This video is produced by the non-profit media organization National Public Radio (NPR) podcast Code Switch. Code Switch is a weekly podcast hosted by Gene Demby and Shereen Marisol Meraji that tells stories about race and culture in the U.S. This short clip, narrated by Demby discusses the historical connections between housing segregation, redlining, and the present-day racial construction of neighborhoods. The clip opens with comedian Chris Rock making a joke about streets named after Martin Luther King Jr. Then using Baltimore as an example it discusses: what redlining is, the fair housing act of 1968 and its lack of enforcement, and housing segregation’s effect on wealth, schooling, health, and policing.

discussion

What does Demby say are the connections between housing segregation and schooling?

How does the opening joke Chris Rock makes connect to the four different areas that Demby claims housing segregation effects?

Code Switch is a podcast, why do you think they chose to make a video about this issue, what important role do the images we see play in helping us understand housing segregation?

Spend some time researching the demographic history of your neighborhood, then discuss is it majority white, Black, immigrant? Has it always been? (Tip: try searching your neighborhood’s name and “redlining”.)