Many writers, scholars, and activists contend that the civil rights movement is over and we are now in a new “post—civil rights era.” Proponents of the post—civil rights notion contend that the civil rights movement was successful in its goal of eliminating legal discrimination. They also agree that black America is now facing a new set of problems not addressed by the civil rights objectives and tactics a generation ago. While a cross-section of critics support the idea of a post—civil rights era, they differ in their interpretation of the causes and solutions to the contemporary racial divide. In this article, the author analyzes three interrelated uses of the post—civil rights concept and question its utility in addressing the persistence of urban inequality and the unequal impact of Hurricane Katrina on the African American community.
Dinesh D'Souza, The End of Racism (New York: Free Press, 1995), 13, 163-66.
2.
Ibid., 477.
3.
Ibid., 479-85.
4.
Ibid., 551.
5.
Karen Everhart Bedford, "Messy History: The Hardest Work," Current, July 13, 1993; K. Anthony Norris, "Blackside's Henry Hampton: Telling and Selling the Truth-Blackside Inc., Minority-Owned, Documentary Film Production Company," American Visions, Feb-March, 1994, http://findartilces.com/p/articles/mi_m154/is_n1_ v9/ai_14947190/; and Robert E. Johnson, "Bill and Camille Cosby, First Family of Philanthropy; $20 million Gift to Spelman Is the Largest in History of Black Institutions," Ebony, May 1, 1989.
6.
Bill Cosby's Address at the NAACP on the fiftieth Anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, May 17, 2004.
7.
Ibid.
8.
Ibid.
9.
Juan Williams, Enough: The Phony Leaders, Dead-End Movements, and Culture of Failure That Are Undermining Black America-And What We Can Do about It ( New York: Crown, 2006), 185-87.
10.
William Julius Wilson, The Truly Disadvantaged: The Inner City, the Underclass, and Public Policy (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987), 8.
11.
Ibid., 112
12.
Ibid., 114
13.
Ibid., 112-14; and Peter Stephen Steinberg , "Science and Politics in the Work of William Julius Wilson,"New Politics6, no. 2 (Winter 1997), http://wpung.edu/newpol/Issue22/steinb22.htm .
14.
Ibid.
15.
Glenn C.Loury, "Discrimination in the Post-Civil Rights Era: Beyond Market Interactions," Journal of Economic Perspectives, Spring1998 , http://www.bu.edu/irsd/articles/discrimination.htm .
16.
Ibid.
17.
Ibid.
18.
Ronald S. Sullivan and Eddie Glaude Jr., "Rethinking the NAACP,"Washington Post, March 21, 2007 .
19.
Ibid.
20.
Ibid.
21.
Eduardo Bonilla-Silva , White Supremacy and Racism in the Post-Civil Rights Era (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner , 2001), 91-93.
22.
Ibid., 94, 138.
23.
Ibid., 94.
24.
Ibid., 95-96.
25.
Ibid., 96-97.
26.
Ibid., 100-139.
27.
Ibid., 139-47.
28.
Jonathan Birnbaum and Clarence Taylor , Civil Rights Since1787: A Reader on the Black Struggle (New York: New York University Press, 2000), 843.
29.
Flyer, "To March on Washington, Wednesday August 28, 1963."
30.
James M. Washington, ed., Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King Jr. ( New York: HarperCollins, 1986), 476-77.
31.
Ron Nief , "A Contemporary Civil Right,"Beloit College Magazine (Spring 2007) http://www.beloit.edu/belmag/07_spring/07_sprin_content/07_spring_civil_right.html
32.
Martin Luther King, "Showdown For Nonviolence," in Washington, Testament of Hope, 67.
33.
Martin Luther King Jr., "A Testament of Hope," in Washington, Testament of Hope, 314-15 (first published in Playboy, January 1969).
34.
Gareth Davies, From Opportunity to Entitlement: The Transformation and Decline of Great Society Liberalism (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1996), 57-58; Rudi Williams, "Whitney M. Young Jr.: Little Known Civil Rights Pioneer," American Forces Press News Article, July 19, 2007; and Harold R. Sims, "Whitney Young's Open Society, Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 396 (July 1971): 70-78.
35.
Transcript, PBS News Hour, November 1, 2005.
36.
"Professor Advocates for New Orleans Public Schools, Post-Katrina," Spotlight on Simmons http:// www.simmons.edu/overview/about/news/spotlight/504.php and Bill Quigley, "The Right to Return to New Orleans Eighteen Months after Katrina," Truthout.org, February 17, 2007.
37.
Letter, "American Federation of Teachers to Friends of Public Education," January 30, 2007; and New Orleans Times-Picayune, July 15, 18, 2007.
38.
GAO-06-57 6K Status of the Health Care System in New Orleans, March 28, 2006.
39.
USA Today, June 22-24, 2007; and Quigley, "The Right to Return."
40.
Transcript, House of Representatives, Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, "Hearing on FEMA's Toxic Trailers," July 19, 2007, pp. 4-5.
41.
Committee Probes FEMA Response to Reports on Toxic Trailer, Chairman Waxman's Opening Statement, July 19, 2007; Memorandum from Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Majority Staff, to Members of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, July 19, 2007; and Washington Post Online, July 19, 2007.
42.
Testimony of Scott Needle, MD, FAAP on Behalf of the American Academy of Pediatrics before the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, July 19, 2007.
43.
New York Times, June 15, 2006.
44.
Naomi Klein, "Purging the Poor from New Orleans," AlterNet, July 7, 2007, www.alternet.org/ story/26022/; and Bill Quigley, "HUD to New Orleans Poor: Go F(ind) Yourself (Housing)!" Common Dream News Center, June 17, 2006.
45.
Transcript, "Democracy Now," June 20, 2006; and Quigley, "The Right to Return."
46.
Quigley, "The Right to Return."
47.
Transcript, "Democracy Now."
48.
Update and mobilization statement from Coalition to Stop Demolitions, December 17, 2007, www.peopleshurricane.org/display/showjournalentry?moduleld=782201&entryld; and Edwin Lopez, "Public Housing Supporters Speak Out against Demolition," New Orleans Independent News Media, December 7, 2007.
49.
The Coalition to Stop Demolition, "Call to Action: Pledge of Resistance in the Defense of the Right to Housing in New Orleans," December 3, 2007.
50.
Steinberg, "Science and Politics in the Work of William Julius Wilson."
