African Americans and the Public Agenda The Paradoxes of Public Policy

by Cedric Herring

• ISBN13: 9780761904731
• ISBN10: 0761904735
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1997-01-23
• Publisher: Sage Publications

Summary

Key issues surrounding race and public policy in North America are examined in this book. For example, who truly represents African Americans in the American political process? Why does there seem to be increased white resistance to programmes that seek to redress equality if white racism appears to be declining? And why do so many programmes which are intended to tackle inequality seem instead to exacerbate it? The contributors to this perceptive and timely volume shed light on these apparent paradoxes.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix	(4)
William Julius Wilson
Acknowledgments	xiii
PART I. Introduction	3	(24)
1. African Americans, the Public Agenda, and the Paradoxes of Public Policy: A Focus on the Controversies Surrounding Affirmative Action	3	(24)
Cedric Herring
PART II. Challenges to Leadership and Representation in the African American Community	27	(26)
2. Cross-Cutting Black Issues Effected by the Changing Role of Government	27	(8)
Yvonne Scruggs
3. Political Consolidation or American Apartheid? Some Political and Economic Consequences of Black Empowerment	35	(18)
Michael I. J. Bennett
Cedric Herring
Douglas Gills
PART III. Racial Differences in Health	53	(34)
4. Maternal Drug Abuse and Infant Health: A Proposal for a Multilevel Model	53	(15)
Rae Banks
Assata Zerai
5. The Psychosocial Dimension of Black Maternal Health: An Intersection of Race, Gender, and Class	68	(19)
Katrina Bell McDonald
PART IV. Racial Inequality and Social Policy	87	(18)
6. Race up the Corporate Ladder: The Dilemmas and Contradictions of First-Wave Black Executives	87	(18)
Sharon M. Collins
PART V. Changes in Ideology and Cultural Myths	105	(66)
7. Affirm Equality, Oppose Racist Scapegoating: Myths and Realities of Affirmative Action	105	(21)
Steven J. Rosenthal
8. Conservative Religious and Ideological Perspectives: Sources and Consequences for Public Policy for the Poor	126	(24)
Charles Jarmon
9. African-American Families and Public Policy: The Legacy of the Moynihan Report	150	(21)
Juan J. Battle
Michael D. Bennett
PART VI. Race and Educational Segregation	171	(38)
10. Race Relations and Campus Climate for Minority Students: Implications for Higher Education Desegregation	171	(21)
Gail E. Thomas
11. Afrocentric Education: Understanding the Effects of Black Academies on Academic Achievement	190	(19)
Kerry Rockquemore
PART VII. Crime, Unequal Law Enforcement, and Punishment	209	(58)
12. Race, Representation, and the Drug Policy Agenda	209	(15)
Rae Banks
13. Race, Gender, and the Timing of Justice: Age at First Arrest and Incarceration for African American Women	224	(14)
Verna M. Keith
Garry L. Rolison
14. Which Way Toward Equality? Dilemmas and Paradoxes in Public Policies Affecting Crime and Punishment	238	(15)
Darnell F. Hawkins
15. Balanced Opportunity	253	(14)
Reverend Jesse L. Jackson
Author Index	267	(6)
Subject Index	273	(10)
About the Authors	283