White Space, Black Hood: Segregation in the Age of Inequality

October 26, 2021

Historical housing discrimination has created a modern-day caste system where neighborhood often determines opportunity. The mechanics of anti-Black housing segregation has evolved from the blatant redlining of the 1900s to affordable housing resistance, public transportation underinvestment, and the over-policing of Black communities.

Together, these discriminatory policies trap Black people in high-poverty neighborhoods and divert funding towards affluent, predominantly white areas. Does this mean social mobility is now only a myth?

The Brennan Center’s Theodore R. Johnson joined in conversation with Sheryll Cashin, author of White Space, Black Hood: Opportunity Hoarding and Segregation in the Age of Inequality, on how we got here and what it will take to end this residential caste system.

Produced in partnership with New York University's John Brademas Center. Registration was required in order to receive the log-in details for the webinar. Please note this session may have been recorded.

Brennan Center and Brademas Center Logos

Sheryll Cashin

Sheryll Cashin, Carmack Waterhouse Professor of Law, Civil Rights and Social Justice, Georgetown Law; Former Adviser, Urban and Economic Policy, President Bill Clinton; Author, White Space, Black Hood: Opportunity Hoarding and Segregation in the Age of Inequality. She writes about race relations and inequality in America. Her new book, White Space, Black Hood: Opportunity Hoarding and Segregation in the Age of Inequality (September 2021) shows how government created “ghettos” and affluent white space and entrenched a system of American residential caste that is the linchpin of US inequality—and issues a call for abolition.

Cashin's Bio Continued...

Her book, Loving: Interracial Intimacy in America and the Threat to White Supremacy explores the history and future of interracial intimacy, how white supremacy was constructed and how “culturally dexterous” allies may yet kill it. Her book, Place Not Race was nominated for an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Non-Fiction in 2015. Her book, The Failures of Integration was an Editors’ Choice in the New York Times Book Review. Cashin is also a three-time nominee for the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for non-fiction (2005, 2009, and 2018). She has written commentaries for the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Salon, The Root, and other media and is currently a contributing editor for Politico Magazine.

Cashin is Professor of Law at Georgetown University where she teaches Constitutional Law, and Race and American Law among other subjects. She is an active member of the Poverty and Race Research Action Council and worked in the Clinton White House as an advisor on urban and economic policy, particularly concerning community development in inner-city neighborhoods. She was law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. Cashin was born and raised in Huntsville, Alabama, where her parents were political activists. She currently resides in Washington, D.C., with her husband and two sons.

Theodore R. Johnson

Theodore (Ted) R. Johnson is the Director of the Fellows Program at the Brennan Center for Justice. His work explores the role that race plays in electoral politics, issue framing, and disparities in policy outcomes. Previously, he was a national fellow at New America and a research manager at Deloitte. He is also a retired commander in the U.S. Navy following a two-decade career that included service as a White House fellow, military professor at the U.S. Naval War College, and speechwriter to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Johnson's Bio Continued...

His work has appeared in the Washington Post, Atlantic, New York Times Magazine, Wall Street Journal, National Review, and Politico, among other publications. He teaches law and public policy to master’s and doctoral students. His debut book, When the Stars Begin to Fall: Overcoming Racism and Renewing the Promise of America, outlines a path toward a multiracial national solidarity to finally overcome the existential threat of racism in the United States. It was published by Atlantic Monthly Press in June 2021.

Johnson holds a BS in mathematics from Hampton University, an ALM with a concentration in international relations from Harvard University, and a doctorate of law and policy from Northeastern University.