Institutionalization of Racial Inequality in Local Political Geographies

Abstract

Municipalities create a local political geography that can institutionalize subordinate positions for minority groups. Most importantly, local governments determine which areas are incorporated into a municipality through annexation and which are excluded. Through these powers, local governments can diminish or deny minority political standing in local affairs, limit access to public services, and reduce the value of minority property. The boundaries are a component of racial residential segregation. Racially disparate application of local governments' power to shape local political geography creates barriers to equality that are difficult to discern on the ground, but which can be made visible by the mapping of spatial data. This study presents four cases where governmental decisions concerning a municipal boundary have institutionalized racial inequality, which is documented with maps created from public GIS data and other public records (e.g., City Council meeting minutes) as well as legal documents. This pattern of systematic exclusion of minority neighborhoods is receiving attention in the legal community, but studies in the social sciences have been limited.