deny black people loans at
43% greater rate, right? No, it's buried in the back of our heads. It's subconscious most
often. And that's why it's so hard to see. That's why it's so frustrating when the right
wing says, yeah, I don't see it.
You wouldn't see it, because it doesn't happen to you. But it does happen to a black person
who's a legitimate business owner, going to get a legitimate PPP loan. And for no reason,
in fact, something that is counterproductive to the bank's interest. They turn them down
anyway, that's what's so frustrating.
Emma's right, it happens in almost every respect. There's a studies about same exact resume,
but a black sounding name and a white sounding name. The white sounding name gets callbacks
at a 50% greater rate. So even if you worked hard, pull yourself up by the bootstraps,
and you went to a good school, and you got a good resume, they're still not going to
even hear you out.
They're not gonna call you in. And then on eBay, they have the hands that were holding
a white or black hands, not only do the white hands sell more, they sell the same exact
product at a higher price. So I don't love the word white privilege cuz it's misleading.
And it leads the white broke kid in Nebraska to think that black folks thinks he's got
a mansion and a yacht. I know you don't, Trump's campaign manager does. Okay, but what white
privilege means is what we're talking about here, and it's absolutely real. And so, it's
just so dispiriting to see in the year 2020 in a situation where people should be perfectly
incentivized to help black people, they're still not doing it.