Review: The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America

The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

"The cycle can be broken only by a policy as aggressive as that which created ghettos of concentrated poverty in the first place."

A worthwhile follow-up read to The New Jim Crow.

This book hit incredibly close to home... especially the parts regarding the history of segregationist housing policy in Milpitas of all places in the mid-twentieth century. I had to look up Sunnyhills on a map to realize that, oh geez, I've definitely driven by this area dozens of times if not more since I've lived in the Bay.

I would say that I'm shocked by the material here or something (honestly, some of the quotes from early twentieth century policymakers here really are "shocking" by today's standards... and when I read them paired with their photographs I just wanted to climb into the book and smack their dumbass faces), but given everything that's happened recently, I'm not really. Just pissed if anything-- or at least as much as one can be pissed by an otherwise dry-sounding subject as federal housing policy. 

It's honestly not as difficult to get through as it sounds, although there is enough detail that it can feel challenging to maintain focus at times if you aren't accustomed to reading history or nonfiction regarding political topics. But the details matter for a subject as impactful on people's livelihoods as this. And the legacy of segregation continues to hold power over us to the point of collective amnesia (though more like dementia) in part because of the mundanity of these details (in this respect I'm almost reminded of the decades long pointless lawsuits courtesy of dead people from Bleak House).

If you've been following reporting and stories about such topics as gerrymandering and redlining over the years, you should know that the subjects in this book go well beyond those and address local and federal government involvement in perpetuating the system of housing segregation in America, both explicitly (seriously, fuck the FHA) and implicitly, or that is to say in other creative ways. It is eye-opening to see the lengths to which people will go, sometimes in quite exquisite legal terms, just to not have to live next to black people.

And then I think of the logic my family would use in looking for a "good neighborhood" to live in and realize that I'm just as susceptible to the same kinds of thoughts. The FAQ at the back of the book brings up a good point in how any meaningful kind of policy-based reform in this area will definitely come with short-term costs that many of today's homeowners would probably balk at. But we the people are notoriously terrible at weighing the long vs short term costs and benefits of the policies we need to solve our own problems, if the crises happening today are any indication. 

I just wonder how long it will take for the rest of us to finally wake up and realize that what we have right now isn't sustainable.

How long, oh lord, how long.