The Color of Law | Book Review

By Nicholas Kimble, Sr. Grants Accountant

Being a descendent of people that have lived through racial segregation and discrimination, I am fully aware of governmental and societal views pertaining to certain United States Citizens.  I cannot remember a time that segregation and discrimination of housing wasn’t a constant reminder when attempting to locate where to rent an apartment or buy a home. Anyone can analyze the population demographic locations within Los Angeles County and conclude that the issues have not resolved with time.

I wish I could say my opinions have changed to present a brighter reality, however after reading The Color of Law it provided validation to why minorities have experienced and/or are currently experiencing housing segregation and discrimination.

To Sum it Up: 

The Color of Law, by Richard Rothstein, documents a nationwide governmental approval in housing segregation and discrimination strategies. It’s an eye opener to the effects and continued practice throughout communities.

Strengths and Weaknesses

I found the book to be informative, explanatory, enlightening, practical, serious, intelligent, straightforward, and versatile. The expository writing style of Color of Law included engaging subject matter. There were relevant facts and figures with the author trying their best not to include their opinions but rather implying certain meanings. This book may invoke an intellectual emotional response to take off your blinder towards housing practice today.

However, I would like to have learned more about other ethnic populations that were the targets of housing segregation and discrimination. Additionally, African Americans have been the focused of demolition since the end of slavery in 1865. They were treated, presented, and sold as less than human to justify their entrapment into slavery. As a people, they have endured not only housing segregation and discrimination but many human right violations. I felt it naive of the author to present at times that African Americans were hopeless during this time period, when in fact, African Americans and other ethnic groups were working together to fight against such treatment.

Takeaways

I learned how housing segregation and discrimination had a negative effect on all communities throughout the nation. It’s unfortunate that Rothstein was able to obtain massive amounts of data to support his findings that housing segregation and discrimination have harmed African Americans in more ways than touched upon in the book.

After reading this book, I’m taking this learning experience as a validation in writing of those who could not articulate why or how they experienced housing segregation and discrimination.

My Favorite Passage

“To prevent lower-income African Americans from living in neighborhoods where middle-class whites resided, local and federal officials began in the 1910s to promote zoning ordinances to reserve middle-class neighborhoods for single-family homes that lower-income families of all races could not afford. Certainly, an important and perhaps primary motivation of zoning rules that kept apartment buildings out of single-family neighborhoods was a social class elitism that was not itself racially biased. But there was also enough open racial intent behind exclusionary zoning that it is integral to the story of de jure segregation.”

Before reading this passage in the book, I had a developed a bias presentation of housing segregation and discrimination.  Even though there was a collective exclusionary mindset towards African Americans, I noticed an underlying theme of discrimination towards all lower income families, regardless of their race. I had an enlightening moment that its possible segregation and discrimination included elitism of thought, along class lines. Also, in cases where racial basis was reported, there may be a hidden agenda of elitism. 

My Recommendation

I would recommend this book for everyone who wants to have another perspective of governmental influence on housing segregation and discrimination and its contribution to homelessness in our communities.  The Color of Law provides a historical account of how nationwide communities were segregated by governmental design and not by cultural preference.  The material is heavy and at times seemed like reading a textbook. However, if you really want to comprehend the material, a break between reading is recommended. 

Read more on this topic: Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) February 2019 groundbreaking report on institutional racism as a main driver of black homelessness.