The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream of the Beloved Community — a society built on justice, equality and shared prosperity — was as much about economic liberation as it was about civil rights. He understood that systems of exploitation, including financial injustice, were designed to keep marginalized communities trapped in cycles of poverty. On this Martin Luther King Jr. Day, we must reflect on how Atlanta, the city of King’s birth and work, still struggles under the weight of economic oppression in the form of predatory lending.
Predatory lenders, including auto title loan companies, cluster disproportionately in Atlanta’s majority-Black neighborhoods. “Trapped by Design: How Predatory Lenders Exploit Black Atlanta,” a recent report by Kindred Futures, reveals that 67% of predatory lending institutions in Atlanta are concentrated in majority-Black neighborhoods, despite these areas making up a smaller share of the city’s population. Meanwhile, just 33% of such businesses exist in wealthier, non-majority Black neighborhoods with greater access to traditional banking services. This stark imbalance is no accident; it is a deliberate strategy that thrives on systemic racial and economic inequities.