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Thousands of languishing vacant and abandoned properties with unpaid taxes harm Black neighborhoods and suburbs. Cook County treasurer says program aimed at fixing the problem is not working.

Disinvestment in African American communities in the city dates back to at least the 1968 riots after the Rev. Martin Luther King’s assassination. Swaths of Black neighborhoods went up in smoke, and vacant lots and scarred buildings still remain. Even before then, the racist real estate practices of redlining and blockbusting took a toll.