In 2004, a security guard helped a group of arsonists blow up Black homes under construction in Maryland. Why? To keep the neighborhood from “going Black.”
The fire in the Hunters Brooke development destroyed 10 homes, damaged 16, and caused more than $10 million in damage. The perpetrators also endangered their own families and the entire neighborhood. But to them, destroying the homes and hopes of Black people was more than worth it.
Arson is just one kind of residential racism. Between 2004 and 2006, Maryland’s Black residents were twice as likely as the state’s white residents with the same income to receive high-interest rate mortgages. Refinancing can often help homeowners save money as their property value appreciates. But what happens to that value when the house is a pile of ashes?
Most of the Black homeowners had already been victimized by predatory lenders who offered those high-interest mortgages. Then they were victimized again by racist neighbors.
The Hunters Brooke Arson is a stark reminder of how racism will do anything to stop us from flourishing, even at the cost of their own welfare. Because they know that when we’re able to build and work together, there’s nothing that can stop us. Let’s make sure we remember that, too.