Racial Disparity in Debt Collection

The color of debt: How collection suits squeeze black neighborhoods, By Paul Kiel and Annie Waldman, October 8, 2015, ProPublica: “On a recent Saturday afternoon, the mayor of Jennings, a St. Louis suburb of about 15,000, settled in before a computer in the empty city council chambers. Yolonda Fountain Henderson, 50, was elected last spring as the city’s first black mayor. On the screen was a list of every debt collection lawsuit against a resident of her city, at least 4,500 in just five years. Henderson asked to see her own street. On her block of 16 modest ranch-style homes, lawsuits had been filed against the occupants of eight. ‘That’s my neighbor across the street,’ she said, pointing to one line on the screen…”