Interview, Fireside Chat, Conference Presentation
Richard Rothstein, Author of "The Color of Law"
- Schools in the United States are projected to be more segregated today than at any point in the last 45 years, a condition attributed to the segregation of neighborhoods where those schools are located.
- Current exclusionary zoning ordinances continue to prevent the desegregation of neighborhoods originally established under federal housing policies and were designed with a racial purpose to create all-white communities.
- Homes built in federal suburban subdivisions in the late 1940s and early 1950s sold for approximately $7,000 to $8,000, equivalent to about $100,000 today, generating wealth appreciation for white families that African Americans could not access, as these properties no longer sell at that price point in any metropolitan area.
- A new civil rights movement is anticipated as essential for generating the political environment necessary to demand known remedies, with unprecedented enrollment of 25 million Americans in Black Lives Matter demonstrations cited as evidence of potential political momentum.
- Legislative action to address segregation is anticipated contingent on the emergence of a new political environment driven by civil rights awareness, though the timeline for such legislation remains uncertain.
- Immediate legislative action is not expected to occur in the immediate future, as the current political environment is not necessarily better than in past administrations.
- Policy focus must shift toward developing measures that promote an integrated society, as it is considered impossible to fully untangle the historical web of inequality caused by segregation.
- Future policy changes rely on the development of an "accurate and passionate discussion about race" to build the necessary political momentum to change existing policies.