White Space, Black Hood: Opportunity Hoarding and Segregation in the Age of Inequality

Wealth, resources, and opportunity are overwhelmingly concentrated in white, affluent U.S. neighborhoods, which have a long history of excluding Black people through racial zoning, redlining, and violence, according to this astute history. Georgetown University law professor Cashin (Loving) explores how these exclusionary practices continue to affect residents of American cities today. The Sandtown-Winchester neighborhood of West Baltimore, for instance, suffered after the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation gave it a “D” rating in the 1930s. Today, residents don’t have access to reliable public transportation, and recent plans to build a new light rail line were shelved by the state’s Republican governor, who funneled the money to road projects in “exurban and rural areas” instead. Cashin also details Lyndon Johnson’s refusal to heed the recommendations of the 1968 Kerner Commission report on the causes of racial uprisings in Black neighborhoods, and explains how Ronald Reagan used exaggerated claims about welfare fraud to slash the social safety net. Cashin’s levelheaded reform suggestions draw from real-world success stories, such as an outreach program in Richmond, Calif., where gun violence plummeted after “violence-prone” young men were given access to therapy, job training, and a monthly stipend. This is a well-researched and persuasive guide to a major source of inequity in the U.S. (Sept.)