The Black Butterfly

A must-read book. The Black Butterfly: The Harmful Politics of Race and Space in America is a complex book that will both intrigue and shock you. You will find yourself both grateful for his research and frustrated that it hasn't yet reached the right hands. It's not every day that a blueprint is created to directly address the issues of an urban city. This book is not only an eye-opener, but also a call to action, and a reminder of the work that needs to be done to heal a city with many open wounds. A provocative book. With clear and succinct writing, buttressed by rigorous research and copious examples, Dr. Brown casts an unflinching light on the problems Baltimore suffers as a hyper segregated city. Only when a critical mass of concerned citizens is made aware of the issues raised in this book, can change begin. The book provides a helpful tool for public affairs educators seeking to incorporate discussions of race into the classroom and steps to connect public administration theories of performance, budgeting, and management into a hands-on analysis of cities. It details a process to learn both about spatial inequity and to implement the next steps toward the remediation of historical trauma. -Regina Lewis, Andrew Sullivan, University of Kentucky, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, Journal of Public Affairs Education An unsparing new geography of 'American apartheid'. [Brown] illuminates the process of 'spatial racism,' a force that has bound oppression up with the geography that African Americans occupy, and the public health effects of this historical trauma. A must-read for anyone who wants to understand the political and economic forces behind Baltimore's bifurcated white and Black neighborhoods, and the modern-day segregation at the center of so much of the city's inequity.