R A C E , S PA C E , A N D T H E L A WG E O G R A P H Y 3 8 1

- R I C H A R D R O T H S T E I N , T H E M A K I N G O F F E R G U S O N

“When we blame private prejudice, suburban snobbishness, and black poverty for contemporary segregation, we not only whitewash our own history but avoid considering whether new policies might instead promote an integrated community”.

G O V E R N M E N T A S A G U A R A N T O R O F I N E Q U A L I T Y: R A C E I N T H E U S

T H I S I S N O T A B O U T F E R G U S O N . T H I S I S A B S O L U T E LY A B O U T F E R G U S O N .• Government policies around property ownership (mortgage access,

fair housing, zoning and bylaws) exacerbated inequalities between races across the United States.

• Inequality is a social relationship like any other we have discussed this term and has spatial consequences:

• Who owns? Who gets to develop a space? To call it home?

• How does law make space, space produce laws, and both create the social relations that undergird discrimination?

• Who has the freedom to move through space? Is some movement privileged? Is some movement threatening or risky?

F H A A N D T H E P R A C T I C E O F ‘ R E D L I N I N G ’

• the practice of, in the United States, denying, or charging more for, services such as banking, insurance, access to health care, or even supermarkets, or denying jobs to residents in particular, often racially determined, areas.

• by demarcating predominately African-American areas as undesirable or ‘red’, the Federal Housing Authority severely limited the access to mortgages and home ownership among African-Americans.

• The presumption that racial segregation is simply ‘white flight’ or consumer behaviour ignores the important role the state played in mapping and labelling spaces as ‘dangerous’ and ‘undesirable’—at limiting African-American mobility.

• ‘Sundown towns’—of which Ferguson, Missouri was one—permitted African-Americans in the town only during the daytime, effectively prohibiting residence.

E M I N E N T D O M A I N , G E N T R I F I C AT I O N , A N D S TAT E - S P O N S O R E D D E V E L O P M E N T

• Mega-events and massive state-projects (for instance, the Gateway Arch in St. Louis) often involve the invocation of eminent domain through which the state takes back privately held property for redevelopment.

• This occurs simultaneous to market-sponsored practices, such as gentrification.

“ F H A A P P R O VA L ” A N D T H E C R E AT I O N O F W H I T E - F L I G H T S U B U R B S

• ‘FHA approval’ was tied to the agency’s redlined-maps, where approved areas were only those in new, desirable, or otherwise vacant areas.

• As a result, ‘FHA approval’ was synonymous with ‘whites only’—foreclosing areas where African-Americans lived.

• The creation of ‘FHA approved’ communities exacerbated the ‘white flight’ to the suburbs.

S O H O W D O W E M A K E S E N S E O F F E R G U S O N ? *

* B Y W H I C H ‘ F E R G U S O N ’ I S A S TA N D - I N F O R A VA S T G E O G R A P H Y O F I N J U S T I C E S .

B R O K E N M E D I A C O V E R A G E T H AT F O C U S E D O N ‘ V I O L E N C E ’ A N D ‘ R I O T I N G ’

“…the broader media focus on the “rioting” and “looting” in the aftermath of the police shooting deflects attention from the actually existing structures of violence that permit such killings.  This deflection is indicative of the ongoing legacies of traditional (mis)understandings of violence.”

!- I N W O O D , T Y N E R , A N D A L D E R M A N , “ R E M E M B E R I N G

T H E R E A L V I O L E N C E I N F E R G U S O N ”

P O L I C E M I L I TA R I Z AT I O N

( O T TA W A P O L I C E S E R V I C E )

Yes, in Canada too.

T H E S E TA C T I C S H AV E W O R K E D T O C H A L L E N G E T H E M O B I L I T Y O F PA R T I C U L A R G R O U P S O F P E O P L E .

I M M I G R A N T I M / M O B I L I T Y I N T H E U S

• A constellation of laws and policies that make the movement of some d a n g e r o u s , p r e c a r i o u s , o r challenging.

• Devolved immigration enforcement that deputizes local law enforcement to do immigration work far from the border creates a patchwork of jurisdictions doing immigration work.

• Migrant immobility is facilitated through a complex overlay of multiple programs, policies, and laws.

2 8 7 ( G ) A G R E E M E N T S I M M I G R A T I O N D E T E N T I O N A N D E N F O R C E M E N T

0 250 500 750 1,000125Miles

Legend

Jail EnforcementTask ForceJail Enforcement & Task Force

S E C U R E C O M M U N I T I E S F I N G E R P R I N T I N G A N D D A TA B A S I N G