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The article deals with trends and policy outcomes in relation to the war on drugs, race and the legitimacy of the criminal justice system in the U.S. The phrase "the American Dream" is a common element in discussions about the uniqueness of the U.S. Notions of freedom, opportunity, and equality characterizes the idea of the American Dream. A series of policies were enacted by the U.S. that reforged a historically troubled linkage between race, crime and the functioning of the legal system. Such changes resulted to a deep crisis of legitimacy for the legal system in the eyes of African Americans and a threat to the promise of equality before the law.

A coordinated community response system to the help-seeking behaviors of domestic violence victims is critical to minimize the impact of violent events and to educate the public, so that safe and effective conflict management skills may replace violent responses. The focus for the present study is to identify and analyze victims’ choices of law enforcement assistance in stopping the violence and/or aid through the services of the regional family violence center. Some victims select legal channels of support; others rely exclusively on social service support, and others seek assistance from both sources. Characteristics of victims whose cases followed two types of help-seeking behavior patterns—legal support or social support–were determined through archived data from both the records of a regional family violence center (FVC) ( n=258) and domestic violence incident reports of a police department serving a city of approximately 200,000 citizens ( n=127). Findings indicate that African American victims more frequently sought protection through law enforcement sources than they did through family violence center services, and the reverse was true for Euro-Americans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the presumed marginalization of Black law enforcement executives. In particular, it was hypothesized that study participants (n=123) would report experiencing social isolation from various support and reference groups such as subordinate personnel of both races, White peers of equivalent rank, and family/friends. Several research hypotheses, logically derived from the available literature, were not supported by the data, thereby suggesting that Black law enforcement executives are more socially well-adjusted and integrated in their leadership roles than anticipated. These results suggest a reconsideration of the assumptions surrounding the contemporary working world experiences of this growing segment of leaders in the law enforcement community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the role of the U.S. Supreme Court in the development of affirmative action policies. This discussion is divided into three sections: comment on the role of the court in policymaking; the vacillating role of the court in the African American civil rights movement; and the role of the court in affirmative action up to and including the Michigan cases. This article also isolates and discusses various key indicators drawn from the cases that testify of the court's continuing hostility toward affirmative action and minority rights.

The article discusses the end of African American voting rights in antebellum Pennsylvania. It talks about the competing racial belief systems in the state in the 1830s--racial paternalism and racial ascriptivism--and looks at the political transformation of the state into a white republic. It also looks at the rise of partisanship in the state during the period. It analyzes the debates at the constitutional convention of 1837-1838.

Focuses on the role of African Americans and Jewish Americans in the formation of civil rights movement and the creation of the civil rights law in New York State between 1895 and 1913. Passage of a Civil Rights Act by the federal government on March 1, 1875; Provisions of the 1895 New York State Civil Rights Act; Response of Jewish communities to the failure of a civil rights bill introduced by New York State Senator Martin Saxe from being enacted into law.

This article presents information regarding the vernacular presence in Frederick Douglass' narratives. The typical critical paradigm reads Douglass as a black object transforming itself into subject by seizing a forbidden literacy. What these assessments share is an awareness of the ways in which American culture links literacy to social power. It is hard to dispute that for an enslaved African American to become part of the nineteenth-century European American literary establishment required mastery of American and English written prose, a mastery denied him or her by lack of formal education and/or literacy laws.

For over a century, slavery in America has been but a memory of past injustice. But in a present-day world in which Black Americans can enjoy full rights and privileges as citizens, it is clear that the ills of slavery still ignite anger and resentment in the heart of Black America. In an attempt to obtain a sense of understanding and closure, people from all walks of life offer physical, psychological, emotional, and economic justifications and solutions to this wrong of the past. One of the more controversial attempts made by Americans to appease the disgruntled minds and hearts of its Black people is the offer of economic reparations. Prominent Black leaders and scholars claim that reparations are owed to members of their race and should be paid for by the United States government out of tax revenues. Libertarian theory posits views both in favor and in opposition to this claim. This paper provides a critique of and opposition to the views of David Horowitz in his article, "The Latest Civil Rights Disaster: Ten reasons why reparations for slavery is a bad idea for Blacks--and racist too," FrontPage Magazine, January 3, 2001. This paper presents not a libertarian view, but a position in favor of economic and social reparations that are owed to the people who have been oppressed and deprived as a result of this dehumanizing act--one that has violated private property rights of those of the past, the present, and the future of Black America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Racial disparities in health and wealth are well documented. Compared to whites, African Americans have lower life expectancy, higher death rates from chronic diseases, and receive sub-optimal medical care. In addition, African Americans are more likely to live in poverty, have lower median household incomes, lower net worth and lower educational attainment. Are these current disparities due in part to past societal racism? We explore this issue in this paper and propose a methodology for understanding the impact of the legacy of racism on present generations. We argue that slavery, racial segregation, and discrimination resulted in real reductions in the health and wealth of African Americans that have persisted across generations. Federal, state and local policies and laws constrained previous generations of African Americans' investment decisions and opportunities to improve their health, and accumulate financial assets and human capital. The elimination and relaxing of these policies and laws, while halting further injury, did not compensate for the past restrictions on the incentives and capacity of parents to invest in the human capital of their children. Thus, it did not remedy the damage that was done during the period of these legal racist practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research article analyses the emergence of African Americans in the U.S. paid labor force. I calculate how much African Americans lost due to discrimination in employment in the form of wage differentials between 1972, the date of the amendments to the Civil Rights Act, and 1990. Then I estimate how much that would be worth today, using the method of present value. Finally, I argue for reparations in that amount. I also provide an analysis of the role of the civil rights movement, the role of public opinion, and the role of Congress in the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents abstracts of research on African American political economy. They include "Discrimination in Education Financing," "All Land Grants Were Not Created Equal: The Benefits of White Privilege," "Income and Wealth Transfer Effects of Discrimination in Employment," "White Gains from Black Subordination," and "Income and Wealth Transfer Effects of Discrimination in Small Business Lending."

Since their creation, white land grants have benefited from both the legal and social privilege afforded whites. White privilege allowed for the gross disparities in funding that for nearly a century denied black land grants resources for resident instruction, military training, cooperative extensions services, experimental stations, and research, and/or rural sociology. By 1928, the average black land grant was valued at $.7 million compared to the average white land grant with a value of $4.5 million. By 1942, the impact of these funding inequities could be seen in the underdeveloped curriculum of the black land grants which (1) lacked programs in architecture, journalism, geography, anthropology, philosophy, accounting, advertising, marketing, banking and finance, manufacturing, and management; (2) had limited access to psychology, foreign language sociology, physics, chemistry, biology, political science or government; (3) lacked a well developed engineering programs; and (4) were without graduate or professional programs. According to Kujovich (1994), additional consequences of these deficiencies are in 1950 (1) .13 percent of the black labor force were lawyers and judges, engineers, scientists, physicians and surgeons, dentists, pharmacists, architects, accountants and auditors, surveyors, designers, or draftsmen and (2) whites residing in the segregationist states were served by physicians and surgeons at the rate of 115/100,000 compared to 20/100,000 for blacks. In the 21st century, the historical benefits of white privilege are seen in the Carnegie Classification, all of the white land grants and only three of the black land grants are either doctoral extensive or doctoral intensive, and the average full professor at a white land grant earns $20,069 per year more than his counterpart at a black land grant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

State-sanctioned punishment of African-Americans has often been more severe than that meted out to whites for the same offense. Despite efforts to address racial disparities in sentencing, legislative mandates have sometimes resulted in exacerbating existing disparities or creating new ones. Mandatory minimum sentences instituted in federal drug laws in 1984 required longer sentences for individuals convicted of crack cocaine offenses. Since African- Americans are more likely to be convicted of crack cocaine offenses substantial racial differentials in sentencing have resulted. This paper discusses some issues in the measurement of income and wealth transfers resulting from racial differences in sentencing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the root causes for the overrepresentation of African American students in special education classes and their underrepresentation in gifted and talented programs in America's public schools. The article (a) provides a historic overview of the legal struggles for educational equity, (b) examines key issues surrounding the academic status of African American students, (c) discusses multicultural education as a remedy, and (d) recommends an appropriate course of action for educators and policy makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 50th anniversary of the historic 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education provides an opportunity to trace the origin of Brown and the long journey by African Americans to achieve quality elementary and secondary education in this country. This journey began with passage of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1868, which applied the Bill of Rights to the states. This action gave the newly freed slaves the same legal rights as White Americans, citizenship and equality under the law and due process protection against state action under the Bill of Rights. Even though public education did not exist for Blacks when the amendment was enacted, it gave Blacks protection against future negative state action. This journey was slowed in 1896 when the Court in Plessy v. Ferguson ruled that the doctrine of separate but equal could satisfy the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. In the 1940s, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) forcefully renewed the journey again. In 1954, the Court reversed the Plessy ruling and held that de jure, state enforced racially segregated education did not meet constitutional requirements. This article reviews this history and makes projections for the future of public education for African Americans, 135 years after this journey began with passage of the Fourteenth Amendment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reports on the era of Jim Crow which segregated the races in the southern United States in the 20th century. Evolution of segregation in both custom and law after the Civil War; Addressing the white-black dilemma and promising democracy for African American citizens; Critical patterns marking black community efforts at institution-building; Use of religion and schooling to bridge differences and cooperate for shared goals; Crusades of organizations such as National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in abolishing lynching, equalizing education, and gaining the right to vote.

Analyzes the African American upward mobility and the semiotics of smoking menthols. Adaptability of tobacco use; Advantage of the U.S. product liability law to U.S. citizens; Impact of cigarettes on the African American community.

Provides information on the contribution of political activist Emmett Till to African American literature. Failure of the African American community in its search for justice in courts in the 19th century; Impact of Till's murder on African American literature; Image of Till as a sacrificial Christ figure.

Presents an article on the dedication of Sojourner Truth, an African American woman and former slave, to pursuing legal activism in representation of slaves in the U.S. in the 19th century. Relationship of Truth to the law; Decision of Truth to escape from slavery; Advantage of New York's 1817 emancipation statute to enslaved African Americans.

Presents the text of the speech given by Julian Bond, chairman of the board of directors of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), at the 2002 NAACP Convention Address in Houston, Texas on July 7, 2002, which deals with the rights of African Americans.

Opponents of the Federal Davis-Bacon Act contend that this law has racial bias, and that keeping African-Americans out of the construction industry was the original intent of the law. This paper addresses the latter issue by examining congressional records to unveil the original intentions behind passage of the Davis-Bacon Act. It also examines how false assertions or “factoids” are manufactured in the society by think tanks. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article examines the association of whiteness with law and terror in the cycle of plays of playwright August Wilson and its implications for his white audience. It explores the innumerable white sheriffs, judges, and policemen in his plays that symbolize the Euro-American's control over the corrupt legal system. Moreover, the author contends that because the power structure refuses to protect its black citizens against Euro-Americans, African Americans fall into the hands of the whites and are brutalized.

Information about the Pan-American Congress held in London, England in 1921 is presented. Topics of the meeting include the international efforts to equality of races, physical, political and social advancement, the integration of a racial equality agreement with individual liberty and expression of freedom in religion and customs. The meeting also establishes the peace and good will agreement for black African states.

Examines the changes, legislation and court decisions that have affected the election of Afro-Americans to public office in the United States. Race and representation of Afro-Americans; Institutional effects on Afro-American representation; Behavioral effects.

Discusses how the war-time achievements of the African American fighter pilots of the United States Army Air Corps called the Tuskegee Airmen influenced US President Harry Truman to pass a law that ensures equality among members of the armed forces. Effects of the passage of the law on black members of the Army; Political origins and confrontations of 1940-1941 surrounding the `Tuskegee Experiment.'

Traces the origin of the doctrine used by the United States (U.S.) Supreme Court on the case Plessy versus Ferguson which justified the school segregation of Afro-Americans. Discussion on the ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court on the case Brown versus Board of Education which ended school segregation; Analysis on the dissenting opinion of justice John Marshall Harlan in Plessy versus Ferguson; Citation on court cases dealing with segregation.

Questions whether legislative reparations are a justifiable remedy for African Americans. State of race relations; History of political activism; Resolution to the dilemma of race relations; Impact of reparations scheme on the white American population; Continuing effects of slavery and systemic discrimination; Rationale for a legislative remedy in the context of distributive justice.

Focuses on the categorization of Abraham Lincoln as a colonizationist according to his attitude toward black people and their enslavement. Lincoln's full agreement with the thesis of the colonizationists; Legislation enacted in 1862 that linked emancipation, confiscation and colonization; Lincoln's signing of treaties that extended diplomatic recognition to Haiti and Liberia in the spring of 1862.

Discusses ways in which blacks and language minorities still can be guaranteed direct representation in the US House of Representatives through multi-member districts employing the single transferable vote form of proportional representation, cumulative voting or limited voting. 1967 congressional act which mandates the use of single-member districts to elects members of the House of Representatives.

Examines the evolution of foreign policy for blacks in the United States. Organizational and institutional strength; Socioeconomic change; Political opportunity; Italo-Ethiopian war.

The seminal race relations issue in U.S. society today is how to promote successful integration while respecting the differences that still separate the races. The author examines this problem through the lens of United States v. Fordice. In Fordice, the Supreme Court found discrimination in Mississippi's post-secondary educational system. While the Court required the integration of the state's predominantly white colleges, it refused to mandate equal funding for publicly supported historically black colleges and universities. The author argues that Fordice was wrong because Brown v. Board of Education was wrong: both cases failed to distinguish between the final goal of integration in an ideal society and the process of integration. The process by which the final goal is achieved requires voluntary rather than forced integration. It requires protection of the unique African-American culture or nomos, particularly in the context of education. Being able to choose whether or when to integrate depends upon the freedom to choose a predominantly or historically black college or a predominantly white college. The ideal integrated society can only be achieved through a transitional stage in which racial differences are truly respected, a stage which requires the public maintenance of and support for predominantly black colleges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The electorate's racial composition is hypothesized to influence the extent to which the vote is cast along racial lines. The focus is on voting in mayoral and councilmanic elections held between 1965 and 1986 in New Orleans (which changed from majority white to majority black over this period) and concludes that changes in the electorate's racial composition delineates a series of electoral contexts, each with its own specific mix of election characteristics and racial voting patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Asserts that the Sunbury petition of 1791 provides a fascinating statement of the racial attitudes, political consciousness and modus operandi of elite white women in early national Georgia. Simon Munro Esq.; Billy, the slave; Thomas Stone, Billy's owner; Governor Edward Telfair; Details of the petition; The two justices, John Lawson and David Rees; Patriarchal values of Georgia's white society; More.

The article examines the impressions on the Northern and Southern newspaper treatment of the African American desegregation movement conveyed in the literature in 1960s. Study indicates that sit-in stories in the Southern papers have more African American sources when compared to those in the Northern papers. Its findings suggests for the re-examination of the significant role played by the press in other civil rights movement's aspects.

Reveals that higher proportions of blacks were associated with lower per capita prosecution expenditures across the states of the United States for the year 1980. Issue of discrimination; Historical and economic determinants of prosecution expenditures.