In the article called Sub-Prime as a Black Catastrophe, Melvin Oliver focuses on the side effects of the sub-prime mortgage system for African-Americans, including other minority groups and low-income populations. Specifically, this target population has received the highest ratio of loans due to their low social status, which also signified the problem of the wealth gap predetermined by racial indicators.
By introducing the challenges of the financial crisis, Oliver makes use of the mortgage breakdown as an indicator of racial inequality in the United States, which has increased significantly within the last two decades. Currently, the African American population experiences discriminative policies and racial segregation in terms of the opportunities to accumulate human capital.
Further, the article explores historical and social determinants of a sub-prime meltdown to explain the relationship between the need of the African American population in accumulating wealth in a much higher amount, as compared to American families whose requirements were much lower. The sharp contrast between these two groups undermines the domestic economy introduced by the U.S government.
At the end of the article, the author takes a closer look at racial targeting as the major reasons for the tangible wealth gap between the presented groups. Relying solely on house families, most African American families were in the pursuit of the American Dream. However, these attempts resulted in failure due to the inconsistencies in governmental policies. Focusing on bad loan policies as the main consequences of the crisis explains why lower-income communities were involved in the venture. Therefore, although the program was initially developed for increasing social welfare, its effect was even more detrimental.