When Affirmative Action Was White by Ira Katznelson

racial covenants in real estate contracts was common in cities like San Francisco). That seems to leave out the widespread use of city and state policy in the north to unfairly advantage whites over blacks (e.g. If I had to offer a 'criticism' it would be that the book lays almost all the blame for these policies on the South (the Southern Democrats to be specific). This is the US - a society where racism is an integral part of the system, not a mere bug in the system.

It should be read by every high school student in the country. To me, the bigger lesson is to understand how much government policy has been used to betray and exploit black people way after slavery. His purpose, to lay out a much stronger case for affirmative action is brilliant.but in some ways understates the implications of the book. Just read about the disgusting way that black troops in WWII were treated by their own military AND then were shut out of the GI Bill when they returned. Despite being written in such a neutral voice, I often found myself wanting to crumple over and cry. The writing is clear and precise and focuses on facts and rules and points to how the injustice was implemented. This book shows how black people were systematically held back from making it to middle class status. To my mind, this book shows the big picture. Topics like mass incarceration are hugely important, but even they fail to account for the widespread disadvantage that black people continue to face in 2018. In my mind, one of the big lessons is that structural racism is boring and buried in details. In terms of thinking about where the US stands today, this book might be the most important of the lot. I have reading a lot of books about the history of racial injustice in the US, from slavery to mass incarceration.

When Affirmative Action Was White by Ira Katznelson