In 2017, The Color of Law shattered the de facto segregation myth that blacks and whites live in separate neighborhoods by accident, by choice, or because of the actions of private industry. The book described in great detail how our segregated and unequal society was created by racially explicit and unconstitutional policies at all levels of government. There was nothing accidental about it.
The Color of Law, written by my father, Richard Rothstein, changed the national conversation about our country’s residential segregation. Many who read it began to see how our racial separation was created, and how that separation continues to impact us individually and as a society. They also came to understand that since intentional action created segregation, intentional action could challenge and remedy it, but they didn’t know how to get started. Many, myself included, asked my dad, “what do we do about this now?”
To answer this question, he asked me to help, bringing my background in community organizing and housing policy to co-author Just Action, a book in which we describe what residents can do in their own neighborhoods to redress the inequality and deprivation that are ongoing effects of government-imposed segregation.
Federal policy had a large role to play in creating our segregated society. But waiting for federal policy to undo the damage it created is an excuse to do nothing. Instead, locally organized groups can advocate policy change and private action in their own cities and towns that can accomplish a lot. Every region is different, so Just Action describes a broad range of reforms that engaged residents can pursue, based on their own interests and circumstances.
We describe programs that improve resources of existing lower-income African American neighborhoods and those that open predominantly white areas to diverse residents. We show how to prevent perpetuating segregation and its adverse effects and how to compensate for racial crimes of the past. Any of these can make a dent in persistent racial inequality. Together, they can yield real progress.
The themes and topics discussed in Just Action are constantly evolving - local groups have successes and failures from which others can learn and new policies and changing socioeconomic conditions provide new opportunities for pursuing the redress of segregation. The history of how segregation was created is fixed, but the story of what we can do about it now is ongoing. We are launching this newsletter to continue to tell this story and to create a community of those interested in contributing to it.
Here we will report on these ongoing opportunities, successes, and failures. We will expand on the ideas in Just Action, update the stories we told there, and add to them with new topics that didn’t fit in the book and ones we’ve since learned about. We will also review books, invite guest authors, and point readers to new studies, information, and policy developments worthy of attention. For example, we’re working on posts about the risk of relying too heavily on redlining maps and restrictive covenants in organizing for the redress of segregation, how inheritance laws and a lack of estate planning have robbed black families of intergenerational wealth, and how friends and neighbors in California’s Silicon Valley organized to make their city more accessible, affordable, and inclusive.
By subscribing to this newsletter, you’ll get our thoughts emailed to your inbox as we write them. You won’t have to rely on algorithms to see the content that interests you. Simply subscribe and you’ll hear directly from us. By joining our community you can also comment on what we write—and we hope you do. We want to hear about the work you’re doing in your own cities and towns to challenge and redress segregation. We can then share what’s working and what isn’t.
Writing this newsletter together is very different from co-authoring a book. The book Just Action was a fully collaborative writing effort. Here, while we will work together on the pieces we send you, each will be authored by one of us. This is an opportunity for us to explore topics that interest each of us and for you to hear our individual voices. Our writing and content here will remain free as we experiment with writing this newsletter.
Twenty million Americans participated in Black Lives Matter demonstrations in 2020. Twenty million! There is an appetite in this country to take meaningful steps to make black lives matter and we hope to join you in this campaign of Just Action.
Order Just Action and find out about our speaking events at www.justactionbook.org
Thank you!! In 2020 I worked with a powerful group of women called Jocelyn’s Corner, an effort which led to full funding of the statewide bill to fund tenant purchase of foreclosed homes in CA. Scaling that effort is an abiding interest.
Thank you for writing this book Excited to read it!
~Humera