Future of American Democracy Depends on Addressing the Crisis of Racial Segregation - New Book Says
New Forms of Segregation Require New Language of Race to Challenge Notion of "Post-Racial" America
Leading Scholars Call for the Need to Reclaim Integration in U.S. Schools and Housing
DETROIT, Nov. 19, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- The future of American democracy depends on addressing the crisis of racial segregation as the nation transforms into a multiracial majority in little more than one generation by 2042 – a comprehensive new book on race and integration from Detroit-based educators says.
Reclaiming Integration and the Language of Race in the "Post-Racial" Era, by Curtis L. Ivery and Joshua A. Bassett, with leading scholars in the fields of education, law, sociology and urban studies, posits that America must reclaim the project of racial integration in schools and in our communities if we are to maintain ourselves as a democracy.
Amongst the book's key analyses:
- It analyzes the three-decade long re-segregation of U.S. schools that have returned to levels not seen since the 1960s, which has shifted from its historical focus on the binary of black and white populations to an analysis that includes Latino and Asian communities.
- It identifies new forms of segregation in the U.S. that have emerged from the nation's unprecedented changing racial demographics. This includes the most current work in the fields of sociology and urban studies dealing with racial preferences in housing and implicit racial bias.
- It links an analysis of how our dominant social discourse of race functions to sustain "post-racial" social beliefs and civic policy, including legal frameworks that govern equal access to education and to fair housing. The book argues for a "new racial discourse" that both reflects our nation's transforming racial demographics and desire to provide dignity and representation to every American.
"Reclaiming Integration and the Language of Race in the "Post-Racial" Era is a powerful read about the salience of race and inequity of opportunity existent in the United States. Through a much-needed multidisciplinary analysis of segregation and integration, the essays presented critically address the problematic nature of utilizing colorblind discourse to address enduring racial segregation and racism," wrote Sarah Diem, PhD, assistant professor, educational leadership and analysis, faculty affiliate, Harry S. Truman School of Public Affairs, University of Missouri.
"Importantly, the authors offer comprehensive, original, and feasible strategies to reclaim the goal of integration," Diem wrote.
Ivery is Chancellor of the Wayne County Community College District (WCCCD) based in Detroit, Mich. He was formerly Commissioner of Human Services in Arkansas under Governor Bill Clinton. He has been engaged in civil-rights projects for more than three decades and has published extensively on civil rights issues.
Bassett is Director of the Institute for Social Progress, a nationally affiliated civil rights and educational institute located at WCCCD. His work focuses on integration and developing programs that expand educational opportunities.
Chapter authors include nationally renowned integration and legal scholars including, Gary Orfield, John Powell, Reynolds Farley, Maria Krysan, Howard Winant, Sheldon Danziger (and noted others).
The book is published by Rowman & Littlefield: https://rowman.com/RLPublishers. It is available at major bookstores, and from online sellers.
SOURCE WCCCD
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