Richard Rothstein's book, like James Loewen's Sundown Towns changes the narrative about racism in the United States. Segregation, according to Sundown Towns was mostly done through organized intimidation and violence. Richard Rothstein expands the list of racist actors in the drama of apartheid to include the federal, state and local governments.
It is a compelling read, history that white people just don't know about. It calls out for a remedy, a legal way to restore our Constitutional rights after decades of racial oppression and injustice.
I think it is amazing the progress the left has made in revealing the structural basis for segregation in our country. All this at the same time as the right wing is stirring up racial hatreds to win elections again.
We have gone back to the income distribution of the Gilded Age. Who would have thought that we would also be reverting to the blatant racial hostility towards Blacks that characterized the 1890's. It is time for us to march together again for racial justice.
