Thanks for Wayne Hare’s article on Portland segregation (“ ‘Alienated’ in Portland,” HCN, 5/28/18). The process by which blacks are segregated and redlined is common everywhere. Our church here in Louisville, Kentucky, recently hosted a four-part series on systemic racism. We learned there that the same thing happened here — and happens everywhere. I had no idea that the Federal Housing Authority deliberately ensured that blacks were unable to get mortgages. Discrimination expert Richard Rothstein, whom Wayne mentions, has written a book, The Color of Law, which goes into great detail about the whole process. Heavy reading, but worth it.
Joy Jamison
Louisville, Kentucky
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Systemic discrimination.
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