Book Description

Rodney King framed an eternal question of American politics when he asked: Can we all get along? The second edition of this widely acclaimed text was expanded to reflect the latest scholarship and the most recent events in Americas ongoing struggle with racial issues; the new version of the second edition has been fully updated to include results and analysis from the 1998 mid-term elections. Here, Paula McClain and Joseph Stewart combine traditional elements of political science analysis history, Constitutional theory, institutions, political behavior, and policy actors with a thoroughgoing survey of the political status of four major groups: African Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans, and American Indians. They show similarities and differences in these groups political action and experience, and point the way toward coalition, competition, and consensus-building in the face of ongoing conflict. Two dilemmas shape the book: How do we as a nation reconcile a commitment to equality with persistent inequality and discrimination? And what can we do about it from the perspective of ethnic and racial minorities as well as within the dominant culture? Rodney King framed what might be called the enduring question of American politics from the Founding forward: Can we all get along? In a nation built by immigrants and bedeviled by the history and legacy of slavery, issues of liberty, equality, and community continue to challenge Americans. Whether we look at the Los Angeles riots, the patterns of ethnic representation in Congress, or examples of discrimination in schools, we see that getting along is intimately connected with who gets what, when, and how the traditional definition of politics.