Contemporary Controversies and the American Racial DivideRowman & Littlefield, 2000 - 167 pages Contemporary Controversies and the American Racial Divide is a detailed study of some of the most racially divisive issues America has encountered in the past decade. Smith and Seltzer employ more than forty surveys to explore race-based public opinion differences on high-profile controversies including the Rodney King and O. J. Simpson cases; the arrest, trial, jailing, and subsequent reelection of Washington, D.C., Mayor Marion Barry; the Million Man March and Louis Farrakhan; and the Clarence Thomas-Anita Hill controversy. The authors also look at race-based opinion differences on the inner-city crack cocaine epidemic and the spread of AIDS among the American populace. The divisions in opinion between blacks and whites on these controversies are explained in terms of the distinctive historical and cultural experiences of the different races and the gaps, gulfs, and chasms in their contemporary social and economic conditions. While also noting significant commonalities in opinion across the color line, the book focuses on racial differences and their sources, and in a concluding chapter advances suggestions as to how the nation might overcome its racial divisions. This innovative study is a unique, rich, contextualized, dynamic analysis of race opinion, unlike anything else in literature. |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
Race Ideology Partisanship and Racialism | 21 |
American Foreign Policy and the Persian Gulf War | 39 |
Blacks Leading America and Leading African Americans Louis Farrakhan Colin Powell and Clarence Thomas with Reference to the Anita Hill Contr... | 61 |
Rumors and Conspiracies Justified Paranoia? | 81 |
Crimes and Punishments An Overview of Race Opinion Differences | 99 |
Conclusion | 135 |
Appendix | 141 |
145 | |
159 | |
About the Authors | |
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Contemporary Controversies and the American Racial Divide Robert C. Smith,Richard Seltzer Limited preview - 2000 |
Common terms and phrases
affirmative action African American allegations Angeles Anita Hill approval Barry's black community black leaders black opinion black women blacks agreed blacks and whites Blacks Whites Gap Brawley Bush busing City civil rights Clarence Thomas Clinton cocaine Colin Powell compared conducted context controversy criminal justice system culture Democratic Differences in Attitudes Differences in Opinion discrimination drug economic election favor foreign policy gender group-serving bias historical Iraq Iraqi issues Jesse Jackson jury Kennedy leadership liberal Louis Farrakhan major Marion Barry mass opinion mayor Million Man March murder O. J. Simpson opinion differences Persian Gulf Persian Gulf War political poll President programs public opinion question race differences race gulf race opinion race relations Racial Differences racism respondents riots Rodney King rumors Sigelman and Welch Smith social survey Tawana Brawley television trial United verdict vote Washington Post Washington Post/ABC whites agreed Whites Gap Gulf York Times/CBS