Richard Sander is a nationally-acclaimed
Professor of Law at UCLA School of Law, economist, and co-author of
the new book, MOVING TOWARD INTEGRATION: The Past and Future of Fair
Housing (with Yana A. Kucheva and Jonathan M. Zasloff). He’s a
leading legal authority on matters of race, housing, and affirmative
action, and a prominent social scientist on issues of inequality.
Sander has appeared on major radio and television programs
nationwide. The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The
Economist, The Atlantic, and others have all written extensively
about his work. His previous book, Mismatch, has shown the
importance of studying the actual effects of affirmative action
policies, and reshaped the national and legal debate on that issue.
Moving toward Integration
The Past and Future of Fair Housing
By Richard H. Sander, Yana A.
Kucheva,
and Jonathan M. Zasloff
Washington, DC—The civil rights revolution of
the 1960s brought some stunning advances for African-Americans:
desegregated public accommodations, a surge in black voting and
office-holding, and a broad opening of previously closed professions
and occupations. Many of these gains have deepened and widened in
the decades since. But other black/white gaps—in median income,
standardized test scores, homicide rates, and two-parent
families—have stubbornly persisted, or even widened. Why?
In MOVING TOWARD INTEGRATION: The Past and Future of Fair Housing
(Harvard University Press, May 2018), nationally-acclaimed UCLA law
professor and economist Richard H. Sander, sociologist Yana A.
Kucheva and historian Jonathan M. Zasloff present a fundamentally
new and data-driven account of race in America. They show that urban
America actually has two parts: a larger, intensely segregated set
of cities where average black outcomes stagnate or fall, and a
smaller set of cities with moderate segregation where neighborhood
integration is stable and where blacks are steadily catching up with
their white neighbors. African-American progress is remarkable in
these more integrated areas—in jobs, test scores, health, even life
expectancy—and in almost every case a drop in metropolitan housing
segregation started the cycle of progress.
MOVING TOWARD INTEGRATION shows concretely for the first time what
the landmark Fair Housing Act of 1968 did and did not accomplish. It
did have a dramatic effect upon black mobility. Hundreds of
thousands of African-American households moved into white
neighborhoods in the 1970s. But whether those moves produced lasting
integration, or simply white-to-black resegregation, depended on
crucial local factors, which can not only be understood, but
replicated. In other words, broad housing desegregation is not only
possible—but it works.
Despite all this good news, fair housing policy is mired in small
battles and pessimism. Advocates on the left decry continued
examples of discrimination—which of course do exist. Conservatives
rightly point out that discrimination rates have fallen sharply, and
suspect that liberal advocacy for integration simply means putting
subsidized housing into middle-class neighborhoods. Meanwhile,
important research advances by social scientists using better data
have largely failed to reach a public audience, so the tired,
old-school debates go on unchallenged.
MOVING TOWARD INTEGRATION is a major leap forward in this
conversation. Sander, Kucheva, and Zasloff bring together into a
clear and compelling story the research from many different fields.
They show exactly how segregation evolves and follows different
paths in different cities. And they show concretely how public
policy can make use of micro-incentives and information networks to
correct “market failures” using a light-touch in high segregation
areas—not coercive social engineering. They show a path for
improving opportunity and reducing racial division in the United
States that both liberals and conservative should embrace.
MOVING TOWARD INTEGRATION also has answers on many highly topical
issues:
How gentrification impacts cities, and how it can be a win-win for
the middle class and the poor.
Why “Black Lives Matter” needs a bigger vision.
Why, on the 50th anniversary of the Fair Housing Act, we should
celebrate its achievements but also reboot its focus.
How the financial crisis of 2007–2009 was felt most keenly in
segregated areas, and how to prevent it from happening again.
To arrange an interview with Moving toward Integration co-author
Richard Sander, please contact Stephen Manfredi at 202.222.8028 or
smanfredi@ManfrediStrategyGroup.com
Ammon speaks at the
"Stand for Freedom" dinner, Yreka Northern California (soon to be
the State of Jefferson)
Stunning victory for Bundy family as all charges dismissed in 2014
standoff case
Cliven Bundy and sons cleared
in case of 2014 armed standoff, a major defeat for the
federal government that critics fear will empower far-right
militia groups
A judge has dismissed conspiracy charges against rancher
Cliven Bundy and his sons, marking an extraordinary
failure by US prosecutors and a decisive victory for the
Nevada family who ignited a land
rights movement in the American west.
The Bundys, who led armed standoffs against the
government in Nevada and Oregon, galvanizing far-right
militia groups, saw all charges dismissed in
Las Vegas on Monday. It was the second major court win
for the ranchers in their decades-long battle to oppose
federal land regulations.
Cliven Bundy, 71, and his sons Ammon and Ryan were accused of
assault, threats against the government, firearms
offenses and obstruction, stemming from the family’s refusal
to pay grazing fees for their cattle in
Nevada, which escalated into an armed conflict at their
ranch in 2014. The judge declared
a mistrial in December and ruled on Monday
that prosecutors could not retry the case, arguing that
the US attorney’s office had willfully withheld evidence
and engaged in misconduct.
Angie Bundy, Ryan’s wife, said she hoped the ruling
would boost states’ rights and encourage federal
regulators to leave ranchers alone.
“The federal government is overstepping so many bounds.
I’m hoping they will let states and counties do their
jobs and stay out of our land,” she told the Guardian by
phone from court. “I hear from ranchers all the time
about the horrible abuses they are enduring. I’m hoping
this will give some people relief.”
From left to right outside the courthouse:
Ammon Bundy, Ryan Payne, Jeanette Finicum,
widow of Robert ‘LaVoy’ Finicum, Ryan Bundy,
Angela Bundy (wife of Ryan Bundy) and Jamie
Bundy (daughter of Ryan
The stunning defeat for the government – which has also
been accused of lying and deceptive
tactics in their prosecution of the Bundys –
outraged environmental groups that have advocated the
punishment of ranchers who defy land-use laws and have supported
tighter regulations to protect public lands.
“It’s just a horrific outcome,” said Kieran Suckling,
executive director of the Center for Biological
Diversity. “This is going to empower both the militia
and the politicians who want to steal America’s public
lands. It’s an absolute disaster.”
The Bundys first made international headlines in 2014
when the government attempted to seize their cattle, but
retreated in the face of hundreds of supporters at the
family ranch in Bunkerville, some heavily armed.
Emboldened by the victory, Ammon and Ryan helped lead a takeover
of the Malheur national wildlife refuge in
eastern Oregon in January 2016 to protest against the imprisonment
of two local ranchers.
That
standoff ended after police
killed one of the leaders and arrested the
Bundys and their followers. US prosecutors subsequently
charged the family and dozens of other men with
conspiracy and other charges for both the Nevada and
Oregon cases.
A jury found the Bundys not
guilty in Oregon in 2016, a surprise
verdict that increased pressure on the
federal government to secure a conviction in Nevada. But
the case unraveled after defense attorneys argued that
prosecutors failed
to disclose evidence relating to government
surveillance cameras and snipers at the ranch during the
2014 dispute. Last month, the attorney general, Jeff
Sessions, directed a
US justice department expert to assist in the case.
Rancher Cliven Bundy, who was released from
jail on Monday, pictured near Bunkerville,
Nevada. Photograph: John Locher/AP
Suckling pointed out that Bundy’s cattle continue to
graze on federal lands in violation of the law and
argued that the decision could encourage supporters to
launch new conflicts to fight for unregulated grazing,
mining and logging on public lands. “I’m really
distraught and outraged at the prosecution and the FBI
for their incompetence.”
Cliven Bundy, who became a hero to some rightwing
activists in the west and has been in jail for nearly
two years, emerged from court on Monday wearing a cowboy
hat, telling
reporters: “I’m feeling pretty good … I’m not
used to being free. I’ve been a political prisoner.”
Angie said she was grateful to hear the judge Gloria
Navarro reprimand prosecutors.
“Her words today gave me some hope in the justice
system,” she said, adding, “We are so excited to get
grandpa home and get our family back together.”