Should governments worry about a return of redlining? …

     Should law refocus its attention on the practice of “redlining” –- the practice of avoiding mortgage lending and other services because of race or location? 
   Some conservative chatter asserts that the housing and financial mess was generated in large part by the federal government’s encouraging lenders to make risky loans to poor families, including minority families. Certainly, it was recognized years ago that a large number of “subprime” loans were made to minority borrowers.  Today, many fear a backlash: that certain neighborhoods –- and certain categories of persons –- are becoming “off limits” for skittish and overly conservative lenders. 
   If there was ever an area that called for the application of the ideal of being colorblind and treating each person as an individual, not simply the member of a stereotypical “group,” this is it …

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