Akademik

n.

The practice of refusing to serve particular geographical areas because of the race or income of the area's residents.

"At first, the Federal Housing Administration, the arm of the U.S. Housing and Urban Development Department that insures lenders 100 percent in foreclosure losses, reacted to racial change on the South Side by redlining. The agency, along with lenders and banks, literally drew red lines on maps of minority neighborhoods and refused to insure loans there."

— Alex Rodriguez, "Foreclosures scar Roseland," Chicago Sun-Times, April 5, 1999