New zoning maps show single-family homes dominate Bay Area housing landscape
We recently released a pair of new maps showing how single-family home zoning in Berkeley and Oakland account for the bulk of the housing in the cities, shining light on yet another contributor to the Bay Area's housing shortage crisis. "Single-family zoning effectively makes duplexes, fourplexes, and other, denser housing options, illegal in those zones," explainer text accompanying the maps reveals. "At a time of growing housing unaffordability and rising homelessness, excessive single-family zoning does not allow cities to provide enough housing for people, or the density needed to make shelter affordable and reduce sprawl, which exacerbates greenhouse gas emissions." Check out the maps.
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On Gilroy, El Paso, and Dayton: A call to recognize our shared humanity
In a statement on the recent mass killings in Gilroy, El Paso, and Dayton, Director john a. powell notes that incidents like these have long been a part of the violent history of this country, and that changing such a course would require a change in our culture and institutions. Disturbingly, the recent uptick in hate crimes is a result of the rhetoric emerging from the White House which is strategically stoking white supremacy for political purposes. "As we continue in our work to expose, document, and counter virulent racism and othering, we must think about a new language that represents our shared aspirations. Our belonging is based on the reality of our shared humanity even when it is not always lived," powell writes. Read the statement.
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How the judicial system enables police violence
Faculty cluster member Osagie Obasogie published a new piece in The Atlantic showing the systemic nature of how violence is perpetrated by police as a result of the design of the judicial system. "By allowing police to largely define what constitutes excessive force, the [Supreme] Court has limited its own judicial oversight of the system, creating the conditions that allow police to use violence with impunity," he writes.
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 In a new episode of our Who Belongs? podcast, we interview our inaugural Artist in Residence Christine Wong Yap, who discussed her "Atlas of Belonging" project. "The project started small with, 'Is there a place where you have felt a sense of belonging?'" Yap said. Listen to the interview.
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In a new opinion piece on our blog, our Assistant Director Stephen Menendian argues that Trump's critics must rethink their responses to his bigoted statements. Menendian writes: "While many cite his statement as evidence of his racism or have asserted in the past that Trump is racist, that is actually besides the point. Rather the most important question should be: How exactly is Trump using race for political purposes?" Read the blog.
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A new report co-authored by faculty cluster member Rachel Morello-Frosch has found that fracking may contribute to anxiety and depression during pregnancy. The report is summarized on the website EurekAlert.org. "They found that for every 100 women, 4.3 additional women would experience anxiety or depression if they lived in the highest quartile of exposure," the article says.
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Our recently published report, "The Road Not Taken: Housing and Criminal Justice 50 Years After the Kerner Commission Report," was featured in an article by Charlene Crowell, columnist with NNPA Newswire, about why reparations must include the costs of predatory lending. "A large part of...financial exploitation is due to more than 70 years of documented discriminatory housing," the author writes.
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Rucker Johnson, member of our Economic Disparities faculty cluster, was quoted in a New York Times column on "Integration vs. White Intransigence." "Integration, when implemented in a holistic fashion, has the power to break the cycle of poverty and can benefit all groups, regardless of race and ethnicity," Johnson is quoted as saying.
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Haas Institute Director john a. powell was recently interviewed on Bay Area radio station KPFA about the discourse on race in the US today. The conversation centered around how President Trump's rhetoric on Twitter "is affecting race in our country in the last three years of the current presidency."
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Our faculty cluster member Ian Haney López similarly commented on Trump's rhetoric in a PBS segment. "We have a president who benefits—who sees himself benefiting from social division and acrimony," Haney López said. "And that's what he's stirred this week. And I think that's why he's happy with the result."
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Aug. 30: 400 Years of African American History Symposium. This day-long symposium will kick off a year of events at UC Berkeley to mark the 400 year anniversary of the beginning of slavery in North America. The event will include more than a dozen speakers from top scholars of African American studies, plus cultural performances. Learn more and register for the symposium.
Sept. 12: Belonging in Practice: How to Be Antiracist, with Ibram X. Kendi. In his new book, How to Be an Antiracist, Kendi holds up both a magnifying glass and a mirror to examine how to uproot racism from society—starting with ourselves. Followed by his talk, Kendi will be joined in conversation by john a. powell of the Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society, Lateefah Simon of the Akonadi Foundation, and moderated by Alice Y. Hom of Northern California Grantmakers. Learn more and register.
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We're seeking a new communications director. Learn more about this role here.
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