Honor Roll

Well, a post in the format of my Honor Roll posts, but perhaps not deserving of the descriptor. I have been sharing on Instagram while being quiet here, and for that, I apologize. Below are a few links that were shared in my IG Stories, but I’m also including them here.

I stand in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. You will find no shortage of reading lists for anti-racist work (Danielle Henderson’s is a good one and it was transcribed here), so I am focusing on the intersection of race and housing. Specifically, redlining, blockbusting, and gentrification.

I have shared the first article below before, but I’m including it again with a newer, related piece.

• Not in Your Front Yard: Why ‘For Sale’ Signs are Banned in Oak Park
• How the Green Line, a Pink House and 12 Cents Changed How I See My City — “I always wondered why Chicago’s mostly white neighborhoods looked so different than the city’s black neighborhoods. Then I studied 168,859 home loans.” (For reference if you’re not from the area, that pink house is about 2 miles away from ours, just past the city border.)

Further Reading

• Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City, Matthew Desmond — This is on a lot of Black Lives Matter reading lists for good reason. If you haven’t yet, read this.
• The Invention of Brownstone Brooklyn: Gentrification and the Search for Authenticity in Postwar New York, Suleiman Osman — Brownstones: so romantic and cool! Here’s how gentrification played a role.
• The Edge Becomes the Center: An Oral History of Gentrification in the 21st Century, DW Gibson — Stories from the perspective of the people displaced.
• The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segrated America, Richard Rothstein — This is next on my reading list and was recommended by many of you when I said I would like to learn more specifically about redlining and blockbusting. Here’s the Fresh Air interview with the author.

• Brooklyn Window Series by Adrian Brandon (prints available)
• ‘Just Not a Political Person’ by Katie Benn