Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 50 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
“Ethnic Spoils System” Indeed
This, ladies and gentlemen, is what ethnic favoritism looks like. Ethnic favoritism isn’t “code words,” or “pandering to the fears of white America.Via the WSJ:
By the end of this week, the U.S. government will be a step closer to sending out millions of dollars to minority borrowers who were allegedly discriminated against by auto lender Ally Financial Inc. But there is a potential hitch: No one knows for certain whether all the people getting the checks will actually be minorities.
The attempt to sort that out is the end result of a unique settlement in which Ally agreed to pay borrowers at least $80 million to settle allegations of racial or ethnic discrimination, even though the lender is prohibited by law from collecting data on the race or ethnicity of its borrowers.
…
To find minority borrowers, the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Justice Department opted to essentially make educated guesses using an algorithm that assigns probabilities to whether borrowers are minorities based on their last names and locations.
They have been sending letters in recent months to Ally customers they believe were overcharged based on the results. One version of the letter, sent to borrowers that the CFPB estimates have at least a 95% probability of being minorities, tells recipients that they qualify for a payment and don’t need to do anything more. It asks borrowers to write back if they aren’t minorities.
This is ethnic favoritism. And it is truly pathetic.
Published in Culture, Domestic Policy
(dis)Like.
After reading the article, all I have to say is – this is totally insane. By the way, I went to the link in this excerpt and gave it a try. First time I used just my zip code and came up with a 51.49% chance of being white and a 42.92% chance of being black. The second time, I used my entire address and came up with a 47.61% chance of being black and a 40.82% chance of being white. I found the difference interesting.
***********************************************
From the article:
To find minority borrowers, the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Justice Department opted to essentially make educated guesses using an algorithm that assigns probabilities to whether borrowers are minorities based on their last names and locations.
They have been sending letters in recent months to Ally customers they believe were overcharged based on the results. One version of the letter, sent to borrowers that the CFPB estimates have at least a 95% probability of being minorities, tells recipients that they qualify for a payment and don’t need to do anything more. It asks borrowers to write back if they aren’t minorities.
Yes, mine dropped from over 97% chance of being White with just ZIP code to only 89.53% chance. Interesting.
Been going on for years. Google “pigford v glickman”.
Personally, I self-identify as a black auto buyer.
Also as a black farmer.
Checked my results against the algorithm. I’ll check my privilege later
FULL RESULTS
The point, from the perspective of the Justice Department, was likely not so much to aid actual “victims” but to add another notch to the belt of deterrence. In that respect, it doesn’t matter as much where and how the settlement funds are distributed as long as the method is “legal.” This method of distribution, however, seems extraordinarily clumsy.
” using an algorithm that assigns probabilities to whether borrowers are minorities based on their last names and locations.”
I figure a lot of companies do this for sending out advertisement mailers. Every week I get ads from companies that are entirely in Spanish. It’s pretty obvious when the ones addressed to Mr. Torres are in Spanish, and the ones addressed to “Current Resident” are in English.
I’m starting to see it in email too…when AT&T recently acquired DirecTV, all correspondance from them switched to Spanish.
The most egregious example is when I lived in California…I sold a motorcycle to an out of state party, so the motorcycle was not re-registered with the DMV in the state of California. They sent a collections letter in Spanish…at the bottom was a phone number to call to resolve the issue…so I called…it was all in Spanish.
Aye Dios mio!
Interesting…there is an almost 8% chance I am white…and less than 1% chance I am multi-racial (which I am). Is this insinuating us Hispanics are not willing to procreate outside of our race?
My Results…
Hispanic 89.28% (of which I am about 80%)
White 7.95% (of which I am about 5%)
Asian/Pacific Islander 1.23%
Multiracial 0.96%
Black 0.34% (of which I am about 15%)
American Indian/Alaskan Native 0.23%
Granted this is Colorado Springs, but if I change to my old zip in Southern California I jump up to almost 96% Hispanic and about half a percent multi-racial
It bases it on what all the people in the neighborhood are. Were my name Chin, they would have a much different set of percentages for me. Even though I know White people named “Chin,” in this neighborhood, they would be more likely to be Asians.
Pilgrim’s whiter than me, but not by much. 98.4% white, baby!
(I get even whiter if I use my work zipcode instead of my home zipcode)
Yeah, I get that. I actually thought the white percentage would be higher here in Colorado Springs, a lot of the Hispanics here tend to consider themselves White. Descendants of European heritage, primarily of Spain, Portuguese, or Basque…with hispanic surnames.
Actually, I am also surprised the percentage was so low for Asian/Pacific Islander. Torres is a fairly common last name for Filipinos.
One thing to note…By default, in San Diego, people call me Mexican. In Colorado, people call me Spanish. I know…it’s exhausting keeping up with it all. I guess it’s time for a cerveza…Cheers!
I was close but no cigar:
Full results
99.16%
0.36%
0.2%
0.15%
0.08%
0.06%
I have an order of magnitude more soul than you!
*I used Ogdensberg NY, the nearest US city to my location, for my zip code.