The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America Hardcover – Illustrated, May 2, 2017

This is an essential read! A well-researched and well-documented account of private, public and government-endorsed segregation that is still having effects to the present day.

The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America, Richard Rothstein Liveright Publishing Corporation 2017This is a very detailed, interesting and tragic account of how Federal, state and local governments perpetuated and imposed residential segregation from at least the early 20th century. The key point that the author makes is that most of De Facto segregation is actually De Jure segregation. As the Post-Reconstruction South imposed Jim Crow , the Federal government and states and localities in the North, were enforcing their own segregation policies. The author largely rejects the whole distinction between De Facto and De Jure apartheid.The author almost only discusses residential segregation. This means that the Southern legal policies that created separate Black and white restaurants , water fountains etc. are not addressed. He therefore underemphasizes the difference between the North and the South. In the North, similar policies were often carried out by private actors while in the South these were written in law.The distinction between North and South is often overemphasized so this is a useful corrective. The stress on De Jure action by Federal and Northern governments is important and very well taken ! The excuse often given was the need for community harmony. Yet relatively integrated “slums” were often cleared to make way for segregated housing. The author notes that private bigoted action including physical attacks was often the back up to public policy.The Democratic Party’s reputation is skewered in this account. From Woodrow Wilson to FDR and beyond, Federal policies specifically reinforced legal apartheid. The FHA had specific pro-segregation policies. Much of home lending required FHA support. This meant that it was impossible to get loans for Black people to move into white areas. The only exception was conscious block busting by real estate agents.Local racist zoning policies were outlawed by the Supreme Court in 1917. The ground for this was the freedom to contract---not anti-racism! It went along with other decisions outlawing minimum wages, etc. Local governments often found ways around the decision. They also began to shift to economic zoning—single family only, size of lots etc.aThe author also explains the role of the police in enforcing racist laws. They allowed mobs to physically attack Black families moving into white areas. They also enforced racist covenants by evicting Black families that violated the covenants.One effect of all this was concentration of wealth and income among whites. Rothstein explains this in some detail. Whites could build wealth after WWI by buying in the white only suburbs with VA and FHA loans. Blacks could not , so never build equity at the rate that whites did.In order to win U.S. workers from support of Bolshevism, the U.S. government engaged in a major campaign to encourage home ownership. There were 2 million posters put out etc. This was a slow roll-out. At first buyers were only given mortgages that did not build equity and had to be paid off in a few years. A shift toward the current form took place in the 30’s . In all cases, restrictions made it harder for Black families.Overall, this book is an excellent contribution to our understanding of institutional racism in the U.S. The contrast between North and South though real in certain respects has long been over-emphasized. Institutional racism is an AMERICAN problem, not a Southern problem alone. The U.S. ruling class endorsed racism from the end of Reconstruction onward. The forms used in different in different areas but the overall program was similar. The potential of the unity of poor Blacks and whites had to be eliminated . In the South this was done with Jim Crow. In the North ,it was done with segregation.The author’s politics are liberal. This comes across strongly. He stresses that the real problem with segregation is that it violates the U.S. constitution. He advances other moral considerations but constitutionalism is the key one. Of course this is contradictory. The U.S. constitution enshrined an unequal racial order. Even the 13th amendment which ended slavery consolidated slavery through the criminal injustice system. The 14th amendment has been interpreted in different ways. The structure of the constitution with its Senate, Electoral College, judicial and presidential veto, exclusion of immigrants and felons from voting etc. is inherently racist and undemocratic. Further, the constitution was founded on the expulsion, dispossession and genocide of native people. We cannot logically base anti-racism on constitutionalism.Related to this is the author’s acceptance of the capitalist system. While favoring measures to improve opportunities and even transferring some wealth, he strongly accepts the current class divisions. He stresses the needs of middle class Blacks. He favors the right of poor Blacks to become middle class, but accepts the existence of the middle class. Of course he defines class on an income basis. In spite of this, his explanation of and attack on the concentration of wealth is important.Beyond this, the weakest political point in the book is its exclusion of other BIPOC groups. He doesn’t discuss Natives . He believes that the other racial groups will assimilate over time as did European ethnic groups. He downplays the effect on racism on Latinos compared to Blacks. Yet the laws and covenants he discusses exclude ALL who are not “Caucasian”. It is true that due to the role of slavery in the foundation of U.S. wealth , that Blacks have historically been the largest BIPOC group and most spread across the U.S. , Blacks have been central economically and politically. However, his downplay of other groups is misplaced.Finally, the centrality on integration is a bit off. The problem with segregation is that it was a policy for the enforcement of oppression. What needs to be ended is oppression. Some of his proposals for what amount to reparations are very useful. The ones that just promote integration are less. He notes that the reforms are unlikely to be passed. Education is the key to changing political realities he feels.Because of his liberal politics, he doesn’t consider the real solution to institutional racism: a socialist revolution that will center the fight against exploitation and class division. To be successful, this movement will have to bring the fight against oppression to the very center of the struggle.In spite of the limitations of the author’s liberal politics, the documentation of institutional racism in the North and West is VERY important and needs to be widely understood !

This book painstakingly details an over a century of discriminatory practices and how they were hidden behind the image of policies like zoning. Good read and interesting photos every chapter.

Great book.what an eye opener .

“Actions of government in housing cannot be neutral about segregation. They will either exacerbate or reverse it. Without taking care to do otherwise, exacerbation is more likely.”What an illuminating book! Through well-researched stories of families, individuals, & communities, as well as court cases and federal, state, and local policies, Rothstein shares evidence with painstaking detail that racial segregation was not de facto (based on individual, personal prejudices) alone, but was de jure segregation—“segregation by law and public policy.” The U.S. has a history of systematic, disturbingly intentional segregation that continues to impact us greatly. This reads almost like a history textbook or legal brief, so it is not the most engaging read, but it is incredibly insightful, thorough, & important. While I knew about some general reasons for segregation, like redlining & the fact that Black veterans did not benefit from the G.I. Bill in the same way white veterans did, I had no idea of the magnitude & intentional nature of housing segregation. Rothstein demonstrates how white perceptions of African Americans as “slum dwellers” were shaped by intentional policies and practices, including “the frequent existence of polluting industry and toxic waste plants in African American communities,” among other practices. He elaborates on the history of public housing & how it made housing communities even more segregated than they already were; racial zoning; & the push for white Americans to own homes as a safeguard against communism & the policies that enabled them to do so while Black families struggled to get loans, find housing, & afford the exorbitant taxes in middle class neighborhoods. He also shows the connection between segregation & state-sanctioned violence, suppressed incomes, & segregation in public education. As I seek to learn more hidden history that illuminates systemic racism in its many forms, I realize more & more how very deeply it is embedded into our government, cultural norms, & collective conscious. Rothstein makes a compelling case for the systematic nature of segregation in the U.S., as well as the legal obligation we have to address it.

Ainda não li, apenas olhei rapidamente , mas e de boa qualidade.

awesome reading and investigation into the red lining phenomenology, sadly still present to this day both in Europe and elsewhere.

An excellent book. It corrects many false assumptions of government neutrality on residential segregation. It documents the many ways in which government at all levels promoted racial segregation to the detriment of African-Americans.

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 neighbourhoods, where none previously existed.The most disconcerting thing about this is that it the policies have been supported by the state and federal government. Not just in the Southern States, but throughout the US. Also, whilst these 'racial' discriminatory practices are no longer openly applied, their effects have carried over into the lives of the children, grandchildren, and other generations of African American families, also keeping them in poverty.This is another excellent and well-researched history of discriminatory practices in the US, showing that despite the idea of the "American Dream", where anyone can achieve whatever they want, inequality has been and continues to be a feature of US society.

The book arrived in great shape and I believe it was early! Thank you! now for finding time to read!