Known as a Distinguished Fellow at the Economic Policy Institute, Richard Rothstein, in his latest book, gives us a sweeping and disturbing historical analysis of how the United States government segregated nearly all of our major cities across the country, through numerous racially discriminatory housing policies. In The Color of Law, he delves into issues such as bank redlining, exclusionary zoning practices, public housing, restrictive housing covenants, and borrowing and lending practices for buying homes of which all were carefully created and sanctioned directly by the government at the federal, state, and local level to impose racial segregation among our communities nationwide.
Another noteworthy aspect of The Color of Law which, in my opinion, is its greatest strength is the vast amount of evidence Rothstein garners to destroy the notion that government played a minor role in de juresegregation across the United States. Exercising his skills as a research associate at the Economic Policy Institute, Rothstein gathers evidence from the late 19th century onward that uncovers a policy of de jure segregation where nearly every presidential administration is found guilty. For instance, Rothstein explains that one of FDR’s New Deal initiatives, the Public Works Administration, built public housing projects that were intended for low to middle class white families exclusively. During World War II, FDR’s administration built homes for white defense plant workers, but left black workers and their families with temporary, poorly constructed dwellings.