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Comments (22)

The Color of Law

a Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America
Community comments are the opinions of contributing users. These comments do not represent the opinions of Washington County Cooperative Library Services.
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Nov 07, 2022liokrieger rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
A great view on the history of U.S. housing policies that are rooted in systematic racism, and how these practices continue to impact people of the United States today. Rothstein puts an emphasis on how while yes, individual acts of racism…
Jun 04, 2022ACL_KalieM rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
Written by a white man and expresses some deeply questionable viewpoints about gentrification, but really helped me understand the history that has lead to present day segregation. A good primer on U.S. housing policy and a good case for…
Oct 27, 2021rjramirez rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
This book is structured as a legal argument in reaction to a series of Supreme Court decisions (e.g. 1973, 2007) that found that neighborhood segregation was de facto (by fact) rather than de jure (by law, i.e. government mandate.) A…
Mar 24, 2021CMLibrary_RGulledge rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
There simply aren't enough words to describe how poignant this book is in regard to the current political climate. It really hones in on so many factors that continue to restrict and disadvantage BIPOC in the US and I'd consider it…
Mar 04, 2021
I love that it’s a single entry for the title and not a separate entry per format. Much easier to scan and grasp the details quickly than with the current format.
Jan 07, 2021
I read up to about p 71
Dec 15, 2020knighted rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
I ended up in this book by wondering about the freeways and highways on the American cities . Why are they in small towns ? How did they get the land permission to build them? And why they separate cities and towns ? Anyway this book gave…
Oct 20, 2020Internetconnect rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
great important reading you won't be sorry. such a great book.
Oct 06, 2020Hillsboro_JeanineM rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
Sobering! I am stunned by this book and the realization of having grown up in a country (the United States) that has essentially practiced Apartheid. In college, I became aware of Nelson Mandela and Apartheid in South Africa but I have…
Sep 24, 2020pateljh rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
This is a reveling and disturbing book on how mistreated were African-Americans up until now! I used to blame Southern Whites for all the ills of African-Americans. This book tells us ALL OF US are equally responsible, either as direct…
Aug 17, 2020mattfromthecity rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
the writing, at times, can be a little dry, wonky, and dense, but this is a very good summation of the sins of our past and should be on the "must read" shelf of anyone looking to better their understanding of not just urban, but all of…
Feb 01, 2020DavidSpencer99 rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
When I hear a commentator like Jonah Goldberg bad-mouthing FDR’s administration, I can write it off as grousing by the losing side in America’s history of societal improvement. The Color of Law shows how the same administration promoted…
Oct 29, 2019patcarstensen rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
It makes a good case. Unfortunately, he is also realistic about the low chances for any solutions.
Apr 05, 2019acornsandnuts rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
An essential read.
Aug 08, 2018domthom rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
I thought this was going to be dull at first with fact after fact. However I'm glad I stuck with the book. It really goes into why areas / cities are mapped out in certain demographics today. Many of the stories in this book are…
Jul 15, 2018lynelliot rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
A well-documented history of the myriad ways in which laws and policies at all levels of government intentionally created segregation in America well into the the 1960's, and in some instances even more recently. The author clearly…
cjmccl18
Apr 16, 2018cjmccl18 rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
Richard Rothstein highlights policies along with anecdotes that demonstrate the racism and alienation of African Americans from the mainstream of society. With the inability to successfully integrate with policies that benefited their…
Apr 15, 2018peacebenow rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
I'd recommend this book to be on every US citizen's reading list. It's a sad, disgraceful yet extremely enlightening book. I had no idea how poorly African Americans have been treated in the 20th century by almost every sector of the US…
Nov 26, 2017voisjoe1_0 rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
This 2017 book explores the policies of the American government at the federal, state, and local levels by law (de Jure) have denied to African-Americans mortgages, equal wages, equal public educational opportunities. American history…
Jul 15, 2017lukasevansherman rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
While it's easy to depict racism in this country as accidental or because simply because people back then didn't know better, racism is systemic and more often than not the result of policy, but public and unofficial. Richard Rothstein's…
May 18, 2017
I knew some of this but not the extent that was sanctioned by US government. Horrible! Author of interviewed on NPR, https://goo.gl/WIXEOG.
May 04, 2017StarGladiator rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
This is a brilliantly researched and brilliantly written book, exhibiting the high-level legal reasoning so seldom seen today in the era of pure Fake News [and I was ranting about that before what's-his-face appeared on the political…