The concept and terminology of a racial ghetto derives from the forced segregation of Jews in Europe—first in enclaves in the seventeenth century and then with barbed wire during the Nazi regime.5 There was no barbed wire in America’s black ghettos, but even more effective modes of containment through racial covenants and government credit and zoning policies that maintained the boundaries of the ghetto. Often referred to as black enclaves, black neighborhoods, or other racially neutral descriptions, the word ghetto is a much more accurate descriptor because it captures the involuntary nature
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