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Freedom to Discriminate : How Realtors Conspired to Segregate Housing and Divide America by Gene Slater (2021, Hardcover)
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About this product
Product Identifiers
PublisherHeyday
ISBN-101597145432
ISBN-139781597145435
eBay Product ID (ePID)8050408060
Product Key Features
Book TitleFreedom to Discriminate : How Realtors Conspired to Segregate Housing and Divide America
Number of Pages456 Pages
LanguageEnglish
TopicHousing & Urban Development, Discrimination & Race Relations, Public Policy / City Planning & Urban Development, Economics / General
Publication Year2021
IllustratorYes
GenreLaw, Political Science, Social Science, Business & Economics
AuthorGene Slater
FormatHardcover
Dimensions
Item Height1.3 in
Item Weight28.9 Oz
Item Length9 in
Item Width6 in
Additional Product Features
LCCN2021-010218
Reviews"Although I've been writing about issues of racial justice much of my life, this remarkable book taught me some things I didn't know--and explains why most of our towns and cities today are as segregated as ever. Gene Slater shows, in behind-the-scenes detail, how the seldom-scrutinized real estate industry is as powerful as the police and the prison-industrial complex in denying Black Americans their rights."-- ADAM HOCHSCHILD , author of Bury the Chains: Prophets and Rebels in the Fight to Free an Empire's Slaves " Freedom to Discriminate is a revelatory examination of the powerful role that realtors historically played in normalizing structural racism. By reframing the segregation debate through the lens of the realtor lobby, Gene Slater offers new insights into well-known practices and deepens our understanding of how property rights became sacred in California--with consequences that are all too evident today."-- MIRIAM PAWEL , author of The Browns of California and The Crusades of Cesar Chavez, "A searing account of how the professional gatekeepers of America's neighborhoods--realtors--constructed and reconstructed the ideas that anchored the gates of residential segregation, as told by someone who spent a career trying to tear them down. Mining the largely unexcavated records of realtors themselves, many of them smoking guns, Freedom to Discriminate offers a critical perspective on the history of housing discrimination: how its ostensibly race-neutral defense helped shape American political conservatism and, ultimately, underpin the yawning contemporary racial wealth gap."-- MARK BRILLIANT , Associate Professor, Department of History, and Director, Program in American Studies, University of California, Berkeley "Slater's richly researched and persuasive account of planned housing segregation in the United States opens the door to a shameful part of our history, the effects of which reverberate to this day. This work should be read by all who are interested in America's current racial predicament."-- ANNETTE GORDON-REED , author of On Juneteenth "They told a Big Lie--that Black neighbors lower property values--then made it true. They forged an iron cage of legal and institutional restriction, then called it 'individual choice.' They invented an 'American dream' they systematically denied to millions of Americans. The endless resourcefulness of America's real estate industry in building and maintaining a racist system in the twentieth century is an astonishment to behold. Slater tells the story with brilliance and clarity."-- RICK PERLSTEIN , author of Reaganland "A fascinating and timely look at how the seemingly innocuous idea of consumer choice can fuel insidious racism and discrimination. Slater's rigorous analysis is an excellent addition to the history of the United States, before and after Martin Luther King implored the nation to dismantle its racial hierarchies."-- MARCIA CHATELAIN , author of Franchise , winner of the 2021 Pulitzer Prize in History "Although I've been writing about issues of racial justice much of my life, this remarkable book taught me things I didn't know. Slater shows how the seldom-scrutinized real estate industry is as powerful as the police and the prison-industrial complex in denying Black Americans their rights."-- ADAM HOCHSCHILD , author of Bury the Chains "Revelatory. By reframing the segregation debate through the lens of the realtor lobby, Slater offers new insights into well-known practices and deepens our understanding of how property rights became sacred in California--with consequences that are all too evident today."-- MIRIAM PAWEL , author of The Browns of California "This breathtaking book finds the demons of twenty-first century America not in our nation's founding documents, but in our very own houses. Slater unearths the history of how California realtors--of all people--redefined the meaning of freedom in ways that still segregate and polarize the entire country today."-- JOE MATHEWS , California columnist and editor, Zócalo Public Square " Freedom to Discriminate shows us in lucid detail how the marketplace of property shapes the everyday economics of racism, and how the discourse of property enables the politics of racism."-- TONY PLATT , author of Beyond These Walls, "Although I've been writing about issues of racial justice much of my life, this remarkable book taught me some things I didn't know--and explains why most of our towns and cities today are as segregated as ever. Gene Slater shows, in behind-the-scenes detail, how the seldom-scrutinized real estate industry is as powerful as the police and the prison-industrial complex in denying Black Americans their rights."-- ADAM HOCHSCHILD , author of Bury the Chains: Prophets and Rebels in the Fight to Free an Empire's Slaves " Freedom to Discriminate is a revelatory examination of the powerful role that realtors historically played in normalizing structural racism. By reframing the segregation debate through the lens of the realtor lobby, Gene Slater offers new insights into well-known practices and deepens our understanding of how property rights became sacred in California--with consequences that are all too evident today."-- MIRIAM PAWEL , author of The Browns of California and The Crusades of Cesar Chavez "Gene Slater's Freedom to Discriminate shows us in lucid detail how the marketplace of property shapes the everyday economics of racism; and how the discourse of property enables the politics of racism."-- TONY PLATT , author of Beyond These Walls: Rethinking Crime and Punishment in America, "In Freedom to Discriminate , Gene Slater, who has spent four decades as a consultant to states and municipalities on housing policy, makes a powerful case that California''s real estate brokers not only originated a system of residential segregation that became a model for the entire nation, but also effectively mobilized support for Proposition 14 by invoking the central idea in America''s political vocabulary: freedom. [...] Providing a template for opposition to an overbearing liberal state, Slater argues, the successful campaign for Proposition 14 laid the foundation for the rise of modern American conservatism."-- Eric Foner , Los Angeles Review of Books "A searing account of how the professional gatekeepers of America''s neighborhoods--realtors--constructed and reconstructed the ideas that anchored the gates of residential segregation, as told by someone who spent a career trying to tear them down. Mining the largely unexcavated records of realtors themselves, many of them smoking guns, Freedom to Discriminate offers a critical perspective on the history of housing discrimination: how its ostensibly race-neutral defense helped shape American political conservatism and, ultimately, underpin the yawning contemporary racial wealth gap."-- MARK BRILLIANT , Associate Professor, Department of History, and Director, Program in American Studies, University of California, Berkeley "Slater''s richly researched and persuasive account of planned housing segregation in the United States opens the door to a shameful part of our history, the effects of which reverberate to this day. This work should be read by all who are interested in America''s current racial predicament."-- ANNETTE GORDON-REED , author of On Juneteenth "They told a Big Lie--that Black neighbors lower property values--then made it true. They forged an iron cage of legal and institutional restriction, then called it ''individual choice.'' They invented an ''American dream'' they systematically denied to millions of Americans. The endless resourcefulness of America''s real estate industry in building and maintaining a racist system in the twentieth century is an astonishment to behold. Slater tells the story with brilliance and clarity."-- RICK PERLSTEIN , author of Reaganland "A fascinating and timely look at how the seemingly innocuous idea of consumer choice can fuel insidious racism and discrimination. Slater''s rigorous analysis is an excellent addition to the history of the United States, before and after Martin Luther King implored the nation to dismantle its racial hierarchies."-- MARCIA CHATELAIN , author of Franchise , winner of the 2021 Pulitzer Prize in History "Although I''ve been writing about issues of racial justice much of my life, this remarkable book taught me things I didn''t know. Slater shows how the seldom-scrutinized real estate industry is as powerful as the police and the prison-industrial complex in denying Black Americans their rights."-- ADAM HOCHSCHILD , author of Bury the Chains "Revelatory. By reframing the segregation debate through the lens of the realtor lobby, Slater offers new insights into well-known practices and deepens our understanding of how property rights became sacred in California--with consequences that are all too evident today."-- MIRIAM PAWEL , author of The Browns of California "This breathtaking book finds the demons of twenty-first century America not in our nation''s founding documents, but in our very own houses. Slater unearths the history of how California realtors--of all people--redefined the meaning of freedom in ways that still segregate and polarize the entire country today."-- JOE MATHEWS , California columnist and editor, Zócalo Public Square " Freedom to Discriminate shows us in lucid detail how the marketplace of property shapes the everyday economics of racism, and how the discourse of property enables the politics of racism."-- TONY PLATT , author of Beyond These Walls, "In Freedom to Discriminate , Gene Slater, who has spent four decades as a consultant to states and municipalities on housing policy, makes a powerful case that California''s real estate brokers not only originated a system of residential segregation that became a model for the entire nation, but also effectively mobilized support for Proposition 14 by invoking the central idea in America''s political vocabulary: freedom. [...] Providing a template for opposition to an overbearing liberal state, Slater argues, the successful campaign for Proposition 14 laid the foundation for the rise of modern American conservatism."-- ERIC FONER , Los Angeles Review of Books "A searing account of how the professional gatekeepers of America''s neighborhoods--realtors--constructed and reconstructed the ideas that anchored the gates of residential segregation, as told by someone who spent a career trying to tear them down. Mining the largely unexcavated records of realtors themselves, many of them smoking guns, Freedom to Discriminate offers a critical perspective on the history of housing discrimination: how its ostensibly race-neutral defense helped shape American political conservatism and, ultimately, underpin the yawning contemporary racial wealth gap."-- MARK BRILLIANT , Associate Professor, Department of History, and Director, Program in American Studies, University of California, Berkeley "Slater''s richly researched and persuasive account of planned housing segregation in the United States opens the door to a shameful part of our history, the effects of which reverberate to this day. This work should be read by all who are interested in America''s current racial predicament."-- ANNETTE GORDON-REED , author of On Juneteenth "They told a Big Lie--that Black neighbors lower property values--then made it true. They forged an iron cage of legal and institutional restriction, then called it ''individual choice.'' They invented an ''American dream'' they systematically denied to millions of Americans. The endless resourcefulness of America''s real estate industry in building and maintaining a racist system in the twentieth century is an astonishment to behold. Slater tells the story with brilliance and clarity."-- RICK PERLSTEIN , author of Reaganland "A fascinating and timely look at how the seemingly innocuous idea of consumer choice can fuel insidious racism and discrimination. Slater''s rigorous analysis is an excellent addition to the history of the United States, before and after Martin Luther King implored the nation to dismantle its racial hierarchies."-- MARCIA CHATELAIN , author of Franchise , winner of the 2021 Pulitzer Prize in History "Although I''ve been writing about issues of racial justice much of my life, this remarkable book taught me things I didn''t know. Slater shows how the seldom-scrutinized real estate industry is as powerful as the police and the prison-industrial complex in denying Black Americans their rights."-- ADAM HOCHSCHILD , author of Bury the Chains "Revelatory. By reframing the segregation debate through the lens of the realtor lobby, Slater offers new insights into well-known practices and deepens our understanding of how property rights became sacred in California--with consequences that are all too evident today."-- MIRIAM PAWEL , author of The Browns of California "This breathtaking book finds the demons of twenty-first century America not in our nation''s founding documents, but in our very own houses. Slater unearths the history of how California realtors--of all people--redefined the meaning of freedom in ways that still segregate and polarize the entire country today."-- JOE MATHEWS , California columnist and editor, Zócalo Public Square " Freedom to Discriminate shows us in lucid detail how the marketplace of property shapes the everyday economics of racism, and how the discourse of property enables the politics of racism."-- TONY PLATT , author of Beyond These Walls, "Although I've been writing about issues of racial justice much of my life, this remarkable book taught me some things I didn't know--and explains why most of our towns and cities today are as segregated as ever. Gene Slater shows, in behind-the-scenes detail, how the seldom-scrutinized real estate industry is as powerful as the police and the prison-industrial complex in denying Black Americans their rights."-- ADAM HOCHSCHILD , author of Bury the Chains: Prophets and Rebels in the Fight to Free an Empire's Slaves
Dewey Edition23
Dewey Decimal363.50973
Table Of ContentIntroduction: Gettysburg 1964 Part One. Limiting Individual Freedom for the Common Good: Early 1900s-Early 1920s 1. Progressive Reformers of Real Estate 2. The Public Power of a Private Club 3. It's the Restrictions on Your Neighbors Which Count 4. Implementing Racial Exclusion Part Two. An Ideology to Institutionalize Segregation: Early 1920s-Late 1940s 5. Undesirable Human Elements 6. Shaping Federal Housing Programs 7. Reconciling the War against Hitler with a New Racial Entitlement Part Three. Freedom of Association: Late 1940s-Late 1950s 8. Defending Racial Covenants 9. Recommitting to Segregation after Shelley 10. Using Freedom of Association to Intensify Segregation 11. The Idea of a National Conservative Party Part Four. Freedom of Choice: Late 1950s-June 1963 12. Struggling for an Ideology to Defend against Fair Housing 13. Creating a Standardized Ideology of Freedom Part Five. A National Crusade in California: June 1963-November 1964 14. A Constitutional Amendment to Permanently Protect Discrimination 15. Racial Moderation to Continue Segregation 16. Redefining Freedom and America's Founding 17. A Battle between Two Visions of Freedom Part Six. An Earthquake: 1965-1968 18. Reagan and the Realtors 19. Realtor Victories against Fair Housing 20. To Defeat the Realtors 21. An Ideology of Freedom for a National Conservative Party Part Seven. American Legacy: 1969- 22. The Continuation of Residential Segregation 23. A Legacy for Civil Rights 24. Who American Freedom is for Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography and Works Cited About the Author
SynopsisInterest in social justice issues is at a highHousing remains a hot button topic nation-wideA fascinating and and readable investigation into the institutional racism in housing and real estatePerfect for fans of Richard Rothstein's The Color of Law Author Gene Slater lives in Foster City, CA, A bracing, original look at the connected histories of real estate, institutionalized racism, and our political polarization A landmark history told with supreme narrative skill, Freedom to Discriminate uncovers realtors' definitive role in segregating America and shaping modern conservative thought. Gene Slater follows this story from inside the realtor profession, drawing on many industry documents that have remained unexamined until now. His book traces the increasingly aggressive ways realtors justified their practices, how they successfully weaponized the word "freedom" for their cause, and how conservative politicians have drawn directly from realtors' rhetoric for the past several decades. Much of this story takes place in California, and Slater demonstrates why one of the very first all-white neighborhoods was in Berkeley, and why the state was the perfect place for Ronald Reagan's political ascension. The hinge point in this history is Proposition 14, a largely forgotten but monumentally important 1964 ballot initiative. Created and promoted by California realtors, the proposition sought to uphold housing discrimination permanently in the state's constitution, and a vast majority of Californians voted for it. This vote had explosive consequences--ones that still inform our deepest political divisions today--and a true reckoning with the history of American racism requires a closer look at the events leading up to it. Freedom to Discriminate shatters preconceptions about American segregation, and it connects many seemingly disparate aspects of the nation's history in a novel and galvanizing way.
LC Classification NumberHD7288.76.U5S54 2021
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