Banks Macro Pre-PP2 3/4/2014 5:32 PM 101 Still Drowning in Segregation: Limits of Law in Post-Civil Rights America “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” —William Faulkner, REQUIEM FOR A NUN 1 “You have to change your heart if you want to change.” —Bob Dylan 2 Taunya Lovell Banks 3 Introduction In 2005 Hurricane Katrina became the deadliest storm to hit the United States since 1928.1 Close to a thousand people died, and drowning was a major cause of death. 4 Blacks comprised fifty- one percent of all deaths. 5 Many of the Black people who drowned during the storm were elderly and lived in the poorest neighborhoods. 6 They grew up in an era when Black Americans had no, or limited access to swimming facilities. They lived their lives in communities that did not allow them to practice their swimming skills and engage in a life-long form of exercise. 7 Today Blacks, and increasingly Latinos, in economically distressed inner city neighborhoods live in swimming pool deserts. 8 They have no 1. WILLIAM FAULKNER, REQUIEM FOR A NUN 73 (1950). 2. Mikal Gilmore, Bob Dylan Unleashed: A Wild Ride on His New LP and Striking Back at Critics, ROLLING STONE (Sept. 27, 2012), http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/bob-dylan-unleashed-a-wild-ride-on-his- new-lp-and-striking-back-at-critics-20120927. 3. Jacob A. France Professor of Equality Jurisprudence, University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law. The author thanks Michelle Goodwin, Mildred Robinson, Tanya Washington and members of the Maryland law faculty for their helpful comments on earlier drafts of this article. She also thanks Travis Chance, Class of 2014, Megan Nathan, class of 2014, and Jason Hawkins for their research assistance, and Susan McCarty for her editorial assistance. 1 Joan Brunkard et al., Hurricane Katrina Deaths, Louisiana, 2005, 2 DISASTER MED. & PUB. HEALTH PREPAREDNESS 215, 215 (2008), available at http://new.dhh.louisiana.gov/assets/docs/katrina/deceasedreports/KatrinaDeaths_0 82008.pdf. (last visited Sept. 21, 2013) 4. Id. 5. Id. at 216. 6. See id. at 217. 7. See infra notes 37–139 and accompanying text. 8. See infra notes 140–48 and accompanying text.