![]() Whether one agrees with Rothstein’s argument or not, The Color of Law, is required reading for anyone who seeks to understand the history of segregation in the United States. 701 (2007), holding that use of race in assigning students to schools to achieve racial diversity is not a compelling government interest. ![]() He is not swayed by the continued distinction made between de jure segregation, that which is accomplished by legislation and governmental policy, and de facto segregation, racial imbalance due to personal decisions, in opinions such as Community Schools v. Popularized by Supreme Court majorities from the 1970s to the present, the de facto segregation myth has now been adopted by conventional, liberal and conservative alike,” Rothstein argues (pg. “Half a century ago, the truth of de jure segregation was well known, but since then we have suppressed our historical memory and soothed ourselves into believing that it all happened by accident or by misguided private prejudice. Longlisted for the 2017 National Book Award and one of Publishers Weekly’s 10 Best Books of 2017, Rothstein’s Color makes his case for the latter. Is racial segregation today the result of private choices or a lasting legacy of government-sponsored discriminatory policy? This is the question that Richard Rothstein sets out to answer in The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America (Liveright Publishing, 2017, 345p.). ![]()
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