Race and Ethnicity Commons^™

Latinos In Massachusetts, Gaston Institute, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Gastón Institute Publications

The Mauricio Gaston Institute for Latino Community Development and Public Policy was established at the University of Massachusetts Boston in December of 1989. The creation of the Gaston Institute responds to the need for better understanding of the experience and conditions of life of Latinos in the Commonwealth. In an effort to facilitate access to vital information about Latinos to various audiences, and with support from the Boston Foundation, the Gaston Institute has produced a series of basic demographic profiles for selected cities in the Commonwealth based on the 1990 United States Census. These profiles are but one part of …

Latinos In New Bedford: Poverty, Income, Education, Employment, And Housing, Gaston Institute, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Gastón Institute Publications

The Mauricio Gaston Institute for Latino Community Development and Public Policy was established at the University of Massachusetts Boston in December of 1989. In an effort to facilitate the access to vital information about Latinos to various audiences, and with support from the Boston Foundation, the Gaston Institute has produced a series of basic demographic profiles for selected cities in the Commonwealth based on the 1990 U.S. Census of Population and Housing (Massachusetts Summary Tape File 3A, produced by the U.S. Bureau of the Census). These profiles are but one part of a broader initiative to disseminate the 1990 U.S. …

Latinos In Somerville: Poverty, Income, Education, Employment, And Housing, Gaston Institute, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Gastón Institute Publications

The Mauricio Gaston Institute for Latino Community Development and Public Policy was established at the University of Massachusetts Boston in December of 1989. In an effort to facilitate the access to vital information about Latinos to various audiences, and with support from the Boston Foundation, the Gaston Institute has produced a series of basic demographic profiles for selected cities in the Commonwealth based on the 1990 U.S. Census of Population and Housing (Massachusetts Summary Tape File 3A, produced by the U.S. Bureau of the Census). These profiles are but one part of a broader initiative to disseminate the 1990 U.S. …

Latinos In Springfield: Poverty, Income, Education, Employment, And Housing, Gaston Institute, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Gastón Institute Publications

The Mauricio Gaston Institute for Latino Community Development and Public Policy was established at the University of Massachusetts Boston in December of 1989. In an effort to facilitate the access to vital information about Latinos to various audiences, and with support from the Boston Foundation, the Gaston Institute has produced a series of basic demographic profiles for selected cities in the Commonwealth based on the 1990 U.S. Census of Population and Housing (Massachusetts Summary Tape File 3A, produced by the U.S. Bureau of the Census). These profiles are but one part of a broader initiative to disseminate the 1990 U.S. …

Latinos In Waltham: Poverty, Income, Education, Employment, And Housing, Gaston Institute, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Gastón Institute Publications

The Mauricio Gaston Institute for Latino Community Development and Public Policy was established at the University of Massachusetts Boston in December of 1989. In an effort to facilitate the access to vital information about Latinos to various audiences, and with support from the Boston Foundation, the Gaston Institute has produced a series of basic demographic profiles for selected cities in the Commonwealth based on the 1990 U.S. Census of Population and Housing (Massachusetts Summary Tape File 3A, produced by the U.S. Bureau of the Census). These profiles are but one part of a broader initiative to disseminate the 1990 U.S. …

Latinos In Worcester: Poverty, Income, Education, Employment, And Housing, Gaston Institute, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Gastón Institute Publications

The Mauricio Gaston Institute for Latino Community Development and Public Policy was established at the University of Massachusetts Boston in December of 1989. In an effort to facilitate the access to vital information about Latinos to various audiences, and with support from the Boston Foundation, the Gaston Institute has produced a series of basic demographic profiles for selected cities in the Commonwealth based on the 1990 U.S. Census of Population and Housing (Massachusetts Summary Tape File 3A, produced by the U.S. Bureau of the Census). These profiles are but one part of a broader initiative to disseminate the 1990 U.S. …

Latinos In Lynn: Poverty, Income, Education, Employment, And Housing, Gaston Institute, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Gastón Institute Publications

The Mauricio Gaston Institute for Latino Community Development and Public Policy was established at the University of Massachusetts Boston in December of 1989. In an effort to facilitate the access to vital information about Latinos to various audiences, and with support from the Boston Foundation, the Gaston Institute has produced a series of basic demographic profiles for selected cities in the Commonwealth based on the 1990 U.S. Census of Population and Housing (Massachusetts Summary Tape File 3A, produced by the U.S. Bureau of the Census). These profiles are but one part of a broader initiative to disseminate the 1990 U.S. …

Latinos In Lowell: Poverty, Income, Education, Employment, And Housing, Gaston Institute, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Gastón Institute Publications

The Mauricio Gaston Institute for Latino Community Development and Public Policy was established at the University of Massachusetts Boston in December of 1989. In an effort to facilitate the access to vital information about Latinos to various audiences, and with support from the Boston Foundation, the Gaston Institute has produced a series of basic demographic profiles for selected cities in the Commonwealth based on the 1990 U.S. Census of Population and Housing (Massachusetts Summary Tape File 3A, produced by the U.S. Bureau of the Census). These profiles are but one part of a broader initiative to disseminate the 1990 U.S. …

Puerto Rican And African-American Males: Current Challenges, Promising Strategies, Sonia M. Pérez

Trotter Review

Before the beginning of the next century, the Hispanic, African-American, and other “minority” populations in the United States are expected to increase at a faster rate than the white population. In fact, the Census Bureau projects that Latinos will become the largest minority and, together with African Americans, will constitute one-fourth (25.5 percent) of the U.S. labor force by the year 2010. However, despite some gains, increases in population have not been proportionate to increases in voting and buying power—or to comparable increases in economic success or socioeconomic stability—for a significant proportion of either Latinos or African Americans. Moreover, inaccurate …

Communities Of Color Unite For Places At The Welcome Table, Harold Horton

Trotter Review

The “vote” is often referred to as the political equalizer in a democratic society, because when citizens enter the voting booth they express an inalienable right that belongs to all, regardless of education, income, gender, national origin, religious preference, or color. And, as we recall from history, on many occasions one vote has made the difference between winning or losing a crucial decision or political contest.

"Low-Intensity Warfare" In The Inner City: Veterans' Self-Control Strategies May Ameliorate Community Violence Among Youth, Erwin Randolph Parson

Trotter Review

The use of weapons in various inner-city communities in America is comparable to Nicaraguan "low-intensity warfare" whose objective was the mass terrorization of civilians by the Contras. Low-intensity warfare theory is defined as "total war at the grassroots level" (Summerfield and Tosser 1991, 85). Violence in the inner cities has been defined in similar ways by many authorities and observers. Although urban violence may not damage the infrastructure of communities to the same extent that lowintensity warfare does, its immediate and long-term impact is nonetheless devastating to human life and to a sense of security. In essence, it is a …

Fragments From A Work In Progress, Elizabeth Allen

Trotter Review

A long time ago in a place far away, a place called Vietnam, I had to come to grips with the monkey. The monkey was not war. As a colored woman born in the forties, the monkey was life. Vietnam just forced me to look at it. Maybe it allowed me the opportunity. Who knows. Looking back at it has been almost impossible. You see, growing up my grandmother would always say when I wanted to explain something, "Baby-darling, will talking about something that has already happened change it?" Of course it wouldn't change anything. Any fool knows that. "Well," …

African Americans And The Persian Gulf Crisis, Jacquelin Howard-Matthews

Trotter Review

This article addresses two issues: the African-American response to United States involvement in the 1990-91 Persian Gulf war and interrelated factors explaining the nature of that response. Despite the historical symbolism associated with African-American participation and disproportionate representation in the military, African Americans composed the most consistently identifiable strata either opposed to or suspicious of the deployment of U.S. troops and military equipment in the Gulf. The pattern of African-American response to the Gulf War is remarkably similar to its underlying reactions to military conflicts taking place in the recent past, including the Vietnam War and Laos invasion of the …

Acknowledgements, Kevin Bowen, David Hunt

Trotter Review

All of us at the William Joiner Center for the Study of War and Social Consequences are extremely grateful to our friends at the Trotter Institute for the opportunity to collaborate on this issue of the Trotter Review. It seems especially appropriate that this issue is being published at the time of the tenth anniversary of the founding of the center, named after William Joiner, Jr., an African-American veteran of the Vietnam War and the university's first director of Veterans' Affairs who died of cancer in 1981.

Tough Eloquence, Yusef Komunyakaa

Trotter Review

I began reading Etheridge Knight's poetry in the early 1970s, and what immediately caught my attention was his ability to balance an eloquence and toughness, exhibiting a complex man behind the words. His technique and content were one—the profane alongside the sacred—accomplished without disturbing the poem's tonal congruity and imagistic exactitude. Here was a streetwise poet who loved and revered language. Gwendolyn Brooks, Sterling Brown, and Langston Hughes seem to have been his mentors, but Knight appeared to have sprung into the literary world almost fully formed. He had so much control and authority; he was authentic from the onset. …

Black Veterans: Organizing And Strategizing For Community Development, Ron E. Armstead

Trotter Review

The following article summarizes the findings and conclusions of a case study that was undertaken as part of the author's master's thesis at MIT. Ford Foundation Professor Frank Jones served as advisor. The study is part of an overall strategy to develop a National Black Veterans Network in conjunction with the Veterans Benefits Clearinghouse, Inc., and the Congressional Black Caucus Veterans Braintrust. It is hoped that the study will provide a planning, research, and educational tool to enhance organizing and affordable housing development efforts on behalf of black veterans across the country. Future research is being proposed on a national …

A Salute To African Americans Who Served In The United States Armed Forces, Harold Horton

Trotter Review

African Americans have volunteered to participate in every war or conflict in which the United States has been engaged. This is true despite their ancestors having been slaves for 244 years of America's history.

From the Revolutionary War to the Vietnam War, African Americans have demanded the right to serve their country in the armed services and, in several instances, they have made the difference between victory or defeat for American troops. Throughout this history, African Americans were ever cognizant of the dual freedoms—their own personal freedom as well as the nation's—for which they so bravely fought and gave their …

Introduction, William King

Trotter Review

Bloods. Brothers. The Griot. Vietnam Blues. Black Bitches Dancing With Charlie. These titles, and numerous articles, essays, poems, government reports, films, and related items, describe and detail various aspects of the black experience of the American war in Vietnam, the situation on the homefront during that conflict, and some of the things that happened to black veterans upon their return to the "world" in the postwar years. That only selected aspects of that experience are covered arises from the fact that blacks were not nearly as prolific inrecapitulating their tours of duty, forcing us to get at that information …

Preface, James Jennings

Trotter Review

It gives me great pleasure to be part of the publication of this special issue on blacks in the U.S. military. Blacks in America have sacrificed their lives in all of the wars involving the U.S. at the same time that they have struggled for social and racial justice at home. Unfortunately, pervasive myths about the military sacrifices and valor of blacks in this country continue to be held by many Americans. It is also sad that too many blacks find that the military may be the only channel available to them for the realization of social and economic mobility. …

Latinos In Massachusetts: Growth And Geographical Distribution, Ralph Rivera

New England Journal of Public Policy

Massachusetts has undergone radical changes in its racial/ethnic composition in the last ten years. The Latino population, owing to its extraordinary growth rate during the last two decades, is the largest racial/ethnic minority group in the state. Yet relatively little is known about this population because of the "information gap." Based on 1990 census data, this article focuses on the growth and geographical distribution of Latinos in Massachusetts. It considers the undercount of Latinos, the growth of Latinos in the commonwealth from a national perspective, and assesses the increase of Latinos in the New England states. It explores the growth …

Vote Dilution Research: Methods Of Analysis, Sheila Ards, Marjorie Lewis

Trotter Review

Why have issues which disproportionately affect African Americans not been brought to the policy forefront and given attention properly so that effective solutions can be found? Because of their roles as controllers of the government's budget, politicians and other policy makers decide which problems will be addressed. It is important, therefore, that African Americans elect political candidates of their choice. In the past, African Americans largely were outside the arena of public policy setting. Thus, solutions to problems which disproportionately affected African Americans were not pursued.

Race And Presidential Politics '92: The Challenge To Go Another Way, May Louie

Trotter Review

At presidential election time in 1992, America is once again looking at limited political options for national leadership. The Republican party platform is its most conservative ever. The Democratic party ticket is dominated by southern Dixiecrats. And we who have marched and organized, and risked and sacrificed much for racial equality and political empowerment, must now match our sense of foreboding with our determination to meet the challenge before us. Jesse Jackson's 1984 and 1988 nation-shaking, agenda-setting presidential campaigns took us to places we had never been before and gave us a glimpse at the possibility of racial and economic …

Black Women And The American Political System, Dorothy A. Clark

Trotter Review

Black women and politics—it is an association rarely made by the American electorate. As a group, black women have never been prominent players in the nation's political arena. In a system of decision making and power holding designed and dominated by white men, black women are an alien group in the formal political process. Their participation in that process has been limited—indeed often blocked—by a hierarchical system of race, gender, and class oppression that relegates black women to the lowest rungs of the political power ladder.

Ron Daniels: Profile Of A Presidential Candidate, Harold Horton

Trotter Review

The mass media has said very little about it, but Ron Daniels, an African American, is a presidential candidate. In 1988, Daniels was the southern regional coordinator and deputy campaign manager for Jesse Jackson's campaign. Daniels, a veteran social and political activist as well as former director of the National Rainbow Coalition, declared his candidacy for president at a news conference October 14, 1991.

From 1974 to 1980, Daniels served as president of the National Black Political Assembly and in 1980, he was the chairperson of the founding convention of the National Black Independent Political Party. Daniels was the convener …

A Historic Moment: Black Voters And The 1992 Presidential Race, Clarence Lusane

Trotter Review

November 2, 1991, may well be remembered as a watershed date in the unique and quixotic 1992 presidential race. On that day, stating that he would "not seek the nomination for the Democratic Party," Jesse Jackson backed out of the presidential campaign spotlight and started a chain reaction that has put the black vote in perhaps its least influential position since before 1984.

Extremely low black voter turnout was one of the most significant trends of the 1992 primaries. In the Democratic contests, Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton won an impressive percentage of black votes, about 70 percent. However, those votes …

A. Philip Randolph And Boston's African-American Railroad Worker, James R. Green, Robert C. Hayden

Trotter Review

On October 8, 1988, a group of retired Pullman car porters and dining car waiters gathered in Boston's Back Bay Station for the unveiling of a larger-than-life statue of A. Philip Randolph. During the 1920s and 1930s, Randolph was a pioneering black labor leader who led the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. He came to be considered the "father of the modern civil rights movement" as a result of his efforts to desegregate World War II defense jobs and the military services. Randolph's importance as a militant leader is highlighted by a quote inscribed on the base of the statue …

Introduction, James Jennings

Trotter Review

This special issue of the Trotter Review is devoted to a broad range of topics related to race, power, and voting. Although voting is a critically important political tool for black America, the vote does not necessarily guarantee that a group will enjoy power in society. At the same time that we seek greater rates of voter registration and turnout at all levels of the electoral process, we must also continue to struggle towards an agenda that delivers power to the black community.

The issue opens with an explanation of why statehood for Washington, D.C., should be a key item …

Du Bois And The Boys' Club Of The 'Great Books', Bill Farrell

Trotter Review

During the autumn of 1990 the Encyclopedia Britannica published the Great Books of the Western World, its selection of Western civilization's sixty best works. Newspapers respectfully reported the event. Commentators acclaimed the set's affirmation of Western culture. A scholarly symposium at the Library of Congress celebrated the collection's publication. The National Press Club, usually concerned with major politicians and famous journalists, invited Mortimer Adler, the series editor in chief, to address it.

In his interviews and public appearances connected with the publication of the series, Adler stressed that to be a great book a work must discuss a large …

Are Today's Teachers Being Prepared For Diversity? An Analysis Of School Catalogues, James Jennings, Illene Carver

Trotter Review

A recent content analysis study shows that while leading educators in Massachusetts stress the importance of preparing teachers for an increasingly diverse world, most teacher preparation schools virtually ignore the issue of racial and ethnic diversity in catalogues recruiting new students. This not only discourages people from diverse backgrounds from becoming teachers, but could also create a lack of understanding in the classroom of the black, Latino, and Asian students being taught.

A summary of A Content Analysis of Racial and Ethnic Themes in Catalogues Distributed by Teacher Preparation Schools in Massachusetts, 1989 and 1990, a report issued by …

Introduction, James Jennings

Trotter Review

This issue of the Trotter Institute Review is devoted to a two-part proposition. The first is that institutions, agencies, businesses, and schools must begin to reflect the increasingly diverse ethnic and racial characteristics of American society. America is in the midst of a demographic revolution. It is unfortunate that some educators have chosen to ignore the social, economic, and intellectual implications of this change and that others have even become angry and attacked efforts to create an appreciation of multiculturalism.

This unfortunate resistance to the implications of America's unfolding demography leads to the second proposition reflected in this issue of …