Welcome to Litsy!

While he provides a compelling case for de jure housing segregation, I found it was buried through the dry recitation of facts within a somewhat repetitive argument. Instead of a fact filled data dump, more analysis of the impacts of these policies & actions would have made this a more compelling read. As it is, it would have been better as a long-form essay than a book. But despite that, it‘s still worth reading.

#OffMyShelf for nonfiction

I had to read this in small bites, both because it can be dry in places but mostly because it's infuriating to read about how the government perpetuates the idea that our modern racial segregation of housing happened through years of defacto segregation, while ignoring the real and blatant dejure practices the government used to keep integration of housing and neighborhoods from happening. I learned that redlining is just part of the ugly story.

“When, from 2014 to 2016, riots in places like Ferguson, Baltimore, Milwaukee, or Charlotte captured our attention, most of us thought we knew how these segregated neighborhoods, with their crime, violence, anger, and poverty came to be.”

#firstlinefriday

another book I wish I could make all Americans read

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Book #9 of the year: “The Color of Law” by Richard Rothstein

Definitely a book I‘d recommend to anyone living in the US.

“Racial polarization stemming from our separateness has corrupted our politics, permitting leaders who ignore the interest of white working-class voters to mobilize then with racial appeals. Whites may support political candidates who pander to their sense of racial entitlement while advocating policies that perpetuate the inferior economic opportunities that some whites may face.”

#manicmonday #LetterC @CBee
📚 The Color of Law
✍️ Becky Chambers
🍿 Clueless
🎤 Cyndi Lauper
🎶 Cloud (Elias)

A great nonfiction review of patterns of enforced segregation & discrimination in US housing. Talked about how HUD programs & GI bill loans forced people into certain housing developments or suburbs by race, or flat out denied them loans or housing. Saw this week on CNN how a married black couple (university professors) had a white friend go on an appraisal of their house to have it appraised $300k higher, as not from a black family—infuriating.

A special that I think might interest #SheSaid, I‘m going to try to track it down myself to watch. It also looked like a great continuation of relearning some of our history that I read in books like The Color of Law; showing how much systematic inequality has been pre-built into our country, not accidentally, but often with very malicious intent, & how much we‘re still dealing with that legacy today from everything from healthcare access ⤵️

#conflictedworlds
Who are you #neighbor with and do you know why? Do you know one of the most active, prominent, and rich Black neighborhoods in the country was torn down to build Central Park? This book is eye opening, important, and infuriating.

@eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

Going to start reading this book for our work book club!

Very informative and wonderfully fact based. For some, the amount of statistics might be too much but I enjoyed it.
#readharder2021 nonfiction about anti-racism
@TheAromaofBooks #bookspinbingo

This was an eye opening read that go into excruciating detail of how law, specifically concerning the rights and ownership of property, have lead to systematic segregation in America.

Taking a critical look at government policy, even crowning achievements such as Roosevelt‘s New Deal, this book asks the reader to question what we have been told, and to look at the realities presented as is.

Uncomfortable and alarming, a great in depth read.

This was an impeccably well researched book that explains the segregation of our cities and how deeply entrenched racist policies are. It‘s been said that once you see it, you can‘t unsee it- which is true as I drove through my city. I will be changing how I teach zoning in engineering after reading this. Excellent book.

March #roundup
5⭐
The Color of Law
4⭐
The Vanishing Half
All's Well
The Five
3⭐
The Push
Honey Girl
The Removed
A Burning
Salt Roads
No God But The Mother
2⭐
Me Talk Pretty on Day
Fortress of Solitude
Mudboind

This book has been on my TBR since it came out but moved to the top of the list when I signed up for a zoom lecture with the author taking place on Monday. Such an eye opening book about the US government‘s racist housing policies. Infuriating but a necessary read. Audio was not the best format for me to be able to ingest everything but it is a book I will be glad to revisit in print.

This should be required reading for all Americans.

While I understood housing discrimination, and the reverberating effects (food deserts, less job opportunities, transportation costs) this book gets straight to the heart of the Why and How of the history and consequences.
Well written and easily digestible (even if anger inducing for the content).
5⭐

Just started Litsy and this was the most recent book I read. I actually listened to it during our snowpocalypse here in Nashville. By the end of it I actually wanted to punch someone. We have to read these types of books so we can learn from our mistakes. We can change history and the future.

I always pick a relevant book to read on MLK Day. This is my 2021 pick. It‘s impossible not to listen to this book and think of my own community.

Day 7 of #12Booksof2020

This book shows that the segregated housing in the USA is not as accidental as one likes to think. This went all the way to the President and the federal administration.

Hiiiighly recommend this book. A detailed book about the history of laws about housing and development that hurt Black people and still affect them today

I assumed this was going to mainly describe how the practice of red-lining led to housing discrimination, but this eye-opening history shows how that was only the tip of the iceberg. This book is framed as a response to multiple Supreme Court rulings against desegregating school systems which argue that governments cannot undo residential segregation it didn't cause. Rothstein cites a ton of historical examples to show how wrong this argument was.

As if #StoryGraph wasn't awesome enough, now I can support it AND local bookstores when I purchase a book NOT THROUGH AMAZON. Maybe this option was always there but I only just noticed the "buy book" option.

Purchase inspired by @Megabooks ?

This is an important book about the laws (not just redlining) that caused the segregation of urban and suburban communities in the 20th century, concentrated Black people in ghettos and low income housing, and prevented their access to the intergenerational wealth that whites were afforded. The housing authority and the VA purposely created laws that took away harmoniously integrated communities and amplified existing segregation. 4.5⭐️🎧 ⬇️

Starting another National CASA Book Club book today on my day off.

I keep seeing reviews of this book and thought someone might be interested in this free online talk with the author.
https://bit.ly/2HxajLf

Another thoughtful and thoroughly researched book on race in America with a unique focus on how many policies (past and present) support segregation efforts.

A must-read that describes in convincing detail how the US government purposely segregated America. Communities were actually much more integrated in the late 1800s and early 20th century before the government got involved and forced segregation that is still in place to this day.

A must read for everyone, not just Americans.

This book shows how African Americans were discriminated against at federal, state and local level to prevent them from buying houses in any neighborhood that wasn‘t already seen as African American. How integrated neighborhoods was segregated. And how this, explains some of the reasons for US‘s troubles today.

My #BookSpin book in October @TheAromaofBooks

Okay. The information was good in the course of knowing what was missed in history. If you‘re into that property history of why and how African Americans were discriminated against. For just buying a house! Absolute crazy. It was the way that the information was projected that tuned it down for me. It read too much like a textbook. If you‘re into history though, this is your book.

When police officers stood by without preventing the intimidation these families endured, were the African-American families constitutional rights violated, or were they victims of rogue police officers for whom the state was not responsible? Certainly, we cannot hold the government accountable for every action of racially biased police officers.

Statistical evidence contradicted the FHA‘s assumptions that the presence of African-Americans caused property values of whites to fall. Often racial integration cause property values to increase.

Nothing like some cat snores as a soundtrack to reading!

Just. Wow. This book is a must read for Social Justice information. I read prior to seeing the author speak and I was blown away by the book and his talk. Accessible book with a strong legal argument for declaring the US government‘s behavior regarding housing to be de jure segregation. Meaning, that the law created the discrimination which requires remedial action. #BLM

Other influential zoning experts made no effort to conceal their expectation that zoning was an effective means to racial exclusion.

A little repetitive in places but it has a plethora of information on the Government‘s past racist tendencies and support of organizations that were openly racist.

We like to think of American history as a continuous march of progress toward greater freedom, greater equality, and greater justice. But sometimes we move backwards, dramatically so. Residential integration declined steadily from 1880 to three mid-twentieth century, and it had mostly stalled since then. (Racial Zoning)
This is ridiculous to look at. Sometimes I really cannot comprehend how people thought -and believed- stuff like this

Happy Labor Day!! While this is the end of summer bbq, I‘m reading this history about how some workers were pushed to the side with segregation tactics. Blacks workers were told to work hard, but were banned from buying homes or even asking for a loan to do so. This is an intriguing look back to the 1940‘s. Hope it doesn‘t stay like a textbook of straight up information, though; that‘s hard for me to stay with

It‘s my wedding anniversary today! 17 years....and the sweetest thing I can do is let him sleep 💤...about to begin this book with a cup of tea and enjoy the quiet morning before it gets too hot 🥵

This book has been carefully crafted to show how state sanctioned segregation has perpetuated throughout the 20th century and inversely affected African Americans. It is a must-read for all Americans. Our understanding of how housing today is so shallow and flawed that it prevents the remedies required to eliminate the systemic abuse enacted on African Americans

I‘ll lend my voice to the many positive reviews of this book on Litsy. Rothstein expertly dissects the de jure segregation African Americans face in the United States, specifically related to housing and the disadvantages that resulted from the government‘s laws. It is appalling, and it is a bit uncomfortable, but I think that is Rothstein‘s intention - it should make you uncomfortable and recognize the biases in something as simple as housing. ⬇️

I can‘t recommend this book enough. In clear, understandable language, the author spells out the economic and social harm that has resulted from segregation in housing. Segregation was often set in place not by other homeowners but by the local, state, and national governments. Includes suggestions for remedies, using above quote to make his point.

I knew when I started this book that it would be filling a large gap in my education, having grown up in a very segregated community. What I didn't know is that not only would it clearly articulate the causes of the polarization and divide in our country, it also outlined some clear solutions that could have a huge impact if only our politicians would acknowledge the reality of the situation. This needs to be taught in schools.

Not gonna lie, this book is very dry and kind of just lays out facts without any attempt at a narrative, so it‘s not my favorite type of nonfiction. That said, the facts presented are important and devastating. I would still absolutely recommend this book to anyone looking to learn more about the history of anti-Black racism, but just know it‘s more of a textbook than anything else.

4/5

This book breaks down how the federal, state, and local government throughout the U.S. used racist housing policy to enact racial segregation across the country. It is an incredibly detailed argument with lots of examples from the past 100 years. It also explains how these policies created lasting effects in the black community that have not been erased by simply removing these policies. It's a little dry, but super interesting information.

Loving my new antiracist mug from Ideal Bookshelf.

A must-read for everyone. Rothstein shows us many systemic and even unconstitutional examples that our federal, state, and local governments perpetuated in order to maintain racial segregation. This has happened all over the country, from California to Long Island NY. In suburban and urban areas. Focus is on the 20th century but even this century has examples. It‘s all very appalling & helps me understand how things got to where they are today.