Political Economy of Race, Class and Gender - Book Report/Review Example

Douglass Massey and Nancy Denton’s ‘American Apartheid’ This is a blue print book capturing the history of social segregation, ‘…a normal and unremarkable feature of America’s urban landscape’ (Massey and Nancy 17). The introduction of the book cites that blacks shared a neighborhood with whites during the period before 1900. There existed no cities, north nor south that were known to be predominantly home to blacks. It holds that of all the many negative effects suffered by urban blacks in the aftermath of the civil war, residential segregation from whites was not one of them (Massey and Nancy 26).

Massey and Nancy explain that in the north, a good number of Black citizens enjoyed good relations with whites characterized by friendship, trust and respect (18). However, not many blacks lived in the north as most of them lived in the rural south. They worked in farms where they were exploited by white landowners. In the wake of a cycle of poverty and ignorance at the hands of the whites coupled by increase in demand for workers in cities from the north, blacks opted to move northwards in search of better living standards.

By 1970, most of the blacks were living in urban areas with almost half of them located in the north. During this period, millions of immigrants among them Europeans and Mexicans were moving to American cities. While the cities served as means of economic advancement and integration for these groups, they became a vehicle of alienation and oppression for blacks. Urban ghetto was one of the major institutional initiatives that were to ensure blacks remain servants, which according to Massey and Nancy has been a model structure for blacks for at least eighty years (18).

The limitation of blacks to urban housing was a move by the whites to reinforce their spatial segregation. According to Massey and Nancy, the whites feared competition and were repelled by the illiterate and poverty-stringent blacks (27). Residential segregation later turned into racial segregation characterized by racial related crimes and discrimination in employment and education across cities in America. Segregation and alienation were at the center of the American society until the 1960’s uprisings across cities in America.

The chaos and riots led to deaths of people and loss of millions of dollars in property destruction. This culminated in the inferno in Chicago that followed the assassination of Martin Luther King. An inquiry commission into the causes of the riots chaired by then Illinois governor Otto Kerner pointed on racial discrimination and historical bias in education, employment and welfare. The committee recommended policies that would counter the existing pattern of racial segregation. The 1968 passage of the Fair Housing Act by the congress and later signed to law by the president served as a masterstroke in curbing discrimination in the sale of houses (Massey and Nancy 59).

From the above discussions, it can be concluded that supremacy over the blacks by the whites was the main motive that brought about social segregation in America. This paper has discussed how social alienation spurred by housing shortages due to rural blacks migrating to cities led to racism in the American society. Massey and Nancy emphasize the role of government institutions by highlighting the landmark achieved in bridging racism by the 1968 Fair Housing Act (59).Work CitedMassey, Douglas S.

, and Nancy A. Denton. "The Construction of the Ghetto. “American apartheid: segregation and the making of the underclass. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1993. 18-58. Print.