by Ronald W. Walters
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Product Description
The rise of the Conservative movement in the United States over the last two decades is evident in current public policy, including the passage of the Welfare Reform Act, the weakening of affirmative action, and the approval of educational vouchers for private schooling. At the same time, new rules on congressional redistricting prohibit legislators from constructing majority black congressional districts, and blacks continue to suffer disproportionate rates of incarceration and death-penalty sentencing. In this significant new study, the distinguished political scientist Ronald W. Walters argues that the Conservative movement during this period has had an inordinate impact on American governing institutions and that a strong, though very often unstated, racial hostility drives the public policies put forth by Conservative politicians. Walters traces the emergence of what he calls a new White Nationalism, showing how it fuels the Conservative movement, invades the public discourse, and generates policies that protect the interests of white voters at the expense of blacks and other nonwhites. Using historical and contemporary examples of White Nationalist policy, as well as empirical public opinion data, Walters demonstrates the degree to which this ideology exists among white voters and the negative impact of its policies on the black community. White Nationalism, Black Interests terms the current period a "second Reconstruction," comparing the racial dynamics in the post-Civil Rights era to those of the first Reconstruction following the end of the Civil War. Walters's analysis of contemporary racial politics is uniquely valuable to scholars and lay readers alike and is sure to spark further public debate.
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Average Customer Review:
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
 Excellent!, 2006-01-16
This is an extremely well written analysis of how American policy is designed to keep African Americans eternally at the bottom. Walters does a tremendous job of breaking down the Reagan years and connecting the dots to today. It's clear that the main thing keeping Blacks in a reactionary state is a lack of information. I wish that WBAI (The Global Black Experience show in particular) would contact Mr. Walters about possibly doing a weekly commentary. His insights are necessary to the survival of the least informed group in the country.
5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
 Ambitious, but falls short, 2005-01-08
Walters undoubtedly identified some ongoing public policy problems in America, but he selectively ignores others. I am empathetic to most of his argument, but wonder why he had not devoted more time to critiquing the 'centrist' Democratic Leadership Council for also being conservative.
Blacks have become almost solidly Democratic voters since the 1960's, but constructive criticism of 'friends' is always important to effective policymaking. Bill Clinton's signature of 'welfare reform' and welfare's post-war blatant racial stereotyping as a haven for black 'baby machines' should have waranted more pointed critique from this very text.
It is oddly silent on this and other issues where the Democratic Party moved to the right, in an attempt to siphon off the 'Gingrich Revolution' of 1994.
His book also is problematic because he does not (as other scholars from Gloria Anzaldua to Dorothy Roberts have done) recognize that one's public policy experiences intersect with MULTIPLE idenities. A black low-income lesbian woman with disabilities has a much different social experience than a rich white heterosexual able-bodied man or even a black heterosexual man without disabilities. It it currently impossible to lump 'black people' and 'white people' together into one hedgemonic group as he apparently did throughout the book.
Because we live in an era of Alan Keyes and Condoleeza Rice, I also wish there was information on the apparent paradox posed by Black conservatives. I don't personally have to like their policies to recognize the challenge to Walter's thesis; some individuals are both conservative AND black. Hopefully future editions of this book will address that area's inherent sociopolitical complexity.
18 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
flight from civil rights to the new imperialism in the midea, 2004-01-12
Ron Walters is a distinguished historian of race in America. In this book Walters presents an intelligible explanation for a phenomenon he chooses to call "White Nationalism." He refers mainly to the backlash against affirmative action and the ongoing attack on the 14th Amendment's application of equal protection and rights to historically discriminated groups. Walters manages to encompass "neoNazi crazies" and "Gingrichites"
within a single paradigm which denies the moral legitimacy of the claims of African-Americans for unfulfilled justice. Walters's paradigm is especially interesting when stretched to the post 9/11 new imperialism of America's special and exceptional mission to civilize the world. He sees this as a renewal of Kipling's call to Teddy Roosevelt to "take up the White Man's Burden" and extend our special virtues to the benighted of the Third World. The book is well document and by no means a simple screed or jeremiad from a liberal Democratic perspective.
14 of 55 people found the following review helpful:
 Agonizing, 2003-10-22
Good grief. So here we have it, once more it is the Bush administration's fault. All of us evil conservatives want to beat down people of color. Give me a break.
Don't bother with this one, it is just one more screed from the left that robs people of hope. This book is damaging to your soul. If you listen to it you will get exactly what it portends. Ignore it and believe in what is possible. This is America. Anyone can do anything they set their mind to. Read "No Excuses" by the Thernstroms instead.
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