The Color of Public Education

Join us for an evening with Richard Rothstein, former columnist for the New York Times, a research associate at the Economic Policy Institute, as well as a Fellow at the Thurgood Marshall Institute of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. Rothstein, author of The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America, has spent years documenting the evidence that the government not merely ignored discriminatory practices in the residential sphere, but promoted them. The impact has been devastating for generations of African Americans who were denied the right to live where they wanted to live, and raise and school their children where they could flourish most successfully. While the Fair Housing Act of 1968 provided modest enforcement to prevent future discrimination, it did nothing to reverse or undo a century’s worth of state-sanctioned violations of the Bill of Rights, particularly the Thirteenth Amendment which banned treating former slaves as second-class citizens. So the structural conditions established by 20th century federal policy endure to this day. One of the results of segregated neighborhoods is segregated schools.

Richard Rothstein will present his research and facilitate a workshop with public school advocates, parents, teachers, and anyone who has a stake in truly integrated, well-funded public schools in North Carolina (that means everyone). We will also have dinner together.

View the Facebook event page for more information — and let us know you’re coming!