Rooted In Public Policy:Housing Segregation Remains a Persistent Problem

Richard Rothstein discusses his book, The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America. He takes a bold stance on neighborhood segregation. In the book, Rothstein documents how American cities became so racially divided and he examines how federal, state, and local governments systematically imposed residential segregation. Rothstein examines how segregation in America—the incessant kind that continues to plaque our major cities and has contributed to so much recent social strife—is the byproduct of explicit government policies at the local, state, and federal levels.