Gaskin: Economic sanctions crush Black communities

When the United States wants to bring another nation to its knees, it often turns to economic sanctions — tools that cut off access to capital, restrict trade, and isolate economies until they collapse. What’s less acknowledged is that this same tactic was once wielded against Black communities right here at home.

The systematic denial of financial services to Black Americans — through redlining, segregation, and discriminatory banking and insurance practices — functioned as a form of domestic economic sanctions. It didn’t require tanks or troops. All it took was a pen, a map, and a policy that said: You can’t borrow here. You can’t build here. You can’t grow here.

And just like sanctions imposed abroad, the impact was devastating.

Segregation wasn’t just a social structure — it was an