In an updated new edition of this classic work, a team of highly respected sociologists, political scientists, economists, criminologists, and legal scholars scrutinize the resilience of racial inequality in twenty-first-century America. Whitewashing Race argues that contemporary racism manifests as discrimination in nearly every realm of American life, and is further perpetuated by failures to address the compounding effects of generations of disinvestment. Police violence, mass incarceration of Black people, employment and housing discrimination, economic deprivation, and gross inequities in health care combine to deeply embed racial inequality in American society and economy. Updated to include the most recent evidence, including contemporary research on the racially disparate effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, this edition of Whitewashing Race analyzes the consequential and ongoing legacy of "disaccumulation" for Black communities and lives. While some progress has been made, the authors argue that real racial justice can be achieved only if we actively attack and undo pervasive structural racism and its legacies.

The American welfare state is often blamed for exacerbating social problems confronting African Americans while failing to improve their economic lot. Michael K. Brown contends that our welfare system has in fact denied them the social provision it gives white citizens while stigmatizing them as recipients of government benefits for low income citizens. In his provocative history of America's "safety net" from its origins in the New Deal through much of its dismantling in the 1990s, Brown explains how the forces of fiscal conservatism and racism combined to shape a welfare state in which blacks are disproportionately excluded from mainstream programs.

Brown describes how business and middle class opposition to taxes and spending limited the scope of the Social Security Act and work relief programs of the 1930s and the Great Society in the 1960s. These decisions produced a welfare state that relies heavily on privately provided health and pension programs and cash benefits for the poor. In a society characterized by pervasive racial discrimination, this outcome, Michael Brown makes clear, has led to a racially stratified welfare system: by denying African Americans work, whites limited their access to private benefits as well as to social security and other forms of social insurance, making welfare their "main occupation." In his conclusion, Brown addresses the implications of his argument for both conservative and liberal critiques of the Great Society and for policies designed to remedy inner-city poverty.

The American welfare state is often blamed for exacerbating social problems confronting African Americans while failing to improve their economic lot. Michael K. Brown contends that our welfare system has in fact denied them the social provision it gives white citizens while stigmatizing them as recipients of government benefits for low income citizens. In his provocative history of America's "safety net" from its origins in the New Deal through much of its dismantling in the 1990s, Brown explains how the forces of fiscal conservatism and racism combined to shape a welfare state in which blacks are disproportionately excluded from mainstream programs.

Brown describes how business and middle class opposition to taxes and spending limited the scope of the Social Security Act and work relief programs of the 1930s and the Great Society in the 1960s. These decisions produced a welfare state that relies heavily on privately provided health and pension programs and cash benefits for the poor. In a society characterized by pervasive racial discrimination, this outcome, Michael Brown makes clear, has led to a racially stratified welfare system: by denying African Americans work, whites limited their access to private benefits as well as to social security and other forms of social insurance, making welfare their "main occupation." In his conclusion, Brown addresses the implications of his argument for both conservative and liberal critiques of the Great Society and for policies designed to remedy inner-city poverty.

"In "Whitewashing Race, an impressive and diverse group of scholars launch an empirically grounded assault on the vast body of colorblind orthodoxy. The authors harness a medley of disciplinary perspectives into a cogent argument about racial stratification accompanied by a set of practical racial justice policy options. Their aim is both simple and ambitious: to reinvigorate a moribund debate by marshalling their collective intellectual resources to demonstrate that the conservative consensus on race is neither morally sustainable nor logically defensible."--Lani Guinier, coauthor of "The Miner's Canary: Enlisting Race, Resisting Power, Transforming Democracy"This powerful book disposes of the claim, so often heard, that America has solved its race problem and can now be 'color-blind.' Based on hard facts, it shows how we must work--for the sake of all of us--to give Black Americans the reality of equal opportunity."--Anthony Lewis, author of "Gideon's Trumpet"An essential book. Americans have always worked hard at burying our racial truths, thereby leaving half-truths, myths and raw bigotry to continue their brutal work on our most vulnerable citizens. The authors cauterize these terrible wounds with prodigious research and brilliant insights. Their work is a great service to justice and to our country."--Roger Wilkins, author of "Jefferson's Pillow: The Founding Fathers and the Dilemma of Black Patriotism"For many years conservative scholars and think tanks have been trying to convince the American public that racism is dead and that race-specific policies, such as affirmative action, cannot be justified and are in fact detrimental. To a great extent they have succeeded in makingostensible 'color-blindness' the dominant test of law and policy affecting racial minorities. Now at last we have the definitive response to this argument. It comes from seven distinguished scholars from a range of disciplines who believe that race must be taken into account if we are ever to get beyond racism. With massive evidence, much of it quantitative, they blast conservative color-blindness to smithereens, showing that it really functions as a formula to perpetuate racial inequality. No one concerned with racial justice in America can afford to ignore this book."--George M. Fredrickson, author of "Racism: A Short History""Whitewashing Race is the most important social science statement on race in more than a decade. It lays bare the expressly conservative, ideological, and deeply flawed analyses of those pundits pressing for 'color-blind' social policy. With lucid prose and truly definitive scholarship, Brown, Wellman, and colleagues thoroughly debunk the reigning conservative consensus. Anyone who cares about racial justice and the fate of the American Dream should read this vitally important book."--Lawrence D. Bobo, editor of "Prismatic Metropolis: Inequality in Los Angeles"Far from writing a collection of essays, the authors of "Whitewashing Race have collaborated to produce a brilliant, seamless book on America's deepest divide. Framed as a response to conservative analysts who claim that racial problems are essentially solved, the book provides an authoritative overview of how the nation's two principal races still remain sharply apart by every social measure."--Andrew Hacker, author of "Two Nations: Black and White, Separate, Hostile, Unequal"In today's political climate, even the most well-meaning liberal tends to believe that institutional racism is a thing of the past and that we've truly achieved a color-blind society. "Whitewashing Race makes a powerful case that racism is still with us. Relying on solid evidence rather than polemics, the authors have amassed an overwhelming body of data to show the persistence of racism in the job and housing market, education, the criminal justice system, and the political arena. If we ever have a real 'national conversation' on race, "Whitewashing Race ought to be mandatory reading."--Robin D. G. Kelley, author of "Freedom Dreams