This video breaks down the realities of segregation in Oakland–Please take a look and share, and join us for our event looking at solutions on 10/20
Your life chances in Oakland and elsewhere depend largely on where you are born.
And where you are born isn’t an accident of fate. It is usually dependent on past or present segregation that arose under the color of law.
The State of Black Education in Oakland brought the Black community together to review the history of segregation in West Oakland, its results, and what we can do now.
As Richard Rothstein explains in his book The Color of Law, Housing segregation was not just the product of poverty or even biased attitudes. It was created largely by U.S. government policy.
As FHA loans helped white people move to the suburbs, redlining forced black people to live in neighborhoods that were overcrowded, had fewer services, and were located in industrial or hazardous areas.
While black people and Mexican Americans fought these policies, In 1964, white precincts in Alameda overwhelming approved Prop 14, legalizing discrimination by landlords and property owners.
Today we see the legacies of government-created segregation through disparities in environmental stressers and health outcomes like asthma rates. And neighborhood has long been a predictor of access to schooling and school performance.
Beyond knowing this history, we must all join those who have been leading the decades long struggles for fair housing and school access. It’s time we stand up and demand that all children deserve to grow up in healthy neighborhoods and quality schools.
Dirk, I really appreciate your work. Thank you.
That does not explain the terrible disintegration of black families. Where did the respect go? Where did the churches go? Why do we have this life?