This week marks the 120th and 62nd anniversaries of the landmark Plessy v. Ferguson and Brown v. Board U.S. Supreme Court decisions, respectively.
Plessy legalized the racial “separate but equal” policy on May 18, 1896. Brown reversed that decision on May 17, 1954, finding that anything separate is inherently unequal, especially given America’s unique history of racial discrimination. What the U.S. learned about itself in those six decades between those two rulings was supposed to guide policymaking in the post-Brown era. The full accommodation and integration of African Americans into all institutions and living venues of U.S. society is Brown’s ultimate goal.
Clearly, we’re not there yet. But if anything should have signaled a promising turn towards unlocking that achievement, it’s the emerging sharing economy. People offering up their homes, offices, and cars to the public seems like a decent path toward affirmatively furthering fair-living practices. At the very least, it improves on service deliveries where older, existing industries have failed—some African Americans have found it easier to grab an Uber than hail a cab.
[For more of this story, written by Brentin Mock, go to http://www.citylab.com/housing...ard-v-airbnb/483725/]
Comments (0)