As Long As They Don't Move Next Door: Segregation and Racial Conflict in American Neighborhoods

by Stephen Grant Meyer

Despite the commonly held perception that most northern citizens embraced racial equality, As Long As They Don't Move Next Door graphically demonstrates the variety of methods_including violence and intimidation, unjust laws, restrictive covenants, discrimination by realtors and mortgage lenders, and white flight to suburban enclaves―used by whites to thwart the racial integration of their neighborhoods. Author Stephen Meyer offers the first full length national history of American race relations examined through the lens of housing discrimination, and he forces readers to confront and re-evaluate the deep and enduring division between the races. Although this is a discomforting analysis, which concludes that housing discrimination still exists, it is only a clearer understanding of our shared racial past that will enable Americans to create a successful prescription for fighting intolerance. An original and captivating study that illuminates overlooked groups and individuals committed to the national struggle for civil rights, this is important reading for anyone interested in African-American history.

Genres: History

352 pages, Paperback

First published December 29, 1999

Reviews

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book on the subject, impeccably researched as you can tell with even a cursory glance at the copious notes. Its conclusions are not at all pleasant nor hopeful, but chime directly with my own experience in LA. They are that racism is the fundamental factor explaining segregation, and that this racism in the general white population is what drove discriminatory legislation and institutional practices, rather than the other way around. As he says, "Realty companies, lending institutions, and governments have engaged in activities that sustain the community's segregationist wishes. In so doing, however, they represent the will of their constituencies." This certainly counters other arguments, like those found in Kenneth Jackson's Crabgrass Frontier, explaining segregation primarily through the action of such external forces on individuals who may wish to do the right thing really.

The evidence is there, and it is a strong argument because Meyer does not ignore external forces, there is a great deal in here about racially restrictive zoning and covenants, discriminatory practices in real estate, the role of the FHA and etc. But he marshals a massive amount of everyday evidence of the extremely violent reactions of everyday white folks to a black face moving into their neighborhood in cities across the nation. The South may be special, but his argument is that racism exists alive and well across the rest of the country, and the South just might be distracting us from that. There have been thousands of bombings, death threats, mobs demanding that people get out. In Los Angeles. In Berkeley. In Cincinatti. In Chicago. And while the NAACP and others have fought immensely hard (it took the assassination of Martin Luther King to get the Fair Housing Act passed in its third year of deliberation, only a week after his death) to enact legislation and establish legal precedents that make official policies of segregation illegal and prosecutable (if barely), the truth remains that America continues to be a highly segregated country. In fact, many studies show higher levels of segregation now than in the 1960s.

This is a terrible catalog of injustice, though it also charts the courage and inspiration of those who stood against it. But more importantly than reclaiming a deeper and truer sense of our history, its importance lies in how we struggle for the rights of all people to live wherever they may choose without threat, harassment, or discomfort. If this is true, the struggle for this right cannot be solely, or even primarily based on legal or policy strategies, it has to tackle something deeper and uglier than mere laws on paper. That is left to the imagination I am afraid.


I think in many ways Meyer is absolutely right. I found it particularly poignant when he looks at the 1960s Civil Rights Movement, and the way that Northern whites were in full support of campaigns against Jim Crow in the South, yet dropped away from the movement or even opposed it when blacks attempted to achieve fair housing in their own cities. That hasn't changed at all, just ask anyone working in the inner cities. But I feel that there is something else going on, something that is not more fundamental than race but that articulates with it, to use the words of Stuart Hall, whose work I'm still trying to wrap my head around. And to carry on the struggle, it's important to understand how capitalism or neoliberalism intersects with this fundamental reality of racism. But I haven't the answers to that yet.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Extremely detailed and well researched, but unfortunately the text is extremely dry and academic; that said, I would only recommend this for research purposes and/or to those extremely interested in the topic. I was also disappointed in how unevenly the decades of the 20th century were covered; the '40s, '50s, and '60s all have multiple chapters and then, despite being published in 2000, the main text of the book ends with the Fair Housing Act of 1968 with the '70s, '80s, and '90s all glossed over in a 10-page afterword.

[Rasheed Shabazz · Rating 3 out of 5]

As Long as They Don't Move Next Door is an important history of U.S. "race relations" through the lens of housing discrimination. Specifically, Meyer documents white racism outside the South and its impact on racialized segregation. This text recognizes the role of institutional forces, suggests these actors institutionalized white prejudice existing among the dominant population. In other words, it wasn't just "government" as some autonomous actor, but rather actors used the government to implement the will of the white masses.

This study is a great catalog of the various means, including violence, used to keep neighborhoods "white." Some of his conclusions, i recall, struck me as out of touch. I blame it on him being Canadian :)

An important book full of references to scholarly studies and primary sources documenting the legacy of residential segregation and white supremacy told through the story of housing discrimination.

[Liz · Rating 5 out of 5]

The history of housing segregation is one of my interests. This book is filled examples and facts and was very interesting.