Hate Next Door: Housing Integration and Racialized Boundaries

This chapter addresses one of the consequences of racial segregation in housing—violence and intimidation directed at minorities who are integrating white neighborhoods. The incidents described often occur on moving to residential property in white neighborhoods and include cross-burnings, property damage, and other incidents of harassment. This chapter names such acts “antiintegrationist violence.” Though it has historical roots, the phenomenon this chapter describes is one that is both contemporary—occurring in the present day—and national in scope. These are hate crimes that occur in the context of neighborhood integration of residential housing. In discussing the history and dynamics of these types of antiintegrationist crimes, the chapter describes them in a neighborhood context and the types of laws, ranging from criminal penalties to housing laws, that have been used to combat such incidents. The chapter addresses the challenges that exist in combating this type of violence. The chapter concludes by analyzing a series of solutions aimed at addressing antiintegrationist violence.