Reviews with content warning for Death - The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America

Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America, by Richard Rothstein

4 reviews

crybabybea's review

challenging informative slow-paced

3.75

The Color of Law is an incredible resource for anyone looking to research and study systemic racism and the way housing was used as a weapon of oppression and aggression against the Black community since the implementation of the Thirteenth amendment, but especially in the 20th century. Richard Rothstein compiles evidence upon evidence of unfair housing opportunities and how it affected the generational wealth of the Black community vs. their white counterparts. He uses this evidence to support the theory that the segregation of today’s inner cities was in fact unconstitutional, racist, and a direct result of de jure segregation. The evidence seems insurmountable and nearly unbelievable as the names of politicians, government branches, school systems, and real estate agencies pile up.

The Color of Law demonstrates the way that Black people were set up from the beginning to fail, and that every attempt was made and succeeded to keep them in a lower class than white people. While white people were given ample opportunity to build their equity and generational wealth through the housing system, Black people literally had the odds stacked against them, and are so far buried under the affects of those decisions today that there is nearly no way out. Poverty was forced on the Black community through unfair housing opportunities, which, compounded with racist stereotypes and propaganda about Black people, left them abandoned by our country and the people in power.

This book was very educational. Every page was full of information and evidence, which did make it a bit hard to get through as it felt like reading a dry textbook at some points. That being said, for the purpose of this book, it did its job incredibly well and achieved its goal of counteracting the age-old argument that it is Black people’s actions and personal responsibility that they are where they are and deal with the issues they deal with. The Color of Law is a must-read for any activist who wants to educate themselves on systemic racism and arm themselves with information to fight against it. The reference opportunities that come from this book are endless, and would be a powerful weapon in the toolbox of every anti-racist activist.

Content Warnings

wanderonwards's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

4.5

This was a disturbing, infuriating, and necessary read. If you haven't picked this book up yet, you should.

Content Warnings

elyssajoh's review

Go to review page

challenging dark informative reflective slow-paced

3.0

Content Warnings

shannonxvx's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging informative reflective slow-paced

4.0

Content Warnings

More...