The Persistent Poverty of African Americans in the United States

“This book is a good example of a keen analysis of a concrete problem in a solid theoretical context. The authors study a very acute problem of poverty among African Americans from historical and sociopolitical perspectives and arrive at important reasoned conclusions. The most fundamental among these conclusions is that poverty among African Americans is a systemic problem of the American state and society at large rather than an outcome of any ‘specific features’ of Black Americans as personalities or a community. This makes the book an important addition to the growing set of academic literature on systemic racism as the ‘original sin’ of the United States of America.” —Dmitri M. Bondarenko, Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia “There is no better time and no greater need for attention to be paid to the impact of public policy on the lives of African Americans. The title is both relevant and timely. The proposed book has the potential to become the catalyst that will change the view of poverty for African Americans moving fully away from a ‘blame the victim’ view and approach to decision-making. The book will also be pivotal in initiating a full review of existing policies and all resulting changes. The author has presented well-researched information and provided conclusions fully supported by the information gathered. Anyone who reads the book will acquire more knowledge and better information on a topic so critical to the improvement of decisions affecting the poverty experienced by African Americans in the United States.” —Phyllis Wilson, Founder, PH Balance Life & Yarning to Help “This book closes the gaps other conversations about this topic leave open. Having conversations regarding concentrated poverty where governments allowed for redlining, little to no infrastructure (roads, streets, bridges, schools, potable water, and grocery stores) investment in these communities, lack of employment with livable wages, restrictions of when and where non-whites are able to live/work/travel … then to connect these suppression and oppression policies to the long-term dependency of people in communities to government’s social welfare. To fully appreciate the dependency, understanding root causes allows for the audience to begin to unravel their own biases about social welfare and blacks/Latinos by recognizing the economic/dependency situation created by long-term policies in the individual states as well as federal government.” —Tammy Greer, Georgia State University, United States “Because of its interdisciplinary nature, the book, as outlined, will be an important contribution to several disciplines, including sociology, politics, and African American studies. The aim of Dr. Cooper’s book is to demonstrate that African Americans are persistently poor due to the structural failures of government, not individual characteristics.” —Dr. Michael L. Clemons, Old Dominion University, United States