The Color of Law

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In this groundbreaking history of the modern American metropolis, Richard Rothstein, a leading authority on housing policy, explodes the myth that America s cities came to be racially divided through de facto segregation that is, through individual prejudices, income differences, or the actions of private institutions like banks and real estate agencies Rather, The Color of Law incontrovertibly makes clear that it was de jure segregation the laws and policy decisions passed by local, state, and federal governments that actually promoted the discriminatory patterns that continue to this day.Through extraordinary revelations and extensive research that Ta Nehisi Coates has lauded as brilliant The Atlantic , Rothstein comes to chronicle nothing less than an untold story that begins in the 1920s, showing how this process of de jure segregation began with explicit racial zoning, as millions of African Americans moved in a great historical migration from the south to the north.As Jane Jacobs established in her classic The Death and Life of Great American Cities, it was the deeply flawed urban planning of the 1950s that created many of the impoverished neighborhoods we know Now, Rothstein expands our understanding of this history, showing how government policies led to the creation of officially segregated public housing and the demolition of previously integrated neighborhoods While urban areas rapidly deteriorated, the great American suburbanization of the post World War II years was spurred on by federal subsidies for builders on the condition that no homes be sold to African Americans Finally, Rothstein shows how police and prosecutors brutally upheld these standards by supporting violent resistance to black families in white neighborhoods.The Fair Housing Act of 1968 prohibited future discrimination but did nothing to reverse residential patterns that had become deeply embedded Yet recent outbursts of violence in cities like Balti, Ferguson, and Minneapolis show us precisely how the legacy of these earlier eras contributes to persistent racial unrest The American landscape will never look the same to readers of this important book Sherrilyn Ifill, president of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund , as Rothstein s invaluable examination shows that only by relearning this history can we finally pave the way for the nation to remedy its unconstitutional past. Read The Color of Law author Richard Rothstein – kino-fada.fr Could everybody please read this It s an essential history of America s state sponsored history of race discrimination in housing.Here s my take on NPR s 2017 Book Concierge.History of the development of de jure segregation in the United States that is, the deliberate result of federal laws and local policies Rothstein demonstrates convincingly that the problem is entrenched within multiple organizations and legal standards For example, the Federal Housing Administration, part of the New Deal set of domestic programs, required segregation in order to qualify for low interest financing The government sponsored HOLC required private real estate agents to appraise History of the development of de jure segregation in the United States that is, the deliberate result of federal laws and local policies Rothstein demonstrates convincingly that the problem is entrenched within multiple organizations and legal standards For example, the Federal Housing Administration, part of the New Deal set of domestic programs, required segregation in order to qualify for low interest financing The government sponsored HOLC required private real estate agents to appraise neighborhoods and lower pricing values based on the racial composition of its inhabitants This of course extends beyond the federal level State governments, city councils, neighborhoods associations, cooperation with non profits or NGOs that promoted segregation, banks refusing to provide funding to black applicants,...my reviewSome years ago, I lived for a time in Oak Park, Illinois Oak Park has for decades been filled with rich white liberals, who live just across the street from a City of Chicago neighborhood, Austin, that is filled with poor black people Yet, for some reason the citizens of Oak Park simply can t fathom, people from Austin almost never move to Oak Park Who can say why Well, Richard Rothstein can His book, The Color of Law, shows all the ways in which the racist government of Oak Park, and inn Some years ago, I lived for a time in Oak Park, Illinois Oak Park has for decades been filled with rich white liberals, who live just across the street from a City of Chicago neig...This is a well researched book that outlines all the ways in which the government has used the long arms of the state to discriminate against blacks I wish this book had been published when I was writing m...Excellent Eye opening read.This succinct history puts the lie to the idea that people congregate with others of their race mostly out of preference and custom, and that the material side effects thereof wealth, educational opportunities, etc are blameless incidents for which we bear no collective responsibility In a scant 200ish pages, Rothstein bludgeons you with anecdote after anecdote of federal, state, and local officials or policies that disrupted working and middle class white and black Americans attempts to li This succinct history puts the lie to the idea that people congregate with others of their race mostly out of preference and custom, and that the material side effects thereof wealth, educational opportunities, etc are blameless incidents for which we bear no collective responsibility In a scant 200ish pages, Rothstein bludgeons you with anecdote after anecdote of federal, state, and local officials or policies that disrupted working and middle class white and black Americans attempts to live in integrated environments, and presents devastating evidence of the wealth gap that has opened between the races in large part because of this government designed segregation Whether through evictions, police refusals to protect the homes of African Americans in white neighborhoods from marauding gangs, VA refusals to grant mortgages to black GIs unless they bought in black neighborhoods, or cities deliberate attem...5 for the information and 3 for writing styleMUST read book Do not ignore what happened, rather learn from these mistakes and do the right thing in the future It took me almost two months to finish this book There is so much resistance in accepting that one race can so strategically with a strong support of the law and government , so purposefully segregate American population for decades leading to pretty much unfixable damage where and creating an enourmous gap between the whites and th 5 for the information and 3 for writing styleMUST read bo...An important read for anyone interested in segregation, racism, and social justice Lays out a compelling argument for how government action at the federal, state, and local level and not simply the decisions of individual racists have resulted in and perpetuated segregation in America.In the Color of Law , Richard Rothstein shows that the use of discriminatory residential practices in the US, including racially zoned housing areas, restrictive covenants, the creation of fear of loss of property values and at times violence have been in effect from the reconstruction period in the late 19th Century and continued into 21st Century These practices have disproportionately affected African Americans, keeping their communities poor and leading to the creation of segregated neig In the Color of Law , Richard Rothstein shows that the use of discriminatory residential practices in the US, including racially zoned housing areas, restrictive covenants, the creation of fear of loss of property values and at times violence have been in effect from the reconstruction period in the late 19th ...

The Color of Law
  • 19 May 2018
  • Hardcover
  • 368 pages
  • 1631492853
  • Richard Rothstein
  • The Color of Law