The civil rights crisis of this moment is the product of numerous recent events situated within a context of systemic racism. Dr. Niambi Carter, associate professor at Howard University, joined us to talk about institutional racism in this country both historically and today. Her recent book, American While Black: African Americans, Immigration, and the Limits of Citizenship, is a timely analysis of how racial black identity, American heritage and notions of citizenship shape our contemporary political and policy landscape. In this moderated conversation with the LBJ School's Dr. Victoria DeFrancesco Soto, she discussed how public policies such as the "war on drugs" have entrenched inequitable systems and what policy change is necessary for Black Americans to not just survive but thrive in the United States.
Deeper Dive | Related Podcasts
Deeper Dive
Perceptual Knots and Black Identity Politics: Linked Fate, American Heritage, and Support for Trump Era Immigration Policy
Dr. Niambi M. Carter and Dr. Tyson D. King-Meadows
Societies, 9, no. 1 (2019)
Since the 2016 U.S. presidential election, much ado has been made about how racial anxiety fueled White vote choice for Donald Trump. Far less empirical attention has been paid to whether the 2016 election cycle triggered black anxieties and if those anxieties led blacks to reevaluate their communities’ standing relative to Latinos and immigrants. Employing data from the 2016 Collaborative Multiracial Post-Election Survey, we examine the extent to which race consciousness both coexists with black perceptions of Latinos and shapes black support for anti-immigrant legislation. Our results address how the conflation of Latino with undocumented immigrant may have activated a perceptional and policy backlash amongst black voters.
This time, the promise of change has to be realised. Black Americans have had enough
Dr. Niambi M. Carter
The Guardian, June 7, 2020
From the "war on drugs" to the killing of George Floyd, African Americans are too often the victims. In the middle of a pandemic that is killing inordinate numbers of black people, many have been grieving the lives of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, David McAtee and many others, while living with the realities of COVID-19. That George Floyd lived through coronavirus to then be killed by police who cut off his oxygen is a cruel irony. Yet his death makes it clear that we cannot separate the pandemic from police violence because they are both driven by the same thing — white supremacy.
D.C. is the one city where Trump can indulge his police and military fantasies
Dr. Niambi M. Carter
Washington Post, June 5, 2020
Without statehood, the federal government still tells the District what to do. Given Trump's passing familiarity with the Constitution and lack of care for democracy, the whole world needs to watch what happens in D.C. If left unchecked, Trump would have U.S. military troops bear down on American citizens. As D.C. goes, so goes the nation. Sovereignty will not save us from a man bent on "order" rather than justice.
American While Black: African Americans, Immigration, and the Limits of Citizenship
Dr. Niambi M. Carter
Oxford University Press, September 2019
While the Civil Rights Movement brought increasing opportunities for blacks, this period also saw the liberalization of American immigration policy. The same agitation that allowed blacks to vote also made it possible for increasing numbers of non-European immigrants to enter America for the first time. What has an expanded immigration regime meant for how blacks express national attachment? Using quantitative and qualitative data, this book helps us understand the context and constraint of white supremacy on the formation of black public opinion and national attachment. Recent waves of immigration have presented a dilemma for blacks, causing them to reflect yet again on the meaning and depth of their own citizenship, national identity, and sense of belonging in the United States. It is the author's contention that immigration, both historically and in the contemporary moment, has served as a reminder of the limited inclusion of African Americans in the body politic.
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American While Black: African Americans, Immigration, and the Limits of Citizenship
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American While Black: African Americans, Immigration, and the Limits of Citizenship
New Books in Political Science, New Books Network, Aug. 28, 2019