Week 1 Post 1

Week one notes

 Source- The Color of Law by Richard Rothstein

Preface-

  • 'De facto segregation'- segregation that came from private practice, such as white families moving out of neighborhoods when black families began moving in, not from actual policy
  • 'De Jure segregation'- segregation by law and public policy
  • Residential racial segregation violates the fifth, thirteenth, and fourteenth amendments..
  • The civil rights act of 1866 was interpreted as a way to prohibit actions that continued to perpetuate characteristics of slavery. But in 1883, the supreme court rejected this interpretation of the civil rights act, allowing these protections to be ignored in housing actions
  • In the 1965 supreme court decision for Jones, the court overturned its 1883 decision and decided the civil rights act upholds preventing housing discrimination after Jones was denied a house from the Alfred H. Mayer company solely due to him being black. 
  • The Fair Housing Act, signed by president Johnson, gave groups power to prevent housing discrimination with light enforcements
  • A supreme court decision was not always the deciding factor of whether something was constitutional
  • After WWII, many black veterans did not apply for government-guaranteed mortgages for suburban homes because they knew they would get rejected. Thus, they could not hold equity in property of the same value, causing their children and grandchildren to be in a position where there would already be disadvantaged compared to white people their age.
  • Without specific policies being enforced by the supreme court, it is impossible for the descendants of discriminated against black Americans to obtain reparations. 
  • In a 1974 attempt to desegregate Detroits public schools, the supreme court disagreed with lower court decisions that it was possible, and stated that it was by no government action that the city was incredibly segregated. 
  • In Detroit, FHA and VA for years advised for 'harmonious' neighborhoods, which was a dog whistle for 'racially-harmonious'. 
  • A 2007 court decision permitted school destricts to admit children to open spots in schools in a race-based way as an attempt to diversify schools, similar to affirmative action plans in higher education.
  • "Ghetto- an area where government has not only concentrated minorities, but has established barriers to its exit"
  • The word Ghetto has become stigmatized by the incorrect use of it, and affluent whites tend to not want to use this word, instead using terms such as 'inner city'





Chapter 1- If San Fransico, then everywhere?
  • Richmond is a city across from the central bay area of San Fransico. It has the greatest concentration of black people in the region. 
  • Richmond had the most extensive ship building complex in the nation during WWII, and then was a big oil rigging area
  • Frank Stevensen group up in Providence, Louisiana, once called 'poorest town in America'
  • Black childrens school year was shorter than that of white children since they were expected to work in white fields the rest of the year
  • The population of richmond went from 24k to 100k in 5 years during WWII
  • The population boom made housing unavailable for many, so public housing was built by the federal gov. The houses were segregated, and black neighborhoods were along the railroad tracks and intended to be temporary. 
  • The city was segregated in every public space, with gyms and community centers having African American hours
  • Rollingwood was created, a new suburb with 700 homes that were not to be sold to an African American
  • Half of Richmonds black population still lived in temporary war housing two years after WWII ended
  • In the 1950s, 75% of Richmonds black populations lived in projects since they could not get housing in new suburbs and permanent housing
  • In the early 1950s 4000 african americans were living in unincorporated makeshift homes
  • Police would stop black men in the streets in Richmond and arrest them if they could not prove employment, since they didn't want black people that weren't working for the war effort
  • Stevenson's job at the Ford plant was protected by a union contract that prevented Henry Ford from firing non-white workers when white veterans came home from war
  • When the ford plant moved, Ford agreed to allow all workers at the old plant, including 250 african americans, to keep their jobs. The suburb which the new factory was built in immediately put in place codes that only allowed single family housing (no apartments)
  • Milpita explicitly did not sell to AAs
  • The peninsula association of palo alto, near standford, was a coalition of people who could not find housing and wished to build a new area, but because there were three AA families, FHA would not insure loans to any of them
  • The leaders of teh commision told the FHA that they would ut quotas on AA in the coalition, but they still would not give them loans
  • The group eventually disbanded and the land was sold to develop Ladera
  • Blockbusting in Palo Alto became common with real estate agents scaring white families into selling so they could upcharge black families for the same homes
  • In 1954 an east Palo Alto white man sold his home to a black family
  • Once Palo Alto was integrated, whites could no longer move there with government insured mortgages
  • East Palo Alto became 82 percent black in six years
  • With the population growing so rapidly they decided to build noather school in the heart of East Palo Alto, completely segregating the schools by making all the blakc children go to the new east side school



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