Patricia Kullberg hosts this episode of the Old Mole which includes a re-broadcast from Against the Grain:
While the wealthy disproportionately own real estate in the U.S., in many locales the properties of low income homeowners and especially homeowners of color are assessed and taxed at levels higher than their actual market value. On average, African Americans and Latinos pay more than ten percent higher taxes than whites for similar properties. Sasha Lilley speaks with property law scholar Bernadette Atuahene about what the law professor calls predatory governance, in which states and municipalities increase their coffers by unfairly taxing or fining people of color. She is author of the 2025 book Plundered: How Racist Policies Undermine Black Homeownership in America. This episode originally aired on March 18, 2025: https://kpfa.org/episode/against-the-grain-march-18-2025/
Against the Grain is a critically acclaimed program of ideas, in-depth analysis, and commentary on a variety of matters—political, economic, social, and cultural—important to progressive and radical thinking and activism. Against the Grain is produced and hosted by Sasha Lilley for KPFA Berkeley.