Sunday, March 25, 2001

Chicago Tribune | Opinion -- THE AD WAS WRONG
From the 1860s to the 1930s, under the Homestead Act, the U.S. government gave away about 246 million acres for some 1.5 million homesteads. Researcher Trina Williams estimates that today 46 million Americans are current beneficiaries of this wealth-generating giveaway, from which black families were largely excluded.

Until desegregation in the 1960s, whites had exclusive access to most critical resources for building wealth. For example, after World War I the Air Commerce Act gave the new air routes to white-run companies.

Access to wealth-generating mineral deposits and radio and television airwaves was reserved for whites. Access to homeownership was limited by anti-black discrimination.
http://chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/perspective/article/0,2669,SAV-0103250290,FF.htm

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