EPI Distinguished Fellow Richard Rothstein teams up with filmmaker Mark Lopez for “Segregated by Design,” based on Rothstein’s groundbreaking history of the modern American metropolis, The Color of Law. “Segregated by Design” had its world premiere at the American Documentary Film Festival on March 29th in Palm Springs, California.
Like The Color of Law, “Segregated by Design” examines the forgotten history of how our federal, state and local governments segregated every major metropolitan area in America through law and policy. Both the book and film explode the myth that America’s cities came to be racially divided as the result of individual prejudices, personal choices to live in same-race neighborhoods, income differences, or the actions of private institutions like banks and real estate agencies. Rather, there is a forgotten history of how racially explicit policies of federal, state, and local governments created the patterns of residential segregation that persist to this day. Rothstein concludes that, because residential segregation was created by government action in violation of the constitution, we are obligated to remedy it.
Filmmaker Mark Lopez is a director of motion design who has refined his craft at world-class motion studios alongside some of the most creative minds in the country. Mark specializes in illustrated 2D mixed media storytelling with an eye for composition and won the 2008 BDA World Gold Award for his short film “Let It Go” while he was a student at Savannah College of Art and Design.