Credit Union Offering Black and Latino Grants

• Author: William Asher
• Posted: 2024-08-25

2020 saw the most race-specific grants handed out in this nation's history, primarily to Black Americans. We were unable to find a single grant program offered to any White Americans, or even any European nation-specific grant (e.g. Irish, Italian, German, et al). Though for Black Americans, there are thousands upon thousands of pages of race-specific grants given out. Such is the way of America now - a nation so non-racist that a baseball team will change its mascot's name because someone saying the word "Dinger" might be confused as a racial slur. This is where we're at as a nation, and so it's no surprise that the ESL Federal Credit Union, out of Rochester New York, is offering Black and Latino-specific grants to only those groups and to absolutely no one else.

These are called dollar-for-dollar match grants, up to $10,500. This means if a Black or Latino person can present $1,500, the credit union will cut them a grant check for $10,5000 toward the down payment of a home. As far as we can tell, these grants are available for people who already have shelter, and most of whom are already on Section 8 assistance. The idea behind these grants is to allow Black and Latino New Yorkers to move to different areas of the state, with the help of the government.

The grants are said to be specifically geared to help increase home ownership. So, the fact is that these grants may be subject to controlled spending, which means the credit union will only give them out if the recipient is putting the money up with a mortgage company as a down payment for a home loan.

Does Reserve Discrimination Help?

Most people in America do not care that governments and various organizations exclude White people, most Asians, and even Native Americans from their grant and charity programs. The 24-hour news cycle has a hierarchy of which groups are doing badly in America. Black Americans forever top the list of people whom need help via social justice and political change, followed closely by Latino Americans. Native Americans don't have near enough lobbying power to make the list, and White Americans are called "privileged" on every news channel, throughout universities, and by half of America's politicians. So this is one of those "It is what it is" sort of things in America, and not too many bat an eye at the status quo.

It's such an ingrained part of American discourse that it even has a name: Positive discrimination. This is where groups like Whites and Asians are denied loans, employment, grants, etc, in favor of Black Americans, because socioeconomic factors and a lot of advocates saying that it makes a difference. Though, speaking strictly in factual terms, this is objectively reverse discrimination. Most Americans do not care because (a) they believe this is what is needed, and (b) they are led to believe that it actually works. Though does it work? Does it work when a credit union in New York only offers help to Black and Latino families, while no one else can get help and must fend for themselves?

The data here is pretty clear, and America has generations worth of data. Since the Civil Rights Movement wrapped up with the signing of a lot of legislation in the late 1960s, Black Americans' rates of home-ownership and accumulated wealth have dropped every decade. No matter who the President has been, no matter Republicans or Democrats in their areas, and no matter how much grant spending and specialty Black-specific loans have been handed out, the rates keep decreasing every decade.

So, if medicine prescribed for the issue does not address the issue and in fact the issue gets worse, what can be done? In an American society where Black Americans have such tremendous lobbying power, able to display on every channel and through every corporation that these sorts of things are needed, the fact is that the medicine will only increase for the issue. If it is the specific reverse discrimination that is keeping Black Americans out of the workforce and believing that they will always get more freebies, then we are looking at a huge mess in another generation.

As we know for sure, statistically speaking, is that all demographics in America have people who need help, and the so-called "positive discrimination" is only having one effect in society: More Whites and Asians are struggling now than ever before, while more Black Americans continue to do the same. So, whatever is going on with these race-specific handouts, it certainly isn't working.