The Memphis Flyer is an exhibit.
News articles from The Flyer, Memphis Business Journal, and The Commercial Appeal are included in a defense motion filed this month in the federal lawsuit against Wells Fargo by the city of Memphis and Shelby County.
The lawsuit blames Wells Fargo and alleged “reverse redlining” for predatory lending that devastated personal, family, and community wealth. It was the subject of an article in The New York Times two weeks ago that painted a grim picture of Memphis at a time when Mayor A C Wharton and business groups are trying to sell Memphis as a “City of Choice.”
Redlining is the practice of refusing to make conventional mortgage loans in majority-black neighborhoods. Reverse redlining is targeting majority-black areas for risky and exploitative loans.
The lawsuit looks like a long shot. As the newspaper articles show, poverty, bankruptcy, and foreclosures are nothing new in Memphis. Similar suits have been dismissed by federal judges in Baltimore and Birmingham. But win or lose, the lawsuit, which has already attracted national publicity, will be a public relations disaster, especially if it goes to trial. To win it, Memphis will have to put its worst foot forward and look like a place nobody would want to live.
