BlacknessAmerica had a choice in the 1940s to build universal healthcare, just like other industrialized nations. But instead of creating a system that would benefit everyone, the U.S. rejected it. Why? Because universal healthcare meant Black people would have access to the same hospitals and the same level of care as whites. That was too much for white America to stomach. Public housing in America was never designed to uplift Black families. In its earliest years, public housing projects were segregated. Only poor white families were allowed in. Then came the FHA, VA loan programs, and the GI Bill. These programs opened the door for those same white families to leave the projects and move into the suburbs. But those loans were explicitly denied to Black families.Discriminatory housing policies contributed significantly to the racial wealth gap in America. The white middle class was not the product of “hard work” alone—it was built by government underwriting loan guarantees, and housing subsidies. At the very same time, Black and Brown neighborhoods were targeted for so-called “urban renewal.” Highways were run through the heart of our communities. The result was predictable: neighborhoods stripped of wealth, segregated by force, and written off as “the hood.”The ProblemWhen this history is hidden, the story gets flipped. People assume Black neighborhoods are poor because Black families failed, not because they were systematically robbed. Children grow up believing their communities are broken by choice, rather than by design. That lie poisons identity, erases truth, and leaves us stuck in a cycle of blame rather than repair.From Homes to Subscriptions: How Wall Street Stole EquityBlackstone didn’t buy 274,000 homes to be landlords. They spent $1 trillion turning shelter into subscription housing. Families still dream of white picket fences, but Wall Street dreams of permanent tenants. This isn’t real estate investment—it’s wealth extraction on a national scale.The playbook is simple:
Invitation Homes owns 53,000 houses. American Campus controls 144,000 student beds. Mobile home parks see lot rents triple overnight. Even “affordable housing” is folded into corporate portfolios where scarcity becomes the business model.The BIT AlternativeThis is why the Black Infrastructure Trust (BIT) matters. Wall Street buys homes with trillions of dollars from investors. We buy homes with collective power—a dollar a week from 18 to 20 million Black people.BIT is not just resistance; it is ownership. With pooled capital, we acquire land in Black neighborhoods before corporate investors do. We build housing cooperatives where members—not Wall Street—set the rules. We keep rents affordable, ownership attainable, and wealth circulating in our own community.Our first projects will be childcare centers and academies, which is proof that the model will work. Housing is the next frontier. Where Blackstone builds corporate plantations, BIT builds community-owned freedom projects. This is economic strategy rooted in justice.We are not asking our people to build a new world for free while still surviving the old one. The Black Infrastructure Trust is a pathway out of capitalist dependency, and that means creating an economy where every Black man, woman, and child can be employed, dignified, and protected.The end goal is simple but revolutionary:A society where our people work for each other—not for the corporations or systems that exploit us.
