Racial segregation is characterised by separation of different
races in daily life, such as eating in a restaurant, drinking from a water fountain, using a rest room, attending school, going to the movies, or in the rental or purchase of a home. Segregation may be mandated by law—or may exist even illegally. Segregation may be maintained by means ranging from discrimination in hiring and in the rental and sale of housing to certain races to
vigilante violence such as
lynchings; a situation that arises when members of different races mutually prefer to associate and do business with members of their own race would usually be described as separation or de facto separation of the races rather than segregation.
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