Housing Discrimination: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

John Oliver breaks down the long history of housing discrimination in the U.S., the damage it’s done, and, crucially, what we can do about it.

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[lazyperfectionist]

"Pardon me, Angie. These are not my words."
Oh, god bless this woman.

[lori]

“I’m the thing that was devaluing my house”… that’s downright heartbreaking.

[SDXStudio]

I just want to say thank you to HBO and LWT for making these available on Youtube for free.

[amandas]

If that town historian was genuinely that shocked, he wasn't a very good historian.

Signed,
Another historian

[joycegeertsma]

The woman who said ".. I realized, I was the thing that devalued my house..", That was absolutely heartbreaking.

[Bakamoichigei]

If my family had $20m worth of land taken from them, and decades later people thought that the way to make up for it would be to spend $350k on things like a plaque _detailing_ the story of how they ripped my family off, I'd be burning some shit to the ground. _Believe it._

[ramirami]

"If you stick a knife in my back nine inches and pull it out six inches, there's no progress. If you pull it all the way out that's not progress. Progress is healing the wound that the blow made. And they haven't even pulled the knife out much less heal the wound. They won't even admit the knife is there." MALCOLM X

[Viking_Luchador]

Two and a half months after John talked about it, Manhattan Beach finally returned "Bruce's Beach" to it's rightful owner

[Jezzdenmark]

Man, I cried a little when Carlette said "I'm the thing that is devaluing this house." :( 21:20

[Technostuck]

One my college professors went into detail about redlining. He even pulled out an old map of our city that was redlined and compared to what are considered "bad areas" it was almost exactly identical. It absolutely blew my mind.

[mcdjinn]

Schools in Texas have never equalized the funding for education, even though a federal judge ordered them to when I was in elementary school. I'm now 51.

[hudson]

My dad bought our house in the 70s in a predominantly black neighborhood when he had almost no money. People around him said, “You don’t want to move in that neighborhood with THOSE PEOPLE.” My dad simply said, “ hey. If they’re giving away houses, I’m getting in line.” We loved our neighbors growing up.

[CteCrassus]

Well ain't that a comfortable approach to history, Mitch; You're allowed to invoke victories of the past you weren't involved in achieving while at the same time dodging responsibility for fixing the consequences of past mistakes by argueing you weren't involved in making them.

[zeniri]

When he said “don’t just let the audio of this play in the background while you’re working. Click back on the YouTube tab and look at me” I almost froze. How did you know John? 😆

[ankitmaity]

"Don't just let the audio of this play in the background while you're working, click back on the YouTube tab and look at me" really caught me off guard lmaooo

[mrmistyeyes]

As others have said, Rose proves that the 'they're from an older generation' argument is nonsense. Rose seems like such a sweet woman.

[cocobutter]

My dad was a black police officer. I remember being really young, like 4, and my mom, who was white, crying in the car one day because we got turned away from buying a house in a nice neighborhood because my dad was black. My mom was just so shocked and upset, and my dad, who was driving, felt so bad for her, but he wasn't really angry or upset, it was just something he was used to at that point. That was one of my earliest memories, and I wish it wasn't, but at least my dad got a little leeway, being a cop. I can't imagine the memories other black and mixed kids have in the back of their heads.

[emalayon]

"a nation of Roses and Angies getting absolutely day wasted on our porches"
It's hilarious but it's also honestly and seriously a world I want to live in. And I don't even drink that much !

[DuranmanX]

"If you stick a knife in my back 9 in and pull it out 6 in, there's no progress. If you pull it all the way out, that's not progress. The progress is healing the wound that the blow made. They won’t even admit the knife is there" - Malcolm X

[nedus]

In case nobody knows, or hasn’t gone to look it up yet… THE BRUCES GOT THEIR BEACH BACK! In July, 2022 the county finally returned it to the family, and that shit is dope to see. Now, we just need to do it a few million more times 😅