Mini Book Review # 26: The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America, by Richard Rothstein. A brief summary of why many urban Americans live in divided neighborhoods.
The author’s goal in The Color of Law is to prove that much of what we often call, “de facto segregation,” or segregation by random personal choices, has actually been caused by governmental policies. (De jure segregation.) Most of those occurred between 1900-1960. Rothstein is able to show fairly conclusively that the US federal government is largely responsible for the segregated cities of the US. How? Through VA loans issued with discrimination, IRS policies, eminent domain, school district creation, hiring for federal positions, et cetera.
My Take
I think this book is a valuable, maybe a necessary read if we Americans are to understand some of the problems of our nation. It can even help guide choices for placement of Section 8 housing. (For example, placing modern housing in a depressed area does not make the area suddenly safer and better).
How Can We Improve?
The author proposes some fixes, many of which seem financially infeasible because of our nation’s staggering debt. He also seems to have an unclear idea of how wealth is built. (Do families really build wealth because they were able to take out a HELOC? Perhaps I’m just skeptical because my (not-wealthy) parents taught me that the debtor was slave to the lender.)
Some of Rothstein’s ideas could work, though, and this book should cause us to consider how we can make our neighborhoods and schools more equitable.
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