Authors Leah Rothstein and Richard Rothstein.
Join us for a conversation and book signing featuring Richard Rothstein, distinguished New York Times bestselling author renowned for his groundbreaking work on race and segregation in America. Rothstein's earlier book, "The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America," is widely considered one of the most important and influential works on the subject. Joining him will be his daughter and co-author of his latest book, “Just Action: How to Challenge Segregation Enacted Under the Color of Law," Leah Rothstein, a highly respected housing policy consultant.
Richard and Leah's new co-authored book, “Just Action" provides a crucial blueprint for action for concerned citizens and community leaders alike. Their new work describes dozens of tangible strategies that readers and supporters can undertake in their own communities to make their commitment real, producing victories that might finally challenge residential segregation and help remedy America's profoundly unconstitutional past. Richard and Leah will be joined by City of Chicago Housing Commissioner Marisa Novara.
ASL interpretation will be provided.
This event is sponsored by btcRE LLC and is in partnership with Seminary Co-op Bookstores and the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE).
“Just Action” is just the book we need right now. Wise in its insistence on residential segregation as the country’s number-one racial problem, optimistic in its lighting of an achievable path forward, it will enhance and focus the country’s quest for racial justice. —Nicholas Lemann, staff writer at The New Yorker and former dean of the Columbia School of Journalism
Your support helps the National Public Housing Museum promote housing as a human right. Any donations made for this event will be matched dollar-for-dollar up to $5,000 by our generous sponsor, btcRE LLC! Double your impact by giving today. Can’t make the event? You can still make a donation!
About the Book
In the six years since its initial publication, “The Color of Law,” "the most forceful argument ever published on how federal, state, and local governments gave rise to and reinforced neighborhood segregation" (William Julius Wilson), has become a landmark work, which—through its nearly one million copies sold—has helped to define the fractious age in which we live. Aware that twenty-first-century segregation continues to promote entrenched inequality, Richard Rothstein has now teamed with housing policy expert Leah Rothstein to write “Just Action,” a blueprint for action for concerned citizens and community leaders alike. This book describes dozens of activities that readers and supporters can undertake in their own communities to make their commitment real, producing victories that might finally challenge residential segregation and help remedy America's profoundly unconstitutional past.
About the Speakers
Richard Rothstein
Richard Rothstein is the author of “The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America.” A Distinguished Fellow of the Economic Policy Institute, the Thurgood Marshall Institute of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and of the Haas Institute at the University of California (Berkeley). In addition to his recent book, “The Color of Law,” he is the author of many other articles and books on race and education, which can be found at his web page at the Economic Policy Institute. Previous influential books include Class and Schools: Using Social, Economic and Educational Improvement to Close the Black-White Achievement Gap, and Grading Education: Getting Accountability Right.
Leah Rothstein
Leah Rothstein has worked on public policy and community change, from the grassroots to the halls of government. She led the Alameda County and San Francisco probation departments’ research on reforming community corrections policy and practice to be focused on rehabilitation, not punishment. She has been a consultant to nonprofit housing developers, cities and counties, redevelopment agencies, and private firms on community development and affordable housing policy, practice, and finance. Her policy work is informed by her years as a community organizer with PUEBLO and Californians for Justice, working on housing, public safety, environmental justice, and youth leadership, and as a labor organizer with the Union of Needletrades, Industrial, and Textile Employees (UNITE).
Marisa Novara
Marisa Novara was appointed Commissioner of the Department of Housing (DOH) by Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot in May 2019. Believing that housing is a human right, Commissioner Novara directs the City’s efforts to create equitably distributed affordable housing across Chicago’s 77 community areas through policies, development, and legislation.
About the Sponsor
btcRE LLC is a boutique real estate development, investment, and advisory firm that brings hands-on, institutional-caliber expertise to revitalize properties, communities, and organizations. The firm redevelops underutilized, mid-sized properties located in dense, urban settings that require proactive, hands-on ownership to maximize value. btcRE also provides strategic counsel to leadership teams of for-profits, non-profits, and government entities.
btcRE cares deeply about the communities in which it works, driven by integrity and a sharp focus on increasing attainability of housing through ground-up development as well as renovation – renovation of properties and renovation of exclusionary policies that limit opportunities for so many today.
btcRE is led by University of Pennsylvania - Wharton graduates and college friends Brian R. Iammartino, CFA and M. Ryan Gorman. In addition to managing the daily operations of btcRE, Iammartino is an Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, from which he also received his master’s degree, and an expert in public and non-profit financial management, state and local budgeting, and urban policy. Gorman is an urban planning wonk, former investment banker and private equity professional. He most recently served as CEO of a $5 billion global real estate organization.
Learn More
Listen to “Legally Stolen,” our three-episode podcast that features interviews with Richard Rothstein.
The series was produced with our Artist as Instigator Tonika Lewis Johnson as part of her project, Inequity for Sale, a virtual and physical exploration of homes sold on Land Sale Contracts in the 50s and 60s.