Policing Neighborhood Boundaries: Violence, Racial Exclusion, and the Persistence of Segregation

Abstract

In this paper, I argue that the problem of violence directed at minorities in white neighborhoods is far broader than just encompassing violence directed at them at the point of their move to a neighborhood. My study of cases prosecuted under federal civil rights law has revealed numerous cases over the past twenty years in which acts of violence, threats and harassment have been specifically aimed at forcing out Black, Asian, Latino and Middle-Eastern residents who are not newcomers to the predominately white neighborhoods in which they live. I lump such violence, along with violence and harassment aimed at minorities who have recently moved to a white neighborhood, under the broad category anti-integrationist violence.

Keywords: housing, segregation, hate crime, violence, race