Leah Rothstein Author: JUST ACTION: How to Challenge Segregation Enacted Under the Color of Law

“[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

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, but 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.

Leah Rothstein is the co-author of JUST ACTION: How to Challenge Segregation Enacted Under the Color of Law that describes how local community groups can redress the wrongs of segregation. She also writes a regular column to which you can subscribe for free at JustAction.substack.com.

Leah has worked on public policy and community change, from the grassroots to the halls of government. She led research on reforming community corrections policy and practice to be focused on rehabilitation, not punishment. She has been a consultant to nonprofit housing developers, cities and counties, redevelopment agencies, and private firms on community development and affordable housing policy, practice, and finance. Her policy work is informed by her years as a community organizer and labor organizer, working on issues such as housing, environmental justice, workplace safety, and youth leadership.