Black Livelihoods Matter: Capitalist Myths of Economic Efficiency in Racist Lending Policies (A Prologue and a Plea)

Abstract

The Houston Business and Tax Law Journal is an academic publication with a mission to provide legal scholarship in all areas of business law. The journal’s two principal functions are to supplement the legal education of its members and to contribute to legal scholarship. The journal is operated and managed entirely by students from the University of Houston Law Center who select, edit, and publish articles and notes submitted by its members, law professors, and practitioners across the United States.

In the wake of past events that highlighted the continuing struggles and systematic oppression of minority groups within our nation, the journal believes that we have a duty to provide an avenue to examine and discuss such issues as they arise within business and other related contexts. To achieve this goal, we set out to establish a note to be released on a quarterly basis that will include articles by, and interviews with students, academics, and professionals in the hopes of illuminating these issues. We believe that scholarly writing is one of the greatest mechanisms for pushing the gears of substantive progress into motion, and we hope that these reports will help provide a voice to those in need.

Our first edition includes a prologue to a more extensive article to be published by the journal in the coming months. The piece discusses examples from the nation's history of racially motivated lending practices, and makes a call to action for all young legal minds and students to help change the course of the nation regarding such practices.