Race, Residential Segregation, and the Death of Democracy: Education and Myth of Postracialism

Since the 1930s, federal housing policies and individual practices increased the spatial separation of whites and blacks. Practices such as redlining, restrictive covenants, and discrimination in the rental and sale of housing not only led to residential segregation by race but also continue to shape Whiteness and frame narratives about what constitutes Blackness. Despite the judicial and legislative victories of the civil rights movement, including the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas decision, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Fair Housing Act of 1968, residential segregation persists and in many cases has grown. Claims of a postracial society notwithstanding, the continued segregation of Blacks and Whites exacerbates racial wealth inequality, racial achievement gaps, and racial profiling. Using White racial frame and critical race theory, we explain the persistence of residential segregation amid growing ethnic diversity in the United States. We also demonstrate why current efforts to narrow racial gaps in wealth, education, and the criminal justice system have failed. Finally, we discuss several important tenets that must guide efforts to curb the epidemic of death by residential segregation in America

Band-Aids Don’t Fix Bullet Holes. A Response to “We Were There Too: Learning from Black Male Teachers in Mississippi about Successful Teaching of Black Students”

Hayes, Juarez, and Escoffery-Runnels (2014) analyzed the educational philosophies and pedagogical practices of two educators to understand how personal and professional experiences individually and collectively influenced their approach to teaching. Using oral histories, they presented an argument of why culturally relevant and social justice–oriented teaching has historically been an effective tool in educating students of color, and why it is necessary for teacher preparation in today’s so-called post-racial climate. We suggest that that the education system is merely a microcosm of society, and consequently, we must consider structures larger than individual best practices when discussing culturally relevant teaching. Bridges to benefits are networks of White privilege that flow between institutions, such as education, the economy, and the law, and that involve capitalizing on the misery of Blacks while simultaneously protecting White supremacy. We use the “bridges to benefits” concept to propose that scholars not focus solely on education but rather focus on how social institutions in general are created and designed such that they continually oppress and suppress Black and Brown Americans. We draw special attention to America’s criminal justice system, labor, and housing market

White Sports, Black Sports: Racial Disparities in Athletic Programs

The racial makeup of sports in the United States serves as a classic example of racism in the 21st century. This book examines the racial disparities in sports and the continuing significance of race in 21st-century America, debunking the myth of a postracial society. Sports can serve as an inspirational example of what can be achieved through hard work and perseverance, regardless of one\u27s race. However, there is plenty of evidence that race still plays a major role in sports, and that sports are key agents of racial socialization. White Sports/Black Sports: Racial Disparities in Athletic Programs challenges the idea that America has moved beyond racial discrimination and identifies the obvious and subtle ways in which racial identities and athletic determinism affect non-white individuals in the world of sports.Author Lori Latrice Martin gives readers a keen awareness of the issues, allowing them to see the links between sports and society as a whole and to perceive that the issues surrounding racism in sports impact people in every realm of life and are not limited to the playing field. She discusses how the media acts as an agent of racial socialization in sports, documents how historical stereotypes of minorities still exist, and looks closely at racial socialization in sports, including basketball, baseball, and football, exposing how blacks remained under-represented in most sports, especially among front office administrators, owners, coaches, and managers. This work serves undergraduate and graduate students in the social sciences to enhance their understanding of minority and majority group relationships and appeals to general readers interested in the history of race and sports in America.https://repository.lsu.edu/facultybooks/1164/thumbnail.jp

America in Denial: How Race-Fair Policies Reinforce Racial Inequality in America

In America in Denial Lori Latrice Martin examines the myth of a race-fair America by reviewing and offering alternatives to universal, race-neutral programs and policies as well as other allegedly race-neutral initiates. By considering policies and programs related to wealth, health, education, and criminal justice, while presenting themselves as race-neutral, Martin reveals that black scholars and politicians, in particular, seemingly capitulate and have become proponents of these programs and policies that perpetuate the myth of a race-fair America. This (mis)use provides cover for elected officials and presidential hopefuls needed to garner the support and authenticity required to increase public support for their initiatives. These issues must be unpacked and debunked, and the material and nonmaterial harm historically done to black people, and still felt today, must be acknowledged. The idea that programs available to all people will benefit black people is demonstratively untrue, and the alternatives presented in America in Denial will generate much-needed conversations.https://repository.lsu.edu/facultybooks/1280/thumbnail.jp

Black Women as Leaders: Challenging and Transforming Society

This book examines how black women have identified challenges in major social institutions across history and demonstrated adaptive leadership in mobilizing people to tackle those challenges facing black communities.Most studies about black women and social justice issues focus on the responses of black women to racism within the context of the feminist movement and/or the responses of black women to sexism in black liberation movements. Such discussions often fail to explore the ways in which black women\u27s commitment to negotiating their racial, gender, and class identities, while engaged in the practice of leadership, is discouraged and ignored. Black Women as Leaders analyzes the commitment of contemporary black women to social justice issues from the perspective of adaptive leadership. It shows how black women are often forced into the public practice of leadership due to violent attacks from people with whom they are in engaged in interpersonal relationships. The book also breaks new ground by revealing how black women suffer from the devaluation and vilification of their engagement in the practice of leadership in private settings, such as their homes and selected religious and institutional settings.https://repository.lsu.edu/facultybooks/1041/thumbnail.jp

Out of Bounds: Racism and the Black Athlete

This collection of essays highlights the controversies surrounding racism in sports and African American athletes, examining the racial discrimination that exists in one of the most public arenas in the 21st century. Despite increasing diversity in the American population, race and racial bias continue to be significant issues in the United States. Sports--one of the most visible and important subsets of American culture--directly reflect our society\u27s beliefs about race. This book examines racial controversy and conflict in various sports in the United States in both previous eras as well as the current Age of Obama. The essays in the work explain how racial ideologies are created and recreated in all areas of public life, including the world of sports. The authors address a wide range of sports, including ones where racial minorities are in the numerical minority, such as hockey. Specific topics covered include the devaluation of black athletes, racism in Major League Baseball, and the treatment of black female athletes.https://repository.lsu.edu/facultybooks/1181/thumbnail.jp

After the Storm: Militarization, Occupation, and Segregation in Post-Katrina America

This book examines the state of race relations in America 10 years after one of the worst natural disasters in American history, Hurricane Katrina, and looks at the socioeconomic consequences of decades of public and private practices brought to light by the storm in cities throughout the Gulf Coast as well as in America more broadly.More than a decade ago, Hurricane Katrina served to expose a well-engineered system of oppression, one which continues to privilege some groups and disadvantage others. In the wake of the natural disaster that hit New Orleans, it became clear that institutions such as residential segregation, mass incarceration and unemployment, police brutality, political disenfranchisement, racial profiling, gentrification, community occupation, discrimination, and a prison-to-school pipeline are expressly intended to work against people of color and individuals from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. Unfortunately, very little has improved in the lives of people living in majority-minority communities since Katrina. After the Storm uses Hurricane Katrina and the aftermath of the natural disaster as a point of departure for understanding enduring racial divides in asset ownership, academic achievement, educational attainment, and mass incarceration in New Orleans and beyond. The book explores the many specific aspects of the widespread problem and considers how to move toward achieving a state where all can thrive. Readers will better appreciate the key roles of race, inequality, education, occupation, and militarization in understanding the failures in the responses to this disaster and grasp how institutionalized inequity continues to plague our nation.https://repository.lsu.edu/facultybooks/1108/thumbnail.jp

Lessons From the Black Working Class: Foreshadowing America\u27s Economic Health

This book enables readers to better understand, explain, and predict the future of the nation\u27s overall economic health through its examination of the black working class--especially the experiences of black women and black working-class residents outside of urban areas. How have the experiences of black working-class women and men residing in urban, suburban, and rural settings impacted U.S. labor relations and the broader American society? This book asserts that a comprehensive and critical examination of the black working class can be used to forecast whether economic troubles are on the horizon. It documents how the increasing incidence of attacks on unions, the dwindling availability of working-class jobs, and the clamoring by the working class for a minimum wage hike is proof that the atmospheric pressure in America is rising, and that efforts to prepare for the approaching financial storm require attention to the individuals and households who are often overlooked: the black working class.Presenting information of great importance to sociologists, political scientists, and economists, the authors of this work explore the impact of the recent Great Recession on working-class African Americans and argue that the intersections of race and class for this particular group uncover the state of equity and justice in America. This book will also be of interest to public policymakers as well as students in graduate-level courses in the areas of African American studies, American society and labor, labor relations, labor and the Civil Rights Movement, and studies on race, class, and gender.https://repository.lsu.edu/facultybooks/1152/thumbnail.jp

Pay to Play: Race and the Perils of the College Sports Industrial Complex

This book advances the debate about paying student athletes in big-time college sports by directly addressing the red-hot role of race in college sports. It concludes by suggesting a remedy to positively transform college sports.Top-tier college sports are extremely profitable. Despite the billions of dollars involved in the amateur sports industrial complex, none winds up in the hands of the athletes. The controversies surrounding whether colleges and universities should pay athletes to compete on these educational institutions\u27 behalf is longstanding and coincides with the rise of the black athlete at predominately white colleges and universities. Pay to Play: Race and the Perils of the College Sports Industrial Complex takes a hard look at historical and contemporary efforts to control sports participation and compensation for black athletes in amateur sports in general, and in big-time college sports programs, in particular.The book begins with background on the history of amateur athletics in America, including the forced separation of black and white athletes. Subsequent sections examine subjects such as the integration of college sports and the use of black athletes to sell everything from fast food to shoes, and argue that college athletes must receive adequate compensation for their labor. The book concludes by discussing recent efforts by college athletes to unionize and control their likenesses, presenting a provocative remedy for transforming big-time college sport as we know it.https://repository.lsu.edu/facultybooks/1094/thumbnail.jp