Prometheus 6

Living Separately and Unequally
By Sheryll D. Cashin

…How can American society be called democratic when the ability to live in a safe, decent area with high-quality public schools is limited largely to those who can afford exclusive enclaves? Although we have eliminated Jim Crow laws, public and private institutional policies tend to steer us apart. From local zoning codes that prevent mixed- income or affordable housing, to private databases that skew public funding and private development toward affluent, heavily white neighborhoods, to pervasive steering of black and Latino home buyers and renters to "appropriate" areas, our policy choices result in communities of great abundance and great need.