THE COLOR OF LAW: A FORGOTTEN HISTORY OF HOW OUR GOVERNMENT SEGREGATED AMERICA by Richard Rothstein ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

(Original review written August 24, 2020)

If I could buy a book to educate my family members and friends about why today’s movement is meaningful, and why our communities appear so unequal and divided, this would be the book. It’s a history told in statistics and facts, one not immediately clear to most of us. It’s dense, it’s thorough, and it’s drastically important.

The goal of the book is to understand that segregation exists and lingers due to countless government policies and prejudiced actions from single individuals to those in charge, rather than the choices of people to stay within closed communities of race. From the FHA acting against African Americans establishing themselves in suburbs, to the local housing groups forming to strike up covenants barring them from their neighborhoods, to the mobs and violence that arrived when they actually did, the persistence of those with power (and those that voted for and financed them) endlessly changed the rules to keep America segregated.

Similar to the way White Rage brings up thoughts like “what if _____ didn’t _____?”, this book continues to show how close we came to an integrated and harmonious nation. Unfair tactics could have been shot down by the courts. Police could have stepped in when families’ lives were threatened. Decisions to uproot less-advantaged communities to build highways for the higher classes could have found ways around the demolitions, or offered to relocate those that suffered. The list goes on, and the book makes sure you understand how long that list is.

Like many other books on this topic, this is a must read. Possibly the most important (haven’t read The New Jim Crow yet). The writing avoids emotion, but spurs it with personal accounts that shape the overall sentiment felt by many. As the author notes, the solution for this problem is a challenging one, but the first step is for society to collectively acknowledge how it came to be. For those still grappling with that understanding, this is where to start.