Lessons Learned from September

 Well...my reading for September did not go as planned.

I began the month with The Color of Law by Richard Rothstein, which I was extremely excited for. 

Immediately, I could tell the book would be informative. However, about twenty to thirty pages in, it began to feel super repetitive and, thus, drag. (My sister, Rachel, who reads much more non-fiction than I do said this is often true of academic texts.) By the time I got to page fifty, I was having a really hard time staying engaged and decided to step away for a few days, hoping a small break would re-energize me. After about a week, I continued to find myself dreading it, so I began Golden Gates.

Since then, I haven't gone back to The Color of Law, but I feel it would be a disservice to end my account there. While the book may be a difficult read, I have come to believe the repetitive nature of the text is, in part, a direct result of evidence demonstrating the great extent to which racist housing policies existed in our nation. In only fifty pages, Rothstein was able to show numerous examples of both state and federal policies and legislation that blocked Black Americans from equal housing opportunities. These examples were not isolated to a specific year, a specific state, or a specific legislator, but spanned the nation, decades, and governing bodies. Because I learned so much in so few pages, I strongly believe this book is still an important one to read. I'm hoping reading it at a much slower pace, without a deadline, will make me successful.

Golden Gates proved easier to get through, but still not an amazing read for me. Dougherty structured the book so that each chapter was guided by the actions of a leading figure in the Bay Area housing movement; the first chapter taking place in the present day and each subsequent chapter describing the lead up to it. While I didn't think he was completely successful in executing this organizational strategy, I admired the premise nonetheless and found it useful in propelling the historical narrative. The other impediment proved to be the language that exists around housing and development; it did not make the text wholly unreadable but since I was unfamiliar with it, it often caused me to re-read sections in order to ensure that I fully understood what was going on. 

I still learned something though. I learned that the housing crisis is complicated. I learned that many parties have a conflicting interests in housing/development, and there does not seem to be a straightforward answer. That said, there is a definite lack of affordable housing in the Bay Area and development of affordable housing is often blocked by suburban to make a profit before moving on to something bigger and "better". This contributes to gentrification and usually negatively impacts communities of color. 

Golden Gates also confirmed ideas that I had learned from my short experience with The Color of Law. Primarily, Black Americans and other People of Color have been purposefully denied access to certain neighborhoods and towns (in a multitude of ways), which then impedes their access to other important resources: education, childcare, transportation, recreational space, jobs, etc. Without access to these resources, economic mobility becomes severely limited.

My final attempt of the month was The Address Book by Deirdre Mask. I won't go into much detail about it here except to say that, while what I read of it was enjoyable, the content did not meet my expectations based on the book's title or chapter headings. And, with time running out in the month (and babies who wouldn't let me sleep), I did not finish it.

Despite learning this month, I, nonetheless, felt like a failure when September reached a close. I only finished one book and I thought it was just "fine", which only served to make my feeling of failure more intense. 

Moving forward, I think I'll probably try to have a few more texts at the ready, some more academic in tone and others more similar to narrative non-fiction or memoir. I'm hoping the balance proves fruitful and will help to ameliorate the chances that I find myself stuck again. Fingers crossed.  

💛J