It’s 2021. Why is Redlining Still Happening?

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A lot of people who live in low-income or marginalized communities — including urban, rural and Tribal communities — can tell you that they have super slow broadband (if they even have it at all). Meanwhile, just a few blocks away, a hamlet over, or just outside the reservation boundaries, their wealthier (and often whiter) neighbors have access to significantly faster internet. That makes it difficult for people living in these communities to do the myriad things that our society now does online (including working and going to school) and further exacerbates inequality. The same neighborhoods that were once redlined by banks and insurance companies now face similar discrimination by internet service providers, which adds to an already substantial digital divide. This practice of investing less in broadband infrastructure in low-income and marginalized communities is called “digital redlining.” And in 2021, it’s a practice that has to stop.

[Jenna Leventoff is a Senior Policy Counsel, where she focuses on promoting Public Knowledge’s mission through government affairs]


It’s 2021. Why is Redlining Still Happening?