Richard Rothstein, the author of “The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How our Government Segregated America," will speak at DePaul University Oct. 4. (Photo courtesy of JRB Communications, LLC)CHICAGO — Government policy at the local, state and federal
levels has played — and continues to play — a critical role in the segregation
that’s seen in major cities across the U.S., argues author Richard Rothstein in
his 2017 book “The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How our Government
Segregated America.” The housing policy expert will speak Oct. 4 at DePaul
University on governmental roles in creating and enforcing racially
discriminatory housing and lending policies and the legacies of such policies
today.The talk, co-hosted by DePaul’s Center for Black Diaspora,
department of geography and the School of Public Service commemorates the 50th
anniversary of the passage of the federal Fair Housing Act of 1968.
“Rothstein’s work is essential to understanding racially
discriminatory housing and lending practices in the U.S., and of the role of
national, state and local governments in their creation and perpetuation,” said
Christina Rivers, director of the center and associate professor of political
science. “It is also an important reminder that state-sanctioned discrimination
was pervasive beyond the Jim Crow South. While redlining, restrictive housing
covenants, and the like were formally abolished decades ago, a quick glance at
Chicago’s current residential patterns reveal the enduring nature of such
practices. In that sense, Rothstein’s work interrogates why Chicago is a ‘city
of neighborhoods’ by shedding light on the intentionally discriminatory
underpinnings of that euphemism.”
Rothstein is a Senior Fellow at the Haas Institute at the
University of California, Berkeley School of Law; Distinguished Fellow of the
Economic Policy Institute; and Senior Fellow Emeritus of the Thurgood Marshall
Institute of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. In addition to “The Color of Law,”
Rothstein is the author of “Grading Education: Getting Accountability Right,” “Class
and Schools: Using Social, Economic and Educational Reform to Close the
Black-White Achievement Gap” and “The Way We Were? Myths and Realities of
America’s Student Achievement.” He has co-authored “The Charter School Dust-Up:
Examining the Evidence on Enrollment and Achievement” and “All Else Equal: Are
Public and Private Schools Different?”
“Chicago remains one of the most segregated cities in the
country,” said Winifred Curran, an associate professor and chair of geography
in DePaul’s College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences. “Urban policies that
encourage gentrification, aggressive policing and privatization are leading to
increased concentrations of urban poverty in Chicago and many other large
cities. While these policies are not as explicitly racist in their language as
some of the historic policies noted in Rothstein's book, their racialized
outcomes accomplish the same results.
“Rothstein's work is so important because he shows us that
segregation is not just some unfortunate part of our history, but that the
legacy of segregation is still actively shaping the lives of Americans in ways
that have distinctly racialized outcomes. He also teaches us that urban
policies such as zoning are continuing to build segregation in our cities,”
Curran added.
Richard Rothstein's book “The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How our Government Segregated America.” (Book cover courtesy of JRB Communications, LLC)Euan Hague, an urban geographer and director of DePaul’s
School of Public Service, researches housing and gentrification issues in
Chicago.
“Racial segregation has fundamentally shaped our cities,”
said Hague. “What Rothstein’s book reiterates is the central role that the
federal government (working with state and local governments) played in
ensuring that housing remained segregated for much of the 20th century. These
urban policies, largely put into place in the post-World War II era, shape the
urban landscapes that we have inherited today.
“You can’t understand current issues about segregation (and
all the associated impacts on education, health, quality of life, policing,
etc.) without understanding how these public policies shaped the cities that we
live in today. Understanding the past enables people to make changes in the
present and the future, and having a better understanding of how we got to here
can help us put forward solutions for more equitable, socially just and
racially integrated urban futures,” Hague added.
Rothstein’s talk begins at 6 p.m. with an opening reception
set for 5:30 p.m. at Cortelyou Commons, 2324 N. Fremont St. (between Fullerton
Ave. and Belden Ave.), on the university’s Lincoln Park Campus. The event is
slated to last until 7:30 p.m. Admission is free and open to the public. More
information and registration available at: http://bit.ly/richard_rothstein.
The lecture is one of several events hosted by DePaul’s
Center for Black Diaspora this fall that has ties to 1960s black America. Other
events include discussions on black theater, music and fashion during the
decade. More information available at: http://bit.ly/center_for_black_diaspora.
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Sources:
Winifred Curran
wcurran@depaul.edu
773-325-7873
Euan Hague
ehague@depaul.edu
773-325-7890
Christina Rivers
crivers@depaul.edu
773-325-7990
Media Contact:
Russell Dorn
rdorn@depaul.edu
312-362-7128