Review of “The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America"
Have you ever read a book that completely changed you? Those are the types of books that stick with you throughout your life. Those are the books that inform your perspectives and ground you. The Color of Law, by Richard Rothstein, is one of those books for me. The book was so powerful that I had to read it little by little. Literally, everyday I read a chapter or two and had to stop. I couldn’t help but feel anger, outrage, and curiosity concerning the ways in which African-American people were and are excluded from the benefits of home ownership. I found myself thinking more and more about my grandmother living in low income housing in Indianapolis. I thought about the process of my mom purchasing her home. Although she was financially secure and had a college education, owning a home wasn’t a guarantee for her either. I thought about how no matter how well you played by the rules, as an African-American person, you could be excluded. As Audre Lorde said, “your silence will not protect you.”
In order to understand how the federal government sanctioned and supported segregation in housing, Rothstein uses the terms de jure and de facto segregation. De jure segregation means that it is in place because of laws. This is where the federal and state government come in to provide support to entities wishing to discriminate against African-American people. De facto segregation is the result of practice. James Baldwin said of the term, “ de facto segregation means that Negroes are segregated but nobody did it.” Throughout the book, Rothstein demonstrates to the reader that de facto segregation is a myth. He gives examples of how the United States government put laws in place to foster and support segregation. Reading it as a millennial and as an African-American woman was extremely difficult. Mostly because during my lifetime these issues haven’t been emphasized as much as they have in the past. I remember my grandmother talking about housing and the barriers to home ownership. I remember wondering why my grandmother lived on one side of the street with all African-American people and why wealthy White people lived across the street in giant houses. I was aware of the disparities but no one in my life could explain them to me completely. It was just a fact of life that White people didn’t want to live near African-American people. It was a fact of life that I had to be bused to Homecroft Elementary school where most of my classmates were White and came from different means. Rothstein’s book lends itself to make sense of those issues that I didn’t comprehend as a child.
In addition to exposing the presence of de jure segregation in housing, Rothstein also provides ideas of how to rectify the issue. But even the idea of rectifying the issue is radical. As I said, the discussion of disparities in housing is had but not in a way that addresses the years of lawful segregation. Because he is shedding light on an issue that some people don’t think is real, I’m convinced that any steps taken to address the issue will be met with backlash. However, that doesn’t stop Rothstein from offering his techniques. He acknowledges that systemic changes would need to occur to truly affect the disparities in housing.
One solution is to address the fact that most low income families lack the ability to live in high opportunity areas. These are the outer ring suburbs which are home to the most wealthy in our country. He shares that the goal isn’t necessarily to encourage White families to remain in their neighborhoods but to reduce the barriers to African-American people entering. This could be done by encouraging developers to build affordable housing in neighborhoods with greater opportunity. Rothstein is not naive in believing that this will be easy. He acknowledges that the opportunity communities will be hostile towards the presence of African-American people in their neighborhoods. However, he also believes that it is time to avoid the difficult steps. Another solution he raised was to provide a subsidy to African-American families seeking to buy homes in the suburbs that their ancestors were unconstitutionally barred from. Meaning that they would pay the price that their ancestors would’ve paid if they were allowed to purchase homes in the neighborhoods when they were initially created.
I believe that building affordable houses in opportunity neighborhoods would be the best solution for families. Research has shown that African-American children who grow up in neighborhoods with better opportunities become more financially stable than their peers in low opportunity neighborhoods. Research also indicates that growing up in these areas increases African-American families’ social capital and that is a major factor in improving their educational and financial outcomes. I believe that by doing this, African-American families will become more financially stable. This will improve their ability to purchase homes in those same neighborhoods so that the benefits can remain in their families for generations.
Although Rothstein painted a bleak picture of the state of our federal government when it comes to de jure segregation, I have hope that things can change. I believe powerful books like “The Color of Law” will allow those in power to see just how big of an impact housing has on the upward mobility of families in the United States. I also believe that this book is useful for those of us who want to advocate for systemic change pertaining to housing. In order to know where we want to go we must study the past. We must work towards equity so that our country can truly be one of equal opportunity.
Further Reading:
Check out this interview with Richard Rothstein from one of my favorite sites ShelterForce.
Article from Brookings Institution titled: The Devaluation of Assets in Black Neighborhoods
https://www.brookings.edu/research/devaluation-of-assets-in-black-neighborhoods/
Article from Brookings Institution titled: How racial and regional inequality affect economic opportunity
Interview with James Baldwin from Esquire Magazine 1968
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a23960/james-baldwin-cool-it/