The Color of Law by Richard Rothstein
I appreciate this book so much I donated it to every 1L student at the University of Oklahoma College of Law. There is a myth in our country that the racial division in American cities was de facto segregation—meaning it happened through individual prejudices, income differences, or the actions of private institutions like banks and real estate agencies. The Color of Law incontrovertibly makes clear that it was de jure segregation — the laws and policy decisions passed by local, state, and federal governments — that actually promoted the discriminatory patterns that continue to this day. It is disgusting, and vital that we read it so we don’t make the same mistakes.
