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Just Action: How to Challenge Segregation Enacted Under the Color of Law Hardcover – June 1, 2023

by Leah Rothstein (Author), Richard Rothstein (Author)

54 ratings

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The Color of Law brilliantly recounted how government at all levels created segregation. Just Action describes how we can begin to undo it.

In his best-selling book The Color of Law, Richard Rothstein demolished the de facto segregation myth that black and white Americans live separately by choice, providing “the most forceful argument ever published on how federal, state, and local governments gave rise to the reinforced neighborhood segregation” (William Julius Wilson). This landmark work―through its nearly one million copies sold―has helped to define the fractious age in which we live.

The Color of Law’s unrefuted account has become conventional wisdom. But how can we begin to undo segregation’s damage? “It’s rare for a writer to feel obligated to be so clear on solutions to the problems outlined in a previous book,” writes E. J. Dionne, yet Richard Rothstein―aware that twenty-first-century segregation continues to promote entrenched inequality―has done just that, teaming with housing policy expert Leah Rothstein to write Just Action, a blueprint for concerned citizens and community leaders.

As recent headlines informed us, twenty million Americans participated in racial justice demonstrations in 2020. Although many displayed “Black Lives Matter” window and lawn signs, few considered what could be done to redress inequality in their own communities. Page by page, Just Action offers programs that activists and their supporters can undertake in their own communities to address historical inequities, providing bona fide answers, based on decades of study and experience, in a nation awash with memes and internet theories.

Often forced to respond to social and political outrage, banks, real estate agencies, and developers, among other institutions, have apologized for past actions. But their pledges―some of them real, others thoroughly hollow―to improve cannot compensate for existing damage. Just Action shows how community groups can press firms that imposed segregation to finally take responsibility for reversing the harm, creating victories that might finally challenge residential segregation and help remedy America’s profoundly unconstitutional past. 15 black-and-white illustrations

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"[Just Action] is admirably light on self-righteous political bromides and heavy on practicality . . . Their guide can offer valuable history and perspective."
― Mark Whitaker, Washington Post

"Historian Richard Rothstein, whose book The Color of Law exposed how federal, state, and local laws have perpetuated segregation, teams with his daughter, community organizer and housing-policy expert Leah Rothstein, to argue forcefully that residential segregation underlies the nation’s social problems . . . A thoughtful, pragmatic manual for reform."
― Kirkus Reviews

"[An] impassioned guide to ending residential segregation in America . . . Throughout, inspiring stories of people uniting to preserve their communities and redress segregation are interwoven with nitty-gritty policy details. It’s a comprehensive and inspiring guide to solving a pressing social problem."
― Publishers Weekly

"Now what? It’s asked by many when facing brutal truths of racial discrimination and segregation. Just Action answers, offering hope. It defies the darkness of segregation’s legacy by provoking our imaginations and providing examples of efforts that confront its impacts. This book will change minds, inspire public will and revive communities."
― Rev. Natosha Reid Rice, vice president of Habitat for Humanity International, chair of the Redress Movement, and Minister for Public Life at All Saints Episcopal Church in Atlanta

"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

"The Color of Law exposed stark truths about how we became separate and unequal. Just Action is as profound: it contains plain, concrete actions we can take to be agents of change in the neighborhoods where we live, moving our nation closer to the ideals upon which it was founded. Just Action is the book America needs for this moment."
― Lisa Rice, president of the National Fair Housing Alliance

"The Color of Law brilliantly demonstrated the brutal decisions that separated us. Just Action answers the question, 'What can we now do to change?' While federal policies are mired in polarization, this very hopeful new book raises a myriad of ethical choices and suggests concrete policy decisions that can transform our lives, our country, and our sense of community."
― Jim Wallis, director, Georgetown University’s Center on Faith and Justice, bestselling author of God’s Politics

"This important book is an urgent call to action to finally end the neighborhood segregation that was so insightfully documented in The Color of Law. It demands that we open a conversation on what we can do. As our country confronts its racial reckoning, Just Action will be an important source from which clergy, civic, and community leaders can draw strategic wisdom."
― Rabbi Jonah Pesner, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism

"The authors propose a number of good ideas―being implemented in real places―to combat racial discrimination and support economically disadvantaged people of all races . . . Just Action does an admirable job of laying out a number of promising ideas that activists can push localities, states, and the federal government to pursue in order to provide Black people with greater protection against racial discrimination and help uplift disadvantaged people of all races."
― Richard D. Kahlenberg, Washington Monthly

About the Author

Leah Rothstein’s expertise in the full range of housing policy stems from more than two decades of experience as a consultant to affordable housing developers and local governments and as a community and union organizer. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Richard Rothstein, the author of The Color of Law and father to co-author Leah Rothstein, has written many books and articles on educational policy and racial inequality. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Liveright
Publication date ‏ : ‎ June 1, 2023
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Print length ‏ : ‎ 352 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1324093242
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1324093244
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.2 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.4 x 1.2 x 9.4 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #109,681 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #134 in Discrimination & Racism
- #225 in Cultural Anthropology (Books)
- #1,176 in United States History (Books)

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Baraka
The Essential “How to” for Combatting Residential Segregation.
Reviewed in the United States on June 13, 2025
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

Residential segregation is overall the most detrimental thing that has and still is affecting the African American experience besides slavery itself on a macro level and I maintain that.
Historical de jure residential segregation practiced by state and local officials with the cooperation and encouragement of the federal government created America’s urban ghettos. The illumination and de-sanitization of this history is covered in this book’s predecessor “The Color of Law”
“Just Action” puts forth suggestions on how these problems can be remedied. The racial homogeny of certain areas may not be something that needs “fixing,” but the resulting racial disparities can be mitigated with both civil and governmental action.
There’s not a suggestion of a concrete “plan” as much as there are bits and pieces of ideas which, if committed to, can lead to a truly more equitable society for all Americans.

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Baraka

The Essential “How to” for Combatting Residential Segregation.

Reviewed in the United States on June 13, 2025
Residential segregation is overall the most detrimental thing that has and still is affecting the African American experience besides slavery itself on a macro level and I maintain that.
Historical de jure residential segregation practiced by state and local officials with the cooperation and encouragement of the federal government created America’s urban ghettos. The illumination and de-sanitization of this history is covered in this book’s predecessor “The Color of Law”
“Just Action” puts forth suggestions on how these problems can be remedied. The racial homogeny of certain areas may not be something that needs “fixing,” but the resulting racial disparities can be mitigated with both civil and governmental action.
There’s not a suggestion of a concrete “plan” as much as there are bits and pieces of ideas which, if committed to, can lead to a truly more equitable society for all Americans.

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Will Wheaton
Not as good as color of Law
Reviewed in the United States on February 18, 2024
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
Good read still very informative.

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4 people found this helpful

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imps
A MANDATE
Reviewed in the United States on November 2, 2023
Format: Hardcover
This is a wonderful sequel to the compellingly documented book by Richard Rothstein “The Color of Law”. For those of us interested in righting the wrongs of government-sponsored segregated housing in our neighborhoods, here is a thoughtful attempt to engage us on what to do about this NOW. Highlighting successful efforts used throughout the country, we are handed a mandate. Anyone up to the challenge?

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LaShanda
Plan of Action!!!
Reviewed in the United States on September 16, 2024
Format: Hardcover
I read “The Color of Law” in 2021, so I was excited to pick up the sequel, “Just Action: How to Challenge Segregation Enacted Under the Color of Law”. This time, Richard Rothstein teams up with his daughter Leah to show how regular people can step up and fix the housing policy mess we’re stuck in. While “The Color of Law” focused on the history of these issues, “Just Action” goes further by giving a practical guide with real examples of communities making positive changes. If you care about racial justice and want to do more than just talk about it, this book shows you how to act.

Let’s hope policymakers and lawmakers finally listen and address the housing crisis in this country. A huge thanks to NetGalley, the publisher & authors for the opportunity to read this advance copy of this book.

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Amazon Customer
Just Actions-much needed follow-up to Color of Law
Reviewed in the United States on December 2, 2023
Format: Audible Audiobook
Lots of powerful actions to take. Our book club has become an advocacy group to actually take on some of the ideas in the book. Thank you!!!

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3 people found this helpful

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Lava
Commendable work with a fatal flaw
Reviewed in the United States on October 29, 2023
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
Neither Just Action nor The Color Of Law speaks about the massacre in Tulsa. Both of them show the long standing, nationwide spread of residential segregation. The second of the two is very encouraging, for not only showing how scams and exploitation work, but how some places successfully countered it.

The strongest housing solution seems to be donating part of realtor commissions to affordable housing.
The real estate industry has the greatest power to do the most.
The weakest solution is improving Section 8 vouchers. I can't help think of the New Deal suburbs. The more people applied, the more got homes. Today: the more dollars a voucher is worth, the fewer are given. So if a voucher holder moves to a "better" area, the waiting list FOR a voucher gets longer.

I'm not sure if Rich Rothstein is correct that teachers are unafraid...and perhaps unstoppable in teaching correct history. My home state is in an ugly verbal/political war over schooling.

He and Leah Rothstein are unintentionally hurting this cause by making FOUR references to the so-called murder of George Floyd. It's too bad. A very good blog, Justice Denied, says the police did NOT kill Floyd; he killed himself with more-than-lethal doses of more than six drugs. There are many sober, non-drug-users who could illustrate excessive police force.
The same goes for the Sandy Hook, uh, massacre. It's not very encouraging to know that my segregation/discrimination case will be fought by a lawyer who sued over imaginary children. There are other, real, non-disputed famous catastrophes - the Tulsa example and the accident in Halifax, which were about five years apart. Modern examples must exist.
To campaign for civil rights, one shouldn't use an example that is false. When readers find out your illustrative example of excessive police force is false, they will distrust everything else you have to say.

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3 people found this helpful

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W. Davis
Not a well produced follow up to Color of Law
Reviewed in the United States on August 7, 2023
Format: KindleVerified Purchase
I read Color of Law in 2019, and found it to be my number 1 recommendation for the next three years. I’ve based my company talks around many of the stories. I’ve served on boards that have brought Rothstein to industry continuing ed. I love that book, and it’s role in a national narrative regarding Fair Housing cannot be overstated.
Just Action is NOT similar. It is a hodgepodge of ideas without clear results of things people can do. And while I applaud all the communities that are trying to build more equitable institutions, this book, while fun to read, isn’t a guide to how to make change happen. This is sold as a roadmap. Instead, it is 200 roads outlined without showing an intersection, a key to road surface type, elevation change, or destination. The are no service stations identified along the way. It’s just the squiggles.
The stories are beautiful suggestions and ideas, but not something that municipalities or even DEI workgroups can use successfully to initiate change. I still recommend people read it, but it won’t guide the way Color of Law did.

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6 people found this helpful

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aew
Thoughtful & Well Researched
Reviewed in the United States on June 4, 2023
Format: Hardcover
I'm so glad that Richard Rothstein & Leah Rothstein wrote this book! It's a follow up to Mr. Rothstein's book, The Color Of Law, which I highly recommend. I have learned so much reading both of these books. Just Action stands on it's own; you don't need to read The Color Of Law first. The Color Of Law focused on the US Government's sanction and enforcement of racism in housing policy. Just action, blends information about past (and current) racist policies with insight into what can be done to lesson the effects and harm done by these policies. This book is a must read for anyone interested in racial justice in the USA. I hope it will be widely read.

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