The Color of Law A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein (z-lib.org).epub

We should not overemphasize the extent to which behavioral change can
overcome ghetto conditions for which we, the broader community, are
responsible. Lead poisoning is an example. Nationwide, African American
children have dangerous and irreversible lead-in-blood levels at twice the
rate of white children. The difference is attributable mostly to being trapped
in neighborhoods with deteriorated housing stock, where lead paint peels
from walls and lead pipes deliver water to homes and schools. When
developing brains absorb lead (which then blocks necessary calcium),
children’s ability to develop self-control diminishes. Lead poisoning predicts
teenagers’ risky behaviors and young adults’ greater violent or criminal
activity. Because Flint, Michigan, used a lead-polluted water supply in 2014
and 2015, for example, we can reasonably predict an uptick in violence
when the city’s children (most of whom are African American) reach
adolescence and young adulthood.
Certainly, it would be better if every young African American man
resisted adopting an oppositional and alienated stance. But for all of us,
reform of the political and economic institutions that encourage that posture
is essential. Neither can wait upon the other.
Isn’t the real reason that African Americans can’t escape the ghetto that
so many are single mothers who can’t or don’t raise their children
properly? Shouldn’t we encourage them to wait until marriage to have
children, so they will be better able to raise their children properly?
Government policies that segregated this nation were directed primarily at
African American working- and middle-class two-parent families with
children. Frank Stevenson and his family who were prohibited from living in
Milpitas, Vince and Robert Mereday and their families who were prohibited
from living in Levittown, Wilbur and Borece Gary, Bill and Daisy Myers,
Andrew and Charlotte Wade, and thousands like them who were met with
police-protected violence when they attempted to occupy their homes, were
not single mothers with children. Single parenthood as a reason to resist
integration is an afterthought, a rationalization for inaction.
Birth rates of African American women have been declining, much more
rapidly for teenagers than for adults. Better education about contraception