In February, Chapter President Kirsten Whetstone announced our first-ever Utah Chapter “Book Discussion” and the selection of our first book—The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein. This free event—which will be AICP CM credit eligible—will be accessible to any registered participants.

Have you been reading? If not, there is still time to buy, read or listen to this excellent book before our May 10^th online book discussion from 6:00 – 7:30 PM. The printed version is a manageable 251 pages long, and the unabridged audio version is 9 hours and 32 minutes. And this is not a dry, technical research-laden textbook. Rothstein’s work is approachable and readable by anyone interested in the topic—and planners owe it to themselves and their profession to read this book and know this history. And if you think you know it already, I challenge you to read it and tell me you did not learn anything new. In fact, I believe it will not only inform but will influence your perspective and actions.

For those unfamiliar with this critically important work, YouTube has more than a dozen different video lectures and interviews of the author discussing his book, including the following that was highly recommended by Chapter member Nikki Navio, Transportation Planner with the Wasatch Front Regional Council:

• https://www.segregatedbydesign.com/

Still not convinced? The Economic Policy Institute published the following book summary along with several “reader comments” that I hope will pique your interest.

“In The Color of Law (published by Liveright in May 2017), Richard Rothstein argues with exacting precision and fascinating insight how segregation in America—the incessant kind that continues to dog 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.

“To scholars and social critics, the racial segregation of our neighborhoods has long been viewed as a manifestation of unscrupulous real estate agents, unethical mortgage lenders, and exclusionary covenants working outside the law. This is what is commonly known as “de facto segregation,” practices that were the outcome of private activity, not law or explicit public policy. Yet, as Rothstein breaks down in case after case, private activity could not have imposed segregation without explicit government policies (de jure segregation) designed to ensure the separation of African Americans from whites.

When: May 10, 2021 06:00 PM Mountain Time (US and Canada)

Register in advance for this meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYvdOmqpzwtGtRHWWz6790VHphOZKUOpcmQ

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.