Digital Commons Network^™

Blacks And The Vaccine — A Teaching Opportunity, Preston Love Jr.

Black Studies Faculty Publications

Over the past months I have written about the need for Whites to listen, learn and recognize the plight, anger and demands of people of color. Uniquely, 2020 provided many opportunities for that journey toward clarity and, hopefully, participation in needed reform. Specifically, the teaching opportunities in 2020 were presented by George Floyd’s death; the rise in White supremacy; and, dramatically and tragically, COVID-19.

“My Two Years With Jesse Jackson Sr.”, Part 4, Preston Love Jr.

Black Studies Faculty Publications

Jesse Jackson Sr. has made many pilgrimages, negotiating and freeing many American’s in the sensitive world of formal and informal diplomacy. None were more dramatic than in his run for President in 1984. December of 1983 he traveled to Syria and successfully freed an American Soldier (Lt. Goodman) who had been captured and held hostage by the Syrian government. Later in June of 1984, Jackson freed American and Cuban prisoners, capping a dramatic exercise in personal diplomacy with President Fidel Castro of Cuba. Mr. Jackson's chartered Boeing 707 arrived at Dulles International Airport just before midnight with 16 American prisoners …

Black Votes Matter Plans Civil Right Tour Planned For Or Teens, Preston Love Jr.

Black Studies Faculty Publications

Maurice Jones has the résumé to prove how an Omaha Public Schools-sponsored trip to Selma for the 50th anniversary of “Bloody Sunday” changed his life. Next summer, 40 more teens will get the same chance.

3120: African American Experience In Politics, Part 2 Of 3, Preston Love Jr.

Black Studies Faculty Publications

This study attempts to investigate the question and the problem: The Question: “who is voting and who is not voting. If not why”. For my total Case Study the previous Quantitative narrative was the precursor to this qualitative analysis. The quantitative analysis provided a base for the qualitative. From the Part 1 Quantitative summary “What was significant, the findings supported the two hypotheses clearly.” The hypotheses and data qualifiers were as follows:

Hypothesis:

1. That Blacks and non-whites are outvoted by Whites.
2. That older citizens outvote younger voters

Data Qualifiers

1. That a larger than usual sample of the survey participants may …

3120: African American Experience In Politics, Part 1 Of 3, Preston Love Jr.

Black Studies Faculty Publications

This study attempts to investigate the question and the problem: The Question: “who is voting and who is not voting. If not why”. This question is chronic and is now present in every urban center and creeping into the rural communities. This study is inspired by the problem that exist in urban black communities, but focuses on a random sample of voters ask to participate in a simple six question survey. The Case Study will use both quantitative and qualitative measures analyze and display the study results. This paper (Case study part1) is devoted to the quantitative method. Specifically, we …

An Invitation To Debate: Envisioning An Africa-Centered Perspective, Engaging Sociological Endeavor, Nikitah O. Imani

Black Studies Faculty Publications

This article frames the focus of this special Africana studies issue of Critical Sociology, discussing its theoretical and epistemological necessity for the discipline, its potential for critical informing inquiry within the discipline with respect to Africana social phenomena as well the human experience, the challenges it poses for the traditional conduct of sociological inquiry and what the particular pieces selected for this issue contribute to each of these.

The Implications Of Africa-Centered Conceptions Of Time And Space For Quantitative Theorizing: Limitations Of Paradigmatically-Bound Philosophical Meta-Assumptions, Nikitah O. Imani

Black Studies Faculty Publications

“The Implications of Africa-centered Conceptions of Time and Space for Quantitative Theorizing,” looks at Eurocentric scientific conceptions of time and space, how they effect theorizing concerned with these matters, and how they are altered as one considers non- Eurocentric conceptions. For example, one might look at the assertion of circularity, holism, and continuity in contrast to linearity, disjunction, and discontinuity. The example focused on is a scholarly article focusing on constraints associated with time travel. The article deconstructs the piece as Eurocentric and re-conceptualizes it from an African-centered cultural and social perspective.

Critical Impairments To Globalizing The Western Human Rights Discourse, Nikitah O. Imani

Black Studies Faculty Publications

This article focuses on the philosophical implications of Euro-centrism and Eurocentric discourse for the Western human rights narrative. It is argued that there is insufficient theoretical and practical consideration of those implications, particular for advocacy and activity in the so-called “Third World” where such arguments frequently become mere vehicles for the advance of economic and political neocolonialism. In many ways, colonialism with a humanistic, liberal democratic “face”. Finally, a proposition is advanced that if the Western human rights discourse is to be effectively corrected and evolve into a global one, critiques of Euro-centrism from outside the Western discursive world must …

Navigating Perceptions Of ‘Otherness’ In The Classroom: One Experience, Nikitah O. Imani

Black Studies Faculty Publications

As a direct result of the pervasive nature of Eurocentrism and Platonic epistemology in the academy today, teaching undergraduates is a special challenge for those who are viewed as representations of cultural others. This presents such teachers with what may be described at best as “unique” classroom experiences. Their “being” is rendered in a manner that places it on trial. This trial, taking place in the mind of the student becomes an additional barrier to the learning process, and oft-times a crutch that allows the interjection of variables of social and cultural stratification when the lack of academic preparation is …

The New Negro Arts And Letters Movement Among Black University Students In The Midwest, 1914-1940, Richard M. Breaux

Black Studies Faculty Publications

The 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s were an exciting time for black artists and writers in the United States. Much of the historical literature highlights the so-called Harlem Renaissance or its successor, the Black Chicago Renaissance. Few studies, however, document the influence of these artistic movements outside major urban cities such as New York, Chicago, or Washington, DC. In his 1988 essay on black education, historian Ronald Butchart argued that the educational effects of black social movements such as the Harlem Renaissance on black schooling are unclear and underexplored. This article explores the influence of the New Negro arts and letters …

Qualitative And Quantitative Of Land-Use Managers' Attitudes Towards Environmental Justice, David O. Padgett, Nikitah O. Imani

Black Studies Faculty Publications

On 11 February 1994, President Clinton signed Executive Order 12898 ‘‘Federal Actions to Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations.’’ Under the order, 17 federal agencies and offices are required to compile information about the race, national origin, and income of populations in close proximity to federal facilities that may have a significant effect upon ecosystem and human health. The goal is to protect historically disenfranchised groups from being disproportionately impacted by negative externalities associated with federal actions.

This study examines the outcome of efforts to educate federal land-use managers about their roles in implementing the Executive Order …

The Clarity And Confusion Offered By Historical Personal Identity Studies, Nikitah O. Imani

Black Studies Faculty Publications

This literature review and analysis focuses on the historical reference group orientation and personal identity study material done on Blacks in the United States. It argues that these studies were critically flawed in the sense that they made inappropriate assumptions about the link between the two kinds of measures that are the respective foci of their inquiry (i.e., personal identity and group self-esteem). As a result, their conclusions and implications, in terms of the development of psychological and sociological theories based upon their findings, constitute a major obstacle to the ultimate and accurate understanding of the processes of development of …

Racial Barriers To African American Entrepreneurship: An Exploratory Study, Joe E. Feagin, Nikitah Imani

Black Studies Faculty Publications

Much has been written in the ethnic entrepreneurship literature about the contrasting business performance of African American entrepreneurs and those from other minority and immigrant groups. Yet very little research has been conducted by social scientists on the business experiences of black entrepreneurs. In this exploratory study we examine the situation of black contractors in the U.S. construction industry, utilizing 76 in-depth interviews in one of the South's metropolitan areas. We document the nuanced character of the racial barriers faced by black contractors in several areas of the construction industry. We find racial discrimination in unions, in white general contractors' …