Whitewashing Race: The Myth of a Color-Blind Society - Softcover

Brown, Michael K; Carnoy, Martin; Currie, Elliott; Duster, Troy; Oppenheimer, David B; Shultz, Marjorie M; Wellman, David

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0520244753 ISBN 13: 9780520244757

Publisher: University of California Press, 2005

Synopsis

White Americans, abetted by neo-conservative writers of all hues, generally believe that racial discrimination is a thing of the past and that any racial inequalities that undeniably persist-in wages, family income, access to housing or health care-can be attributed to African Americans' cultural and individual failures. If the experience of most black Americans says otherwise, an explanation has been sorely lacking-or obscured by the passions the issue provokes. At long last offering a cool, clear, and informed perspective on the subject, this book brings together a team of highly respected sociologists, political scientists, economists, criminologists, and legal scholars to scrutinize the logic and evidence behind the widely held belief in a color-blind society-and to provide an alternative explanation for continued racial inequality in the United States.

While not denying the economic advances of black Americans since the 1960s, Whitewashing Race draws on new and compelling research to demonstrate the persistence of racism and the effects of organized racial advantage across many institutions in American society-including the labor market, the welfare state, the criminal justice system, and schools and universities. Looking beyond the stalled debate over current antidiscrimination policies, the authors also put forth a fresh vision for achieving genuine racial equality of opportunity in a post-affirmative action world.

About this title

About the Author

Michael K. Brown and David Wellman are members of the faculty of the University of California, Santa Cruz. Elliott Currie, Troy Duster, and Marjorie M. Shultz are on the faculty at the University of California, Berkeley; Currie is also Visiting Professor at the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Florida State University and Duster is also Professor of Sociology at New York University. Martin Carnoy is Professor of Education and Economics at Stanford University. David B. Oppenheimer is Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor of Law at Golden Gate University.

From the Back Cover

"In Whitewashing Race, an impressive and diverse group of scholars launch an empirically grounded assault on the vast body of colorblind orthodoxy. The authors harness a medley of disciplinary perspectives into a cogent argument about racial stratification accompanied by a set of practical racial justice policy options. Their aim is both simple and ambitious: to reinvigorate a moribund debate by marshalling their collective intellectual resources to demonstrate that the conservative consensus on race is neither morally sustainable nor logically defensible."--Lani Guinier, coauthor of The Miner's Canary: Enlisting Race, Resisting Power, Transforming Democracy

"This powerful book disposes of the claim, so often heard, that America has solved its race problem and can now be 'color-blind.' Based on hard facts, it shows how we must work--for the sake of all of us--to give Black Americans the reality of equal opportunity."--Anthony Lewis, author of Gideon's Trumpet

"An essential book. Americans have always worked hard at burying our racial truths, thereby leaving half-truths, myths and raw bigotry to continue their brutal work on our most vulnerable citizens. The authors cauterize these terrible wounds with prodigious research and brilliant insights. Their work is a great service to justice and to our country."--Roger Wilkins, author of Jefferson's Pillow: The Founding Fathers and the Dilemma of Black Patriotism

"For many years conservative scholars and think tanks have been trying to convince the American public that racism is dead and that race-specific policies, such as affirmative action, cannot be justified and are in fact detrimental. To a great extent they have succeeded in making ostensible 'color-blindness' the dominant test of law and policy affecting racial minorities. Now at last we have the definitive response to this argument. It comes from seven distinguished scholars from a range of disciplines who believe that race must be taken into account if we are ever to get beyond racism. With massive evidence, much of it quantitative, they blast conservative color-blindness to smithereens, showing that it really functions as a formula to perpetuate racial inequality. No one concerned with racial justice in America can afford to ignore this book."--George M. Fredrickson, author of Racism: A Short History

"Whitewashing Race is the most important social science statement on race in more than a decade. It lays bare the expressly conservative, ideological, and deeply flawed analyses of those pundits pressing for 'color-blind' social policy. With lucid prose and truly definitive scholarship, Brown, Wellman, and colleagues thoroughly debunk the reigning conservative consensus. Anyone who cares about racial justice and the fate of the American Dream should read this vitally important book."--Lawrence D. Bobo, editor of Prismatic Metropolis: Inequality in Los Angeles

"Far from writing a collection of essays, the authors of Whitewashing Race have collaborated to produce a brilliant, seamless book on America's deepest divide. Framed as a response to conservative analysts who claim that racial problems are essentially solved, the book provides an authoritative overview of how the nation's two principal races still remain sharply apart by every social measure."--Andrew Hacker, author of Two Nations: Black and White, Separate, Hostile, Unequal

"In today's political climate, even the most well-meaning liberal tends to believe that institutional racism is a thing of the past and that we've truly achieved a color-blind society. Whitewashing Race makes a powerful case that racism is still with us. Relying on solid evidence rather than polemics, the authors have amassed an overwhelming body of data to show the persistence of racism in the job and housing market, education, the criminal justice system, and the political arena. If we ever have a real 'national conversation' on race, Whitewashing Race ought to be mandatory reading."--Robin D. G. Kelley, author of Freedom Dreams

From the Inside Flap

"In Whitewashing Race, an impressive and diverse group of scholars launch an empirically grounded assault on the vast body of colorblind orthodoxy. The authors harness a medley of disciplinary perspectives into a cogent argument about racial stratification accompanied by a set of practical racial justice policy options. Their aim is both simple and ambitious: to reinvigorate a moribund debate by marshalling their collective intellectual resources to demonstrate that the conservative consensus on race is neither morally sustainable nor logically defensible." Lani Guinier, coauthor of The Miner's Canary: Enlisting Race, Resisting Power, Transforming Democracy

"This powerful book disposes of the claim, so often heard, that America has solved its race problem and can now be 'color-blind.' Based on hard facts, it shows how we must work--for the sake of all of us--to give Black Americans the reality of equal opportunity." Anthony Lewis, author of Gideon's Trumpet

"An essential book. Americans have always worked hard at burying our racial truths, thereby leaving half-truths, myths and raw bigotry to continue their brutal work on our most vulnerable citizens. The authors cauterize these terrible wounds with prodigious research and brilliant insights. Their work is a great service to justice and to our country." Roger Wilkins, author of Jefferson's Pillow: The Founding Fathers and the Dilemma of Black Patriotism

"For many years conservative scholars and think tanks have been trying to convince the American public that racism is dead and that race-specific policies, such as affirmative action, cannot be justified and are in fact detrimental. To a great extent they have succeeded in making ostensible 'color-blindness' the dominant test of law and policy affecting racial minorities. Now at last we have the definitive response to this argument. It comes from seven distinguished scholars from a range of disciplines who believe that race must be taken into account if we are ever to get beyond racism. With massive evidence, much of it quantitative, they blast conservative color-blindness to smithereens, showing that it really functions as a formula to perpetuate racial inequality. No one concerned with racial justice in America can afford to ignore this book." George M. Fredrickson, author of Racism: A Short History

"Whitewashing Race is the most important social science statement on race in more than a decade. It lays bare the expressly conservative, ideological, and deeply flawed analyses of those pundits pressing for 'color-blind' social policy. With lucid prose and truly definitive scholarship, Brown, Wellman, and colleagues thoroughly debunk the reigning conservative consensus. Anyone who cares about racial justice and the fate of the American Dream should read this vitally important book." Lawrence D. Bobo, editor of Prismatic Metropolis: Inequality in Los Angeles

"Far from writing a collection of essays, the authors of Whitewashing Race have collaborated to produce a brilliant, seamless book on America's deepest divide. Framed as a response to conservative analysts who claim that racial problems are essentially solved, the book provides an authoritative overview of how the nation's two principal races still remain sharply apart by every social measure." Andrew Hacker, author of Two Nations: Black and White, Separate, Hostile, Unequal

"In today's political climate, even the most well-meaning liberal tends to believe that institutional racism is a thing of the past and that we've truly achieved a color-blind society. Whitewashing Race makes a powerful case that racism is still with us. Relying on solid evidence rather than polemics, the authors have amassed an overwhelming body of data to show the persistence of racism in the job and housing market, education, the criminal justice system, and the political arena. If we ever have a real 'national conversation' on race, Whitewashing Race ought to be mandatory reading." Robin D. G. Kelley, author of Freedom Dreams

Edition details

• Publisher: University of California Press
• Publication date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0520244753
• ISBN 13: 9780520244757
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 348