The Power of ZIP Codes: Segregation in Southern California, Reexamined

Abstract

The ultimate aim of this study is to explore and deconstruct the myriad causes which contribute to segregation's persistence, even when no longer mandated by law as it was only a few generations ago. Within the nation that sees itself as the global embodiment for liberty and equality, the effects of segregation are not fading stains but rather perpetually open wounds that mar this republic. In reflecting on these issues, one should rightfully feel compelled to ask: why has this continued and how can the principal causes be directly addressed? Institutional and socially internalized racism have in many respects proven to be the root of much evil in the United States. It is particularly apparent despite the vast research and continued, data-driven examinations on the stubborn persistence of racist phenomena like segregation, so we must ask ourselves how the global lodestar of liberalism and justice tacitly refuses to recognize or wholeheartedly tackle these issues that besiege their communities of color. [From Introduction]