Precise connections between race, poverty, and the condition of
America's cities are drawn in this collection of seventeen essays.
Policymakers and scholars from a variety of disciplines analyze the
plight of the urban poor since the riots of the 1960s and the
resulting 1968 Kerner Commission Report on the status of African
Americans. In essays addressing health care, education, welfare,
and housing policies, the contributors reassess the findings of the
report in light of developments over the last thirty years,
including the Los Angeles riots of 1992. Some argue that the
long-standing obstacles faced by the urban poor cannot be removed
without revitalizing inner-city neighborhoods; others emphasize
strategies to break down racial and economic isolation and promote
residential desegregation throughout metropolitan areas.
Guided by a historical perspective, the contributors propose a new
combination of economic and social policies to transform cities
while at the same time improving opportunities and outcomes for
inner-city residents. This approach highlights the close links
between progress for racial minorities and the overall health of
cities and the nation as a whole.
The volume, which began as a special issue of the
North Carolina
Law Review, has been significantly revised and expanded for
publication as a book. The contributors are John Charles Boger,
Alison Brett, John O. Calmore, Peter Dreier, Susan F. Fainstein,
Walter C. Farrell Jr., Nancy Fishman, George C. Galster, Chester
Hartman, James H. Johnson Jr., Ann Markusen, Patricia Meaden, James
E. Rosenbaum, Peter W. Salsich Jr., Michael A. Stegman, David
Stoesz, Charles Sumner Stone Jr., William L. Taylor, Sidney D.
Watson, and Judith Welch Wegner.