How did Chicago's neighborhoods get sorted by race? Rothstein's answer: the government did it on purpose.
For October, Strong Towns Chicago is reading The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein, a National Book Award longlist finalist for nonfiction in 2017.
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The common story is that segregation came from private actors: real estate agents steering buyers, banks refusing loans, neighbors signing restrictive covenants. Rothstein makes the case that none of that would have held without government backing. Federal mortgage underwriting, public housing siting, zoning, highway routing, and court decisions at every level enforced the separation of Black and white Americans. The Fair Housing Act of 1968 stopped some future discrimination but did little to undo what was already built.
Why a Strong Towns group is reading this
Much of what we work on today (zoning reform, middle housing, how the city pays for its infrastructure) sits on top of decisions made during this era. The development patterns Chicago lives with now were shaped by rules that were written, in part, to keep people apart. Understanding that history makes it easier to see why some rules exist and who they still serve.
Discussion topics will include:
Which of Rothstein's examples hit closest to Chicago, and what physical traces of them remain today
Where the policies he describes still shape zoning and housing rules in the city
Rothstein's proposed remedies, and whether they match what we think will work
How local control and fair housing goals fit together, or don't
Who should come
Anyone curious about how our city was built. You do not need to finish the book to join. If you only get through a few chapters, come anyway. The conversation works best with a mix of perspectives.
Want a head start? Rothstein discussed the book on NPR's Fresh Air (listen here).
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