Full Description
This book explains why America can realize the civil rights dream in the 21st century—if U.S. citizens take actions as individuals as well as work together for equality.
It has been more than 53 years since Martin Luther King Jr. made his "I Have a Dream" speech. Why has the United States still not been able to make King's dream a reality after a half a century of effort and progress? Is there still hope of full participation for all in America?
In Realizing the Civil Rights Dream: Diagnosing and Treating American Racism, author Kenneth B. Bedell proposes a civil rights dream that grows out of American history and speaks to the 21st-century reality. He makes the case that by adopting a larger perspective of the role of racism in preserving U.S. social, cultural, economic, and political institutions and practices, Americans can understand why it has been so difficult to fulfill the promises of the 1960s civil rights dream. Bedell describes and applies sociological theories that serve to explain why racism is still prevalent in the United States and identifies the steps that are necessary to overcome racism. The book concludes with proposals for ways to apply social science to realize the civil rights dream and examples of how individuals can take action to make a difference.
Contents
List of Tables and Figures
Foreword by Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr.
SECTION 1: DEFINING THE DREAM
1. Introduction
2. Whose Idea Was This?
3. Tearing Down Barriers
4. The Dream of Full Participation
5. White Cultural Dominance Is Not Working
SECTION 2: SOCIAL SCIENCE OF RACISM
6. The Power of Paradigms
7. Everyday Racism
8. Institutional Racism
9. Disciplinary Institutions
10. A Framework to Overcome Racism
SECTION 3: REALIZING THE DREAM
11. Being Antiracist in Everyday Life
12. We All Have Stories
13. Examples of Institutional Antiracism
14. Working Together
15. Afterword 2016
Acknowledgments
Glossary
Notes
Index
