Upon first reading , I was struck by one of the words in the title of the article, “Living Apart: How the Government Betrayed a Landmark Civil Rights Law.” The word “betrayed” should not be used when describing how the US government acts toward its citizens and the policies that are put in place. This article was most recently revised only a few years ago, and the fact that we are still dealing with issues of segregation is truly disheartening and alarming for the future of this nation.

The admirable actions of George Romney in an attempt do desegregate urban households in America were ultimately derailed by Nixon. He “ordered HUD officials to reject applications for water, sewer and highway projects from cities and states where local policies fostered segregated housing.” However, after Nixon shut this plan down, segregation didn’t get any better in the country as years progressed.

It was fascinating, yet upsetting to see how the article depicted the HUD’s declining effort to fight segregation over the decades. According to a census conducted by John Logan of Brown University, “black Americans earning $75,000 a year typically live in poorer neighborhoods than white Americans earning $40,000 a year.”  Equal opportunity to housing should be a natural right that all citizens share and the fact that it wasn’t for many years doesn’t say much for racial progress in the US.

In 2015, the US Supreme Court ruled that “governments or lending institutions can be sued based in part on statistical evidence that certain categories of residents had suffered what is known as “disparate impact,” as a consequence of housing or lending policies.” This would, in fact, mitigate issues with segregation in America, however I was surprised by the 5-4 vote. This makes me reflect on how far we have come in American society and if we really have changed since the mid 20th century.