Suburban Racial Segregation and The Right to the City

• In Event: 189 - Section on Community and Urban Sociology Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 10. Urban Planning and Governance

Abstract

In this interview-based study of a middle-class African American suburb, I analyze accounts of racial profiling, racial harassment, and the exclusion of African Americans from neighborhoods and public spaces by arguing that these practices effectively deny African Americans the Right to the City. Examination of accounts of historical African American communities indicate a continuity of such denials in this location. Segregation is conceptualized to be not only an expression of structural racism but a denial of full citizenship rights for African Americans.

Author

• Gregory Smithsimon, Brooklyn College CUNY