We are here today because we are tired. We are tired of paying more for less. We are tired of living in rat-infested slums… We are tired of having to pay a median rent of $97 a month in Lawndale for four rooms while whites living in South Deering pay $73 a month for five rooms. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to open the doors of opportunity to all of God’s children . . . .
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, Chicago Soldier Field Stadium, Chicago Open Housing Movement, 1966
Each year, as the Monday-focused blogger for the Business Law Prof Blog, I endeavor to offer a post that connects with Dr. King’s work in some way. Today, which also is the day on which the United States inaugurates a new presidential administration, I focus on the role of federal regulation in creating and sustaining racial separation and racism. In 2020, The University of Tennessee College of Law produced a faculty video series labeled “How Did We Get Here.” The series focused on areas in which law or policy has contributed to systemic racism.
The video in the series I