Unhidden Public Policies: Could Historic Redlining be the Reason Bridgeport’s Neighborhoods Remain Racially Divided?
By Chelsea Gazillo
Have you ever wondered why some neighborhoods in Bridgeport have more wealth than others? The disparity between the wealth held by residents of different neighborhoods in Bridgeport – often correlated with the racial composition of each neighborhood – were not created by chance. In his book The Color of Law, Richard Rothstein discusses racial disparity as a product of public policy: “Today’s residential segregation in the North, South, Midwest and West is not the unintended consequences of individual choices and of otherwise well-meaning law or regulations but of unhidden public policy that explicitly segregated every metropolitan area in the United States” (Rothstein, 2017, VIII). (more…)