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, 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 !

BOOK REVIEW: The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America, by Richard RothsteinI was blown away by the book and the phenomenal research that went into it. The bottom line is that our federal, state, and local governments played a major role in legislating and sanctioning American segregation. Churches, universities, law enforcement, and the courts ALL upheld blatant violation of the 13th (1865), 14th (1868), and 15th (1870) Amendments of the United States Constitution. The book is an indictment of the role that each of these agencies of segregation played with a specific focus on housing.Why housing? Housing has played a major role in building wealth in this country. Housing plays a role in the education one receives, the job opportunities one might get, and the wealth one can pass on to progeny. Housing served as a means of integration. Integration that would have been deemed normal by the time the 1920s rolled around in a post 15th Amendment ratification era. But this was not the story of America. From the interference of racial covenants to the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) only approving, issuing, and insuring loans for developers and owners for White-only properties, Blacks would never experience the full impact of homeownership and all the benefits attached to the way their White counterparts would and did. Banks, like Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and many others also would not approve loans for Blacks or would charge rates much higher than their Whites even when risk was equivalent.Chapters of this book paint a picture and help define terms used today. Every real estate agent, developer, city planning office, city councilperson, county commissioner, mayor, etc. etc. should read this book. I don't even think people should talk about reparations without reading and understanding the information in this book and many other revealing authors who have uncovered American History most of us have never heard before.In short, we were all duped to some level. White fear was played on the most. Even if Whites did not believe and were against what was happening, eventually they paid through public shame, loss of property, damaged property, death threats, and some lost their lives if they stood by their Black brothers and sisters. Some Whites were even sued and jailed for renting to Blacks and other minorities. Ultimately, however, Blacks paid the highest price through generational poverty, abuse, and death carefully crafted by a system that was supposed to protect them through Constitutional rights.You will learn about the difference between "de facto segregation" and "de jure segregation."What blew me away the most was the role of the Church. I have commented in many of my book reviews on Christianity or the Church and this shall be no different, especially as I see most churches still do nothing today or they struggle in how to address the issue. Bob Jones University is specifically mentioned in the book. The case of "Bob Jones University vs the United States" in 1983 where the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the 1976 IRS decision and concluded that "an institution seeking tax-exempt status must serve a public purpose and not be contrary to establish public policy." In other words, the university had to give up their practice of "NOT allowing interracial dating by its students." The bottom line to all industries that receive some form of a government benefit through tax-exemptions, subsidies, grants, etc. is that they CAN NOT discriminate as to whom they will serve nor place discriminatory requirements upon people (taxpayers) that utilize their services. If they do, and the evidence shows they do, they put their government-assisted business at risk.I believe in the American Dream. I believe that people can and should choose and define for themselves the life that they'd like to live within the parameters of our laws. However, I do not believe anyone should get any kind of assistance from my tax dollars (i.e. the government) to discriminate against another person. Our government should reinforce structures and systems that make it difficult for those that receive a government benefit to discriminate. They should be penalized if caught and the data shows it to be a proven fact. And it should take years! This book provides plenty of those proven facts and requires an answer from our elected officials, law enforcement agencies, courts, churches, and education bodies.I highly recommend this read. It will blow your mind at how carefully segregation was crafted, maintained, and exercised. Even today, some of the same "code-switching" language is used to continue some forms of discrimination based on the old system under which it was established. This book will help you recognize some of that language, but not all.To Blacks and minorities I will say this, get in a position to own a home or property. Save up for it! Make the necessary sacrifices. Leverage it instead of unsecured credit. Most lenders are looking for their money or repayment to be guaranteed by some form of equity, which a home can provide if you want to launch a business. You can borrow against your own equity to send your kids to college. Waiting on the government, that has been overwhelming against BIPOC, may and probably is not the best answer until officials are in place that will reverse the serious damage done. That can take decades, so for those that are able, start today. Utilize services that will help you get debt-free, that will help you build a nest egg of YOUR OWN, and will help you get into a property you can afford with a modest down payment. This book may also challenge you to leave your all Black neighborhood the way it challenges Whites to accept integration as a means of increasing property value, moving closer to their egalitarian beliefs, and demonstrating an America that truly only exists in a few locales (i.e. neighborhoods) of excellence but not in the country as a whole.I believe the book will challenge us all...and quite uniquely too!