Race for Profit: How Banks and the Real Estate Industry Undermined Black Homeownership

Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor exposes how post–civil rights housing policy became a new engine of exploitation. Rather than offering equal access, banks and real estate interests often steered Black buyers into predatory arrangements. Taylor’s argument is structural and meticulously supported, showing how “inclusion” was frequently designed to extract profit. The book reframes homeownership as a contested terrain where racial inequality is reproduced through policy and finance. Taylor writes with clarity, balancing economic detail with moral force. Case studies and institutional histories reveal a system that punished Black aspiration. The book also challenges comforting narratives about progress after the Fair Housing Act. By tracing incentives and outcomes, Taylor shows discrimination as business model, not anomaly. The result is sobering and illuminating, a key text for understanding the racial wealth gap. It’s the kind of history that changes how you read contemporary housing debates.