A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America

The Color of Law... is the lack of Will

I purchased the audible version of the book which helped me to listen in awe; I don’t know if I could have kept turning pages as quickly with a hardcopy version of the book. Chapter after Chapter Rothstein validates his theory of public policy executed by the federal and local governments designed to maintain the color barrier through segregated housing. It left me numb. As a student of urban housing, I studied many of the ghettos cited in the book. I intentionally worked at HUD as an analyst in the early 1980s to seek a dissertation topic which I found and completed, " Equity Considerations of a National Housing Voucher Program on Low-Income Housing in Racial Sub-markets". I forecast then that vouchers would be the cause of decreased accessible urban housing to poor Blacks in racial sub-markets and that increased rental price inflation would further decrease household income.

It is a sad commentary that one of the richest nations in the world lacks the will to solve the urban housing problem. Rothstein demonstrates that, supply side economics has failed. What’s next? Who will house the poor?

Very interesting, thought-provoking, and the historical effect of legislation. I think is something all legislative and administrative people in government should read before considering any laws or procedures.

Easy read that lays out facts and figures about policies of the federal, state and local governments that created residential segregation in the United States. The housing patterns produced by these policies in turn leads to school segregation and the creation of high poverty neighborhoods with few employment opportunities, low property values and low taxes. A vicious cycle of poverty is created. Many Americans do not know this history of how the GI bill, FHA programs and many others were administered to create segregation.

A must read for any American involved with zoning, planning, mortgage lending or real estate. We must right the wrongs that our government caused through regulations and outright illegal actions that caused segregation.

This book revealed how the government was complicit in reinforcing residential segregation. I would be remiss if I didn't also say that residential
segregation is what the majority of white Americans wanted.

A look at how slavery involved with regards to establishing wealth and maintaining a segregated society. It will help to discuss race with white folks so that they can see the role our government has had in maintaining a segregated society.

Rothstein provides a solid account of our sordid history of legal discrimination, starting with the Faustian trades which made it legal in the first place. His argument becomes strongest when he details how mob rule erased even the pretense of fairness, let alone the rule of law. However it does not completely address the 10th Amendment dilemma: how do we resolve conflicts between state and federal law?

This book was an eye opener for me. Often times you hear folks say things like, "slavery is over, you dont have any excuses....." Well, the contents of this book will help to invalidate those sentiments. This country has a very dark past and the origin of the ghetto itself is something that this text brings to life. This is a must read for anyone looking for truths about generational poverty and wealth and how some folks were given a privilege that has lasted from one generation to the next.... Not to mention the numerous federal agencies that knowing supported de jure segregation......

This book clearly lays out the history behind segregated neighborhoods as a result of systematic discrimination. If you've ever considered a black neighborhood "unsafe" or that black people have created their own problems this book will give you things to consider.

Book of the century, information that was unknown to me even though I took advance history. That the American government could threat American citizens, just because the color of their skin that inhuman

Only read the first chapter so far, but very pleased with the quality more importantly the contentt of this book. Such an eye opener, but it explains so much origin as it pertains to strategic placement of minorities. If we knew better, we'd do better, buy this book.

this was a good book, but it will make you madder than a dog. This book should be in every junior/high school. It should be required reading as it is the real truth. It's shameful how people are discriminated against because of the color of their skin.

The writing is a bit dry, but the information the author presents is riveting. This book gave me new and very important information about the history of housing segregation in our country. It is a must read for anyone who really wants to understand how segregation came to be so dominant in our country.

My brother was a trailblazer in helping voters see how geographical regions are designed to benefit certain voting groups by winning a Supreme Court decision to reconstruct at-large voting in certain areas. This book helps shed light on how the legal system has historically been discriminatory.

Richard Rothstein does an excellent job of explaining how various rules and policies perpetuated by governments and supported by pro-segregation whites has led to the extreme disparities that we see today. In order to know how to move forward, we must fully understand our past and take responsibility for it.

Essential background for understanding race in America today. We didn't "just happen" to end up segregated and the costs of past policies are causing pain and harm today.

Morally, we need to repair the damage that's been, and still being, done.

Wow. This book should be read by 8th graders and up. Real American history, which answers a big part of the question of how government policies helped in group of people and hurt another. The effects of what the government did is still being felt today and must be fixed.

Rothstein describes a de jure (by law and intentional) racially segregated Nation through a journalistic and readable set of narratives, a Ken Burns type of documentary; more than that it is the first book I would recommend on the topic of race in America.

This book shows how the US Department of Housing intentionally created segregated in public housing in America - and continues such practice even today. I encourage everyone to read this book to obtain and see how systemic this plan was used then and still works today.

This is an important read, especially for white people who assume that all modern segregation is the result of laziness or choice or some other non-nefarious explanation. This is a good addition to a modern education, especially if one had lackluster schooling on racial inequality, as I did. A little hard to follow at times but I'm going to chalk that up to its academic nature, someone more well-read and versed in research work than me will have no trouble!

Sometimes the truth hurts! This book is not for the faint-hearted or those who want to make excuses for some of the social disparities in our country. The research and presentation of facts in this book about historical policies are thorough; though a slow read as it takes time to digest the information.

I have recommended this book to everyone I know who cares about housing issues. I knew about 'redlining,' but still learned a lot in this book about the historical antecedents of our current segregated housing, including how intentional it was on the part of official government agencies. I even bought a copy for the Mayor and wrote a book review for our church e-news.

Very clear and insightful. The book lays out a very upsetting view of what really happened and how it plays into current economic and political opportunity. Anyone who questions what systemic and structural inequality looks like, should read this. De facto and de jure, it is made abundantly clear.

Richard Rothstein should be lauded for exposing this shameful exercise of Federal Government discrimination and oppression of minorities -- intentionally denying equal housing opportunities and ultimately forcing minorities to live in ghettos with substandard services. Rothstein's book is extremely well-written and well-researched. -- Raymond Elman, Founding Editor-in-Chief, Inspicio

A great and intellectual telling of structural violence in America's housing sector perpetuated by the Federal government. A great read to gain deeper insight into the divisions in our society and the factors that contribute to the cyclical nature of poverty in communities.

This book reveals the direct causes of segregation. It tells the story that history books omit. White flight was not the only or even main reason communities were segregated. Direct government action created segregated communities with racist intentions. And the effects are still being felt today. This book will make you rethink the way you believed communities were shaped.

One of most impactful books that I have read in many years describing the federal, state and local governments' involvement and responsibility for housing discrimination nationally. Great research! A must read for any serious student of social justice.

An important and needed institutional and legal history that rewrites our understanding of America's 20th century. Sure to reset terms of discussion and debate on housing, public policy, race relations and segregation.

Save the introduction for last. It makes a lot of conclusive statements that struck me as not substantiated until I read the book. It makes it clear just how much of an apartheid state America was before 1970 and how we continue to suffer from that.

This is a must for those who want to understand the current racial landscape in the U.S. You cannot understand this landscape without knowing the history that Rothstein brilliantly narrates in this book.

This book throws the spotlight on how government and societal policies created defacto racial segregation in housing.
The book explains how the demography of America today is largely the result of these segregationist policies of the past.

Should be required reading in high school and for all Realtors currently practicing real estate. Incredibly well researched book that brings to light the history of segregation that is still very much alive in this country.

Truly remarkable look at our history. You can feel prejudices melt away as you read this book. This needs to be taught to our children so that our history is not forgotten or explained away in some false way.

Loved this book! Full of insightful information about how public policy segregated neighborhoods throughout this Country. We continue to see the adverse impact of these policies today. Wonderful read!!!

This book is absolutely necessary to the mass public to understand the role the goverment has played in housing, segregation, racial discrimination and how those policies implemented decades ago are still affecting the African American population. Well done Rothstein.

There is a small problem.... Sherrilyn Ifill says "Through meticulous research...." However, on Page 138 is a picture captioned: "Levittown, Pennsylvania, 1954....

In the foreground of the photo is a 1957 Ford convertible.... Just saying...

Rothstein shows how, in a wide variety of ways, government at all levels discriminated against African-Americans in the first two-thirds of the 20th century. He accordingly reasons that such discrimination is the cause of modern segregation, and that because housing segregation is state-sponsored, government is constitutionally obligated to remedy it in a variety of ways.

But it seems to me that his story misses a few decades. If pre-civil rights policies were as effective as Rothstein seems to think they were, then most American neighborhoods would look much as they did in the 1960s: African-Americans and whites would be frozen in place, as the after-effects of segregationist policies ensured that white neighborhoods stayed white. But in fact, there has been considerable white flight and African-American suburbanization since then, as African-Americans have marched ever further into the suburbs. For example, Rothstein mentions that Black Jack, Mo., a second-ring suburb of St. Louis had a highly exclusionary and segregationist zoning code. So if yesterday's de jure segregation determined today's housing patterns, Black Jack would still be all-white. Instead, Black Jack is over 80 percent black.

In sum, this book's discussion of midcentury racist policies is well-researched- but because Rothstein leaps from the 1960s to the present, his book reads to me like it is missing a chapter or two.

Not an academic text. I study urban politics and find this interesting, but it's definitely not rigorous. Though his claims are accurate and in the realm of no duh studies. Give it to your racist uncle who doesn't want some element moving next to them.

The Color of Law, by Richard Rothstein, is a powerful and meticulous examination of the history of housing segregation in the United States. Challenging the notions of "socially imposed segregation" that are perpetuated by many influential lawmakers (like Supreme Court Justice John Roberts) and perpetuated by inadequate coverage in modern history textbooks ("Many African Americans found themselves living in segregated neighborhoods"), Rothstein tracks the systematic enforcement of housing segregation through government policies, insurance practices, zoning practices, wage suppression, housing covenants, and sanctioned violence against African Americans who moved into White neighborhoods. He argues persuasively that these policies were explicitly and overtly designed to prevent African Americans from integrating, reduce their access to gainful employment, and prevent them from developing equity, and highlights how the effects of these discriminatory practices are reflected in modern racial problems. Perhaps most alarmingly, he highlights ongoing housing discrimination through practices like biased property tax rates, controlling multi-unit housing, and Section 8 discrimination.

In addition to tracing out the breadth of the systematic government propagated segregation that was carried out in the US throughout the past 70 years, Rothstein provides a remarkable level of depth. By diving deeply into the mechanics and results of these policies, he is able to undeniably show the malicious intent and lasting effects of these policies. By grounding his history and analysis in clear statements of policy and economics, he heads off many criticisms that are often supplied by those who would prefer to not acknowledge the historical maltreatment of African Americans.

One of the best sections of this book is Rothstein's recommendations for remedies. This topic is addressed with a level of empiricism and candor that is often missing from our conversations about how to address the legacy of segregation and abuse. Rothstein recognizes that remedies will necessarily have adverse effects for some whites, and that in the short term there will be resistance from all sides. What I found most valuable in Rothstein's suggestions is their sustainability and practicality; lasting policies addressing the economic and racial composition of new housing developments have the potential to enact meaningful changes that more myopic single payout approaches fail to achieve.

I strongly encourage this book for anyone who wants to have a better understanding of modern racial segregation, and how it has impacted our society.

I picked up this book on sale because it meshes with some of the books I've read recently that consider the history and legacy of structural racism, including The New Jim Crow and Stamped from the Beginning, both of which were more sweeping and culturally relevant works.

This book, though, narrows the consideration to the specific government actions that contributed to the ongoing segregation of neighborhoods in modern America. The specificity of the argument-- that these government actions, being unconstitutional, must be rectified through policy-- and evidence clarified this single aspect, making it both more accessible because of scope but more complex because of detail (and detail I'm not particularly familiar with-- housing policy).

Some aspects seemed potentially unsupported or to have an inherent white-cultural bias, but the realistic message that this is messy and probably won't get fixed (although he suggests some radical solutions, he admits that they won't benefit everyone) made it worth the read. I think it is more easily considered after one of the more sweeping considerations first.

I have often mused about the complacency or complicity of the general German population during World War II in allowing, supporting and participating in one of the world's greatest calamities of humanity to date. I have also often mused about own country's historical complacency, complicity and participation in slavery and Jim Crow laws. I also remember well being shocked as a youngster when my father returned from a business trip in the 1950's to the Deep South and told us what he saw in the segregation of the buses, bathrooms, drinking fountains, restaurants and all of civil life. We just didn't see these kind of things in California.

I picked up a copy of The Color of Law by Richard Rothstein (2017), A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America, in an airport recently to read on the trip home. Rothstein is a careful scholar and not a propagandist. I was in for a shock again.

US government built racially separate public housing, urged cities to adopt exclusionary zoning laws, allowed racially restrictive covenants to restrict FHA home loan applications, state courts upheld enforced evictions of African American homeowners who violated racially restrictive covenants, government allowed churches, universities and hospitals to retain tax-exempt status notwithstanding their promotion of racially restrictive covenants, local police refrained from enforcing laws against violence by mobs against African Americans moving into previously white neighbor hoods, licenses of overtly discriminatory brokers were preserved, school boundaries were drawn to separate races of Americans, interstate urban highways were intentionally built in African American neighborhoods to remove them, federal labor market rights were withheld from African Americans, tax-breaks were given to suburban single family homeowners while funding for inner urban transportation networks was denied, and African Americans with housing assistance are disproportionately directed into segregated neighborhoods. All indicia of national de jure segregation in our time.

Was I complicit or complacent too with the racial discrimination between 1950 and now?

It is clear that we have an individual responsibility to actively resist racially discriminatory views against every group, including but not limited to African Americans. This means that we must direct our democratically elected governments to actively resist racially discriminatory views or results even when held by the majority, law, regulation or customary practice.

Thank you Richard for your book
The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America.

I’ve been telling everyone I know about This book. I was born in Boston. I lived in New York for 14 years and worked in Harlem just when it was becoming gentrified. In Bushwick Brooklyn where I resided back in 1996 I am also told it has been gentrified.

I traveled the world as an international DJ and worked successfully in the music industry with Kanye West, P. Diddy, Atlantic records etc. I relocated back to Boston in 2010. I subsequently became a REALTOR in 2014 and now my predominantly black neighborhood is being gentrified. I quickly realized as a REALTOR that I have been relegated and marginalized to work with low to moderate income clients and neighborhoods while my white colleagues work with middle to high income clients doing business in the more lucrative neighborhoods. It has been very frustrating for me as a black man of color to see what is happening RIGHT NOW to black neighborhoods where young white buyers are moving into the city and low income blacks are being pushed to the suburbs and I am facilitating this as a REALTOR. One bank that I work with doesn’t charge Private Mortgage Insurance to buyers if they move to Norfolk and Plymouth counties so most of my buyers move there because their monthly mortgage payments will be lower. The banks are incentivizing blacks to move out of Boston!

This book helped me to understand why and what’s needed to stop racial segregation in the housing market and I am no longer ignorant of the history of the governments explicit role. I will educate as many people as possible about this history.

Will there be a movie? Will their be a documentary, netflix series?

MR. REAL Estate REALTOR®

Richard Rothstein's "The color of Law" is a go to read.
An eye opener that answers many questions of how the origins of systematic segregation was facilitated by the government
and how certain circumstances and situations still exist from the decisions made.
It's a thought provoking, mind stimulator of a wake up call of the past that postured the present.

I can't recommend this new book enough. It argues with rigor, conciseness, and eloquence that the current economic disparity and virtual segregation between black and white Americans is not, as school books and the courts maintain, a de facto state resulting from unofficial acts of private prejudice over the last century, but a clearly articulated pattern of officially-sanctioned de jure policies to create and maintain the segregation of African Americans from whites, which didn't end with the end of Jim Crow, but was meticulously cultivated through the end of the 20th century by courts at every level, police, zoning boards, transportation commissions, the realty and housing industries, labor unions, both major parties, and school districts; the century of compounded lost (or gained, for whites) equity, inheritance, and cultural capital is nearly incalculable, unconstitutional, and because of the economic architecture still in place, irreversible without serious intentional measures. I thought I knew a little about this subject, but I (as most of us are) was totally clueless about how our country got this way, and how it's impossible that it will magically fix itself. Somebody...everybody...please read this book.

I cant give this book enough of stars. This book took me awhile to read, not because its difficult but because of the emotions is stirs up. Growing up black you hear youve got to work twice as hard to be just as good. I get paid less than peers Im more qualified than and have more education and degrees. Why did Kaepernick start taking a knee, why arent black lives treated as if theyre worth as much as everyone elses. Well it turns out the government had a huge part in this. This country has a past that we refuse to tackle and cant even agree on the cause. Would prejudices and perceptions be different if the races werent forced to live segregated, HELL YES!!!; look at how far we've come since then, but weve still got a long way to go.
If everyone read this book I guarantee we would at least be at a good starting point for fixing it so we can be the country we intended to be instead of pretending to be. Justice and liberty for all, well unless you're black; we'll eventually get there though.

this book is the stone cold truth as America is racist as ever and against Black People as always. be it at the Bank and fill in the blanks because Instituional Racism is alive and well and America has never shared the wealth and the Profit they have taken from Black People. this book speaks on the reality and the impact of what is not so long ago. schools and wall Street need to acknowledge the wealth they have obtained illegally off the blood, pain
and suffering of African Americans however who is gonna tell it? the White House, the CIA, FBI,Congress,etc.. all has benefited at putting Black People down
and this Book details in full effect. very moving and Powerful.

Mr. Rothstein's well researched book shows us that institutional racism exists throughout the US and at all levels of government. He calls these deliberate acts 'de jure' segregation. He makes the valid point that this needs to be deconstructed in a manner that uses the 3 branches of the federal government. This is markedly different from 'de facto' segregation, which implies racism exists in only some communities, and only in some groups. He proposes rewriting racist regulations and laws that overtly and covertly keep African-Americans from participating in the American dream.
His calm, thoughtful approach will help anyone travel the path towards a United States that allows all of its citizens to fully participate.

Read it and engrave it into your memory. The current political climate is caustic at best and it serves to only stock the fire that is racial bias.

Rothstein puts to rest the idea that minorities, especially African Americans, have the inherent ability to "pick themselves up by their bootstraps" by showing how deep the seeds of systemic racial bias are sown.

Use this information to guide your arguments and how you think of urban history. I strong recommend following this up with "family properties" by Satter and, though not a scholarly book, "a colony in a nation" by Hayes.

Taxes
Wages
Housing
Infrastructure
Education

All of the above are stacked against black people in the U.S.

This book presents the hard factual proof. And it was pretty hard to read.

This is a powerful work on how we (black people) got here. It was a very sad read that was hard to get through. The future does not look bright no matter how hard individuals work to change things. There is a vast, multi-faceted, government sponsored, system of oppression that will keep us in the lower tiers of American society forever if laws and policy doesn't enact changes to undo the damage that has been done.

REVIEW ARTICLE ON BOOK: The Color of Law: a forgotten history of how our government segregated America by Richard Rothstein, Liveright Publishing, New York, London, 2017, 345 pages

by Samuel A. Nigro, MD, retired psychiatrist, deplorable ad hominum pamphleteer,
copyright c 2017.

"Whatever the government allows, it encourages." Old Truism.

The subliminal racism of the government's de jure segregation is historically detailed in this book. It is an appalling undeniable story documenting the law is "it is a necessary evil" (with the emphasis on "evil"). The Color of Law is a "must read" for anyone interested in making America a wonderful and successful "E pluribus unum" place for all. The Color of Law helps you understand how it happened and what needs to be done. Sadly, it confines itself to the past and makes no mention of other more recent unfortunate consequences of the law.

"In the twentieth century, federal, state, and local officials did not resist majority opinion with regard to race. Instead, they endorsed and reinforced it, actively and aggressively" (page 216). The mentioned "majority opinion" was against integration because the people, as usual, had been conditioned to believe that "different" people were incompatible. Examples to the contrary were censored or not believed except as rare "exceptions." The press failed completely to help. Universal "virtue" was itself segregated, far from the ancient Greek proclamation that all in a successful society needed prudence, temperance, justice and courage (later expanded by the Catholic Church as the Gifts of the Holy Spirit: wisdom, understanding, counsel, knowledge, fortitude, piety, and fear of the Lord). Without basic virtue, or analogues, the people are no good and nothing will work well for very long--laws will be needed to reduce chaos, and those laws will be written by ignorant and virtue-less politicians who are as guilty as the ignorant and virtue-less people represented in their "color disease." Again, the press failed to influence the people to virtue, preferring to impose their editor/owner dictates.

Different people are incompatible...the original sin of the Founders as they embraced what they had been born into, taught and experienced. The Founders struggled with slavery but in the end succumbed to the world's millenia-old cultural norms and the pressures of those dependant on it. "Color," then as now, melts brains and hardens hearts, unless someone says "NO! I refuse to consider color except as a meaningless notation. In my mind, 'content of character' (virtue!) will replace 'color' every where, every time." This will not happen unless the people are into suggestible-virtue instead of suggestible diseases. And the fraud press must accept its cancerous complicity by supporting the law and advertising evils instead of virtue.

THE SUGGESTIBILITY DISEASES:

The "suggestibility diseases" are what The Color of Law details, without mentioning them. These diseases will continue until the people receive something from the First Amendment other than: advertising; social engineering; collective unconscious; propaganda; public relations; Asch GROUPTHINK to conformity; Eichmann benign SUGGESTIBILITY and immunity to evil and to the unnatural; Milgrim SHOCKMACHINE OBEDIENCE to the immoral; Zimbardo POWERMADNESS control; LAW WORSHIP capitalist LEGALISMS promoting the acting out of emotions instead of truth and justice; PRESSMEDIA fascist destruction of virtue, humanity, and transcendence, all replaced by liberal "feelings"; BlackLivesMatter VICTIMISM paralysis into hate or dependency; and, worst of all, college professor INDOCTRINATION (instead of "education") and SEDUCTION of students into self-deluded self-righteous liberal mega-arrogance. These suggestibility diseases are why we had slavery, Nazism, Communism, Maoism and most other socially accepted cultural entropy so harmful to mankind and the planet. And today, those are why we still have color as relevant. And, those suggestibility diseases are why we have dirty old men running everything, abortion, assisted suicide, euthanasia, haremfeminism, gay genital maniacs, an unnatural anti-gender culture of masturbation, love-less Islam, and a medical profession destroyed. Suggestiblity diseases are due to neurologically subtle "mirroring neurons" leading to conformity and pathological over-empathy, i.e., by neuro-reflexes, we become "like" the loud people around us and vulnerable to being told what to do and believers of whatever is said over and over--advertising from junk food to junk ideas. But The Color of Law confines itself to racism which is fine and a "first" cogent attack on law which needs attacking.

So every culture has its suggestibility disease bamboozing and corrupting the people--and they do not like it when you tell them. (Joseph Conrad: We are the savages we think others to be. Mary Shelley: We create monsters who will kill us. Joseph Tainter: Great cultures collapse and dissolve. Enlightenment-Age philosopher Voltaire said: “Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.” The answer begins: Do not be a "mirror" of others unless it is virtue or transcendence. Thus, it is not just "fight or flight" with everything, but, instead: "Fight, flight, mirror, or ultimate human purpose ,i.e., the Catholic Mantra of life, sacrifice, virtue, love, humanity, peace, freedom, and death without fear. The best way to do this is to reject and ignore all self-righteous arrogant politicians, judges, lawyers, journalists and media celebrities as manipulating dictators, fascists, tyrants, and royalty--unless transcendental, humane, and human.

THE ANSWERS:

Transcendence, humane interaction, and humanness are the answers. And those with power and suggestibility diseases do not have the faintest idea of what these are all about. These variables have little to do with height, weight, shape, color, hair style, subculture, and nationality, but how you are relating to yourself and others right now and always.

The Transcendentals:
1. Ens (Latin)—the being, i.e., what has existence.
2. Res (Latin)—the corporeal body or matter, i.e. the confluence of the being with matter completing it. It is the most visible dimension for those in the material
world. In nature, nature rules, neurochemistry and all, on how the being
manifests itself in nature. Bodies are needed to relate. They are our physical
being by which all interact with all.
3. Aliquid (Latin)—the identity or form of the being, i.e. the confluence of the being with its essence—for humans, not ethnicity, not color, nor anything but humanbeingness—the total embracing of humanity for us—in a word “catholic”—all for and with all.
4. Verum (Latin)--the truth of the being, i.e. the confluence of the being with reality and not fantasy—or for us humans, the confluence with real life and not television shows, movies, magazines, newspapers or figments of imagination from oneself or others.
5. Unum (Latin)—the oneness of the being, i.e. the confluence of the being with itself and all desirability related to it: its integrated, whole entirety.
6. Bonum (Latin)—the good of the being, i.e. the confluence of the being with proper function in nature, or for mental beings, with proper choice in Natural Law (or Rational Environmentalism).
7. Bellezza (“bella”) (Italian...preferred by the author to the Latin “pulchritude” for multicultural reasons)—the beauty of the being, i.e. its confluence with ascendancy or the “bringing out the best of itself and all around it. “
(These are the Catholic Trivium: being, body, identity; and the Catholic Quadrivium: truth, oneness, good, beauty. All are to be embraced, lived and loved for virtue, especially if racism is to be overcome.)

The Humane Interactional Variables are:
1. Living things are precious.
2. Selective ignoring.
3. Subdued spontaneity...non-self excluded.
4. Affect assistance.
5. Detached warmth and gentleness.
6. Non-reactive listening.
7. Conscious-of-consciousness capable creature (C2CC) centered candidness.
8. Peace and mercy.
(These require elaboration as can be found in my article "Make That Interaction Count" in Medcrave, Journal of Clinical Psychology and Psychiatry, 2015, 2(3): 00072--which also elaborates on transcendence and humanness. All are to be embraced, lived and loved for virtue, especially if racism is to be overcome.)

The Humanness Variables: The Community Universals (of Donald DeMarco, in part):
1. DIGNITY: Man should always be respected as an inviolable end and never used as a means.
2. UNITY: Man should be honored as a totum and whole entity; and none of his parts should be treated in isolation of that whole entity.
3. INTEGRITY: Man’s moral good should be upheld and his morality should never be divorced from his nature and Nature's God.
4. IDENTITY: Man has identity both as a member of the human race and as a unique individual and person; these identities should be valued and allowed to develop and no attempt made to deform or radically alter them.
5. SPIRITUALITY: Man’s spiritual qualities should be affirmed, and no attempt should be made to reduce man to his material components only or to limit man to what is merely natural.
6. LIFE: Man’s agency conflates and the self energy should transcendentally embrace all that is offered.
7. LIBERTY: Man’s contingency confronts and thought filled choices are to be made for desirables (what is truly "good", i.e., what is in concert with Nature and Nature's God).
8. PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS: Strategy consecrates by peace and mercy.
(These are essential for the "common good" of society and community. All are to be embraced, lived and loved for virtue, especially if racism is to be overcome.)

CONCLUSION:

Unfortunately, The Color of Law only describes what happens when suggestibility diseases reign in absence of transcendence, humane interaction, and humanness--qualities which otherwise could integrate to full human oneness by the ignoring and rejecting of color and all other fragmenting and entropic realities. Basically, the answer comes naturally but is difficult to articulate and is easily overwelmed by suggestibility diseases and power-mad lawyers eager to impose so-called "common good" which, almost always, is really only "good" for the mini-god judges, politicians, other lawyers and their "gangs"--the best word for most any and all groups/bureaucracies in government (excluding military, postal service, police and fire departments).

What is needed comes naturally in my opinion, but being a "minority of one against all others cannot well stand without reciprocation, support and positive examples of successful integration. Unless you understand the suggestibility diseases, one is easily corrupted into "me too." As Rothstein described, the law is more contemptible than respectable. I caution readers never to admit such, because, as Machiavelli described, those in power will destroy those who criticize. Better strategy is to feign "I respect the law" than announce "I fear the law." This is because the only meaningful differences between laws of different countries are who is destroyed and how--which are the two unconscious main functions of all laws.

Also, I notice that The Color of the Law has focused on past events relieving Rothstein of retaliation and hostility from contemporary legal potentates and their epidemic of self-enriching pseudo-messianic suggestibility diseases. He dares not conclude as a Great Course on "evil" once stated, that the law is "not interested in truth or justice but legalisms." In fact, I have discovered that the law is nothing but a capitalist money-making necessary evil reducing chaos as an unConstitutional "religion" with judges as mini-gods and lawyers as clergy. Robed ritualistic charades fill courtrooms. There is no art or science in law...the law is a necessary evil...or, at best, a pseudo-sport seeking suggestibility-victory, making money for all involved above all. Rothstein has played it safe and secure from retaliation when this very same book could be written about abortion--All his findings would apply today and even to the organization for which he works.

Today, abortion has replaced slavery--human DNA creatures, at a stage of life every human being had to go through; are property belonging to others; without rights; deprived of personal development and independence; without the right to choose for oneself; declared "non-persons" by law; not part of American "posterity;" deprived of life, liberty and pursuit of happiness; not allowed "created equal;" without descendants; promoted as a "necessary good" when exploited, dehumanized and misused by others including scientists; and inhumanly proclaimed "good" whenever destroyed. Abortion has replaced slavery--I wrote a song: "Dred Scott, Wounded Knee, Fraud Press and Children-to-Be" which should be sung at the start of every legal proceeding, but "free speech" is not allowed in courtrooms. This time, not color but size is made invisible by the Scientific Inquisition. You would not have wanted to be a slave...nor aborted. Suggestibility diseases reign again by government law--color is irrelevant--except 60 % of abortions are done on Negro babies. In time, those for abortion will be condemned as are those who were for slavery--human DNA creatures are being dehumanized. NOT HUMAN? SLAVERY BECAUSE OF COLOR....ABORTION BECAUSE OF SIZE...just more of "the huddled masses yearning to be free..." and another book: The Murder of Law...pending? But Rothstein's employer, the ACLU would not allow a comparable book on abortion as evil or on the law's comparable destruction of the Medical Profession. The law metastasizes everywhere by suggestibility diseases keeping the people compliant. And writers do not want to know the guilt of unwittingly doing what one has written about and exposed--just keep the law marching on as the unConstitutional "established religion" it has become, and still forgetting the latest law created evils.

I learned the answer to "race" in prison. The upper bunk belonged to a young adult Negro...nice guy, friendly, and not into the loud "N" word using group incoherence of a bunch of other Negros whom he and many other Negros avoided. His lower bunk had been empty for some time. As he read on his upper bunk, a newly arrived Caucasian guy comes over to the bunk carrying his box of belongings asking if this was lower bunk of bed number "x". Off the upper bunk in an agile flash, the Negro guy said "Yes, this is it" extending his hand. Then he said, "Hi. I am Chris and I am not black." The Caucasian guy put down his storage box and slowly moved his head scanning Chris, slowly extending his hand at the same time. "I am Tony...and I am not white." These two muscle bound toughs, each with many tattoos, eyed each other firmly, matching the hand shake. Chris calmly said he would help Tony settle in and offer advice when asked. Pleasantries went on and I saw transcendence, humane interaction and human community take off in colorless fashion, but only because color became openly irrelevant and denied significance. Obviously "content of character" blinded them to color and made them "one" living their full humanity even while in prison.

Color does not work, and its denial must be taught with many examples of suggestibility of positives instead of victimism. "Color" means "ulterior motives" and fragments humanity. Color must be made irrelevant. Color dehumanizes. Go blind everybody. Go blind. And live virtue, not the law.

ADDENDUM:

I personally will have no respect for the law until it treats itself as it treats all others. This means law malpractice penalties are retroactively imposed on the estates of all involved in unjust imprisonment--judges, prosecutors, investigators, and plea-bargain accepting defense lawyers cannot get away with the conflict-of-interest profit-making overcriminalization epidemic they have created. The penalties will start at $1million dollars per year (or fraction thereof) of unjust incarceration malpractice penalties from the estates of all responsible and from the law bureaucracy. This is because over 300 men have been released because of DNA clearance after accumulating over 6000 years of unjust imprisonment thru 2014. Another 149 were freed in 2015 for false imprisonment averaging 14 years in jail. Another 14 had already been executed! And nothing happens to those responsible. Basically, the law is contemptible and does not correct or penalize itself for malpractice--thereby repeating history on more than race. Unjust imprisonment is a good place to begin.

Interesting book on how the government ignored the Constitution to create segregate communities of African-Americans and Caucasians. I learned a lot and much made me angry. He gives the history of how and when this happened and remedies to correct the past. At times I didn't understand but he wrote so that I could understand the concept. He documents everything. I especially liked the FAQ section. Worth reading.

Every American should read this book. It thoroughly and convincingly documents the government's direct and indirect role in creating patterns of residential segregation that now dominate the national landscape. It shows how this patten has dramatically harmed African-Americans economically and harmed all of us seeking to build a just society. It helps explain choices made by New Deal proponents who needed Southern Democrats to hold their coalition. And it makes a compelling case for more dramatic remedies for segregation than those now familiar to our elected leaders. I cannot recommend it enough.

A very detailed account of how the US Government at all levels (state, local, federal) and both political leanings (Republican, Democrat, Liberal, Conservative) played a purposeful role in the segregation of African-American into sub-par housing. I'm thankful for this book because many of the elders in my family told me about these things, but it was not readily available to read about and sometimes to prove

There was nothing to like about the book other than it clearly and factually presented the reality of the economics of life in America. I wish Mr. Rothstein was wrong but his research is spot-on and explains very well why our problem of continual racism is still with us. Read it if you want your eyes opened as to why things are the way they are where we live and why.

This is a very important book for everyone to read. It makes you think twice about the way our communities are laid out across the urban landscape. The book illustrates how staggering the effects of public policy have been on people when compounded over time.

This books is superb - it surveys official acts of race discrimination in the U.S. and how they have affected education and wealth in black families and the layout and feel of American cities. Even people who know a lot about race, law, and Black history will find lots of new material to think about. The book is well organized and beautifully written.

Provocative!! Enlightening!! Working in this industry, I now have a new found respect and better insight when making decisions that effect the urban housing community. A must read for anyone that plays a role in the planning and development of housing communities both market rate and low income housing projects!

This isn't the first book on this topic but it's the first one I've read that explains the historical, legal, and economic causes and effects of segregation. And it suggests ways to fix it. It was the first time I've heard of de jure segregation and I can't wait to use this knowledge to help in my own way.

Has the American system of white supremacy succeeded in reserving economic success for white people over black people, to an extremely disproportionate degree? Read this book and it'll be difficult to argue otherwise ever again.

I didn't buy this book, but rather got it from my school's library. I thought the book was okay and doesn't break new ground in this genre of books. Redlining is a shameful past of our history, but the book is filled with anecdotal evidence and conjecture on how that point in history has extended to today. The book cites sources in the back, but it's difficult to trace the author's statements to a credible source. Some of his positions are based on interviews/correspondence with people's relatives. This book lacks empirical study, stats -- reads like a HS book reports that compiles documents and author's slant.

For example, on page 230 (hardcover) he explains that violence in the ghetto is attributed to lead poisoning since homes were old and used outdated material. The 'lead' thesis is an interesting one because classmates of mine during grad school looked into the problem here in my city (top 3 US largest city), and what the analysis would have one believe is that there is a correlation with high-crime and lead exposure, but where the study fell apart is that many of these same neighborhoods were once prominent and highly sought after and yet lead exposure then and now remained constant with crime only increasing in the last few decades.

I could go on, but I digress. I would recommend read some blogs on the subject than spend money.

Typical Non-Legal Scholarly Author
Writing About Legal Housing Discrimination Issues Attempting
To Appear Scholarly . Plus, He Appears
To Blames The Federal Housing
Authority For Creating " Federal And
Subsidized Jim Crow Housing And
Segregation " Which Is Ludicrous.