Rothstein writes, “If young people are not taught an accurate account of how we came to be segregated, their generation will have little chance of doing a better job of desegregating than the previous ones.” What can each of us do in our own communities to change how this history is taught in our schools?

Textbooks typically used in middle and high schools don’t describe government’s role in creating residential racial segregation.

What do you know about your own community and your local zoning policies during the 20 th century? How segregated or integrated is your community? What would it look like if your community were required to have its “fair share” of middle-class, minority and low- and moderate-income housing?.

What surprised you as you read The Color of Law ? Was this history known to you?.

Rothstein argues that racial segregation is the deliberate product of “systemic and forceful” government action, and so the government has a “constitutional as well as a moral obligation” to remedy it.

The result of these laws and policies not only created the segregated communities we now have, they are a primary cause of the wealth gap we see today between whites and African Americans in the United States as whites were able to take advantage of wealth building in homes whose value has soared over the decades. Laws and policies were enacted and enforced at the local, state and federal level that promoted discriminatory housing practices. In The Color of Law, Rothstein lays out the history of de jure segregation. Today we are going to share the resources and study questions from the book The Color of Law, by historian Richard Rothstein. To read more about this process, please read our previous blog post about the book club. They created a list of books dealing with these topics and began to read down the list.

Our Legislation Team decided that a book club would be a good way to begin discussions around race, equity, inclusion and justice. Tips for Parents of Students with Special Needs.Parents' Guide to Arts Education in California Public Schools.

Tips for Parents in a Tech-Crazed World.Making a difference for children and families

The colorof law