Blog #3

On the second day of my senior project, I went with Emily Thome to the City Club in Cleveland. When we got to the event, I had the privilege of meeting Emily's team and learning about who they are. We traveled to City Club to hear Leah Rothstein talk. She has just released a new book called "Just Action: How to Challenge Segregation Enacted Under the Color of Law." Mrs. Thome told me that she and her team often go to events like these to hear from these amazing people about how to challenge injustice and serve the community. Mrs. Rothstein and her father, Richard Rothstein, are activists and work on public policy and community change. Rothstein talked about her book and strategies on how to combat systematic segregation. She said that all groups of people need specific remedies, and solutions that are too broad often fall through or may not be feasible. Rothstein also talked about things like "defacto segregation" that has happened through white people moving into neighborhoods of white people and vice versa because it is what people are comfortable with. But she said this was just a perception and that the government was breaking its own laws by segregating neighborhoods. Then, to combat these things, she talked about focusing on local issues; she said that starting locally is the most feasible way to create change and opens opportunities later on to create federal change. She also said to look to the future but remedy the past. Rothstein explained how creating new policies and solutions is great, but to really move forward, we have to fix past injustices. Then she talked about place-based strategies, giving money to areas with low-income African American families and supporting these areas. She said some other next steps would be doing things like protecting renters, obtaining inclusionary zoning, and opening up traditionally rich white areas to people of color. She knows and preaches that this change will not all happen at once, but we need action. We need to start chipping away, and that is what matters most right now. I am very grateful Mrs. Thome brought me to this event, and it was valuable insight on injustices in the world and how people who serve the community stay informed on these injustices.

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