We thank you for our first conversation last month on our severe housing shortages and the terrible history of exclusion. And we invite you to join us again on Sunday March 29th, for another opportunity to learn about housing equity and justice.The Advocates for Racial Justice group of Union Church look forward to your participation in an interactive dialogue on what we can know and what we can do, as we seek to achieve a more equitable and inclusive community.
Everyone and all ages are welcome, no preparation necessary-but these are easy-to-digest pieces create a helpful frame for the conversation we envision:
The Character of the Neighborhood-Rev. Howard Haywood, Newton TAB (op-ed), 1/21/15, during the Austin Street fight”
Special: Richard Rothstein, The Color of Law Mission YIMBY event“-Rothstein here gives a particularly clear and vivid version of the argument in his book (The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America). You can skip to 5:10, where his lecture begins. (Infill podcast, approx. 45 min)”
You have a better chance of achieving ‘the American dream’ in Canada than in America“-Ezra Klein interviews Raj Chetty, Aug. 2019 (both in written and podcast form, vox.com)
Historical Shift from Explicit to Implicit Policies Affecting Housing Segregation in Eastern Massachusetts (annotated timeline, Fair Housing Center of Greater Boston)
How ‘redlining’ dashed dreams, hurt neighborhoods (Lew Finfer, 5/29/19, Dorchester Reporter online) “
How Segregation Caused Your Traffic Jam” (Kevin Kruse, 8/14/19, NY Times)
Richard Rothstein, book talk Q&A (transcript, Harrisburg, PA, April 2019)
Route 128: Boston’s Road to Segregation (1975, joint report by Massachusetts State Advisory Committee to U.S. Commission on Civil Rights & Massachusetts State Commission Against Discrimination)
Newton Low-Moderate Income Housing Study (1968, excerpts-see especially, “Community Attitudes on Housing-The Dichotomy”)
Subsidized Housing in the Suburbs: Legislation or Litigation? (1971, Robert Engler’s MA thesis: “This thesis uses the state of Massachusetts and the Boston metropolitan area in particular to investigate the role of exclusionary zoning within the context of the current dimensions of the housing crisis for families of low and moderate income,” examines cases of Lexington and Newton; covers 1967 Aldermanic committee report on housing shortage, creation of NCDF, destruction of NDCF plan for several hundred units on 10 scattered sites, and more)