America's drug laws have always exerted an unequal and unfair toll on Blacks and Latinos, who are arrested more often than Whites for the possession of illegal drugs and given harsher sentences. In this volume, contributors ask how would marijuana legalization affect communities of color? Is legalization of marijuana necessary to safeguard minority families from a lifetime of hardship and inequality? Who in minority communities favors legalization and why, and do these minority opinions differ from the opinions held by White Americans? This volume also includes analyses of the policy debate by a range of scholars addressing economic, health, and empowerment issues. Comparative lessons from other countries are also analyzed.

In political opinion surveys from the 1950s through the 1970s, African Americans were consistently among the most liberal groups in the United States and were much further to the left than White Americans on most issues. Starting in the 1980s, Black public opinion began to move to the center, and this trend has deepened since. Why is this the case?

Katherine Tate contends that Black political incorporation and increased affluence since the civil rights movement have made Black politics and public opinion more moderate over time. Black leaders now have greater opportunity to participate in mainstream politics, and Blacks look to elected officials rather than activists for political leadership. Black socioeconomic concerns have moved to the center as poverty has declined and their economic opportunities have improved.

Based on solid analysis of public opinion data from the 1970s to the present, Tate examines how Black opinions on welfare, affirmative action, crime control, school vouchers, civil rights for other minorities, immigration, the environment, and U.S. foreign policy have changed.

America's drug laws have always exerted an unequal and unfair toll on Blacks and Latinos, who are arrested more often than Whites for the possession of illegal drugs and given harsher sentences. In this volume, contributors ask how would marijuana legalization affect communities of color? Is legalization of marijuana necessary to safeguard minority families from a lifetime of hardship and inequality? Who in minority communities favors legalization and why, and do these minority opinions differ from the opinions held by White Americans? This volume also includes analyses of the policy debate by a range of scholars addressing economic, health, and empowerment issues. Comparative lessons from other countries are also analyzed.

""Black Faces in the Mirror" is an important new work. It contributes significantly to recent debates about the value of majority-minority congressional districts created in the 1990 redistricting, and to their impact upon descriptive, substantive, and symbolic representation. Tate's research design allows her to compare party, race, political sphere, and types of representation through survey research of African American citizens linked with home style analysis of 252 members of Congress, who represent various parties and racial groups. Unlike previous scholars, Tate systematically compares black and white members, and examines the views of a significant sample of black citizens with a large survey of House members across racial and ethnic boundaries. Her work more precisely captures subtle differences in the ways African American citizens view descriptive, substantive, and symbolic representation. Tate's sophisticated analysis will be read widely and avidly by public officials, graduate and undergraduate faculty and students, and political activists."--Dianne Pinderhughes, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

"For a comprehensive treatment of African-American representation in Congress, this is the work to read. Among its attractions is a fresh set of nationwide survey data."--David Mayhew, Yale University, author of "America's Congress"

"This is an important and well-timed work that examines black representation from the perspective of ordinary black Americans. Tate does not pick a side in the debate over race and representation and cheer for her team. Instead, she allows the data to dictate her findings. This book will be much discussed in the fields of politics, law, and race."--David Lublin, American University

"The combination of perspectives and analyses in this interesting study--unique so far as I know--makes it especially important. By looking at both the represented and the representative, Tate is able to ask and at least tentatively answer several critical questions about race and representation."--Barbara Sinclair, University of California, Los Angeles

Focused on structural and political intersectionalities, Gendered Pluralism takes a broader approach to understanding the constellation of factors that drive gender and racial differences on an array of public policy issues. Belinda Robnett and Katherine Tate examine a broader set of actors absent the contextual factors that may drive them to compromise their opinions. Their study examines the ways in which (1) men and women differ on public policy issues and the factors that drive these differences; (2) whites and racial-ethnic minorities differ on public policy issues and the factors that drive these differences; (3) women differ on public policy issues and the factors that drive these differences; (4) African-American men and women differ on public policy issues and the factors that drive these differences, and (5) African-American women differ on public policy issues and the factors that drive these differences.

The struggle for civil rights among black Americans has moved into the voting booth. How such a shift came about--and what it means--is revealed in this timely reflection on black presidential politics in recent years.

Since 1984, largely as a result of Jesse Jackson's presidential bid, blacks have been galvanized politically. Drawing on a substantial national survey of black voters, Katherine Tate shows how this process manifested itself at the polls in 1984 and 1988. In an analysis of the black presidential vote by region, income, age, and gender, she is able to identify unique aspects of the black experience as they shape political behavior, and to answer long-standing questions about that behavior. How, for instance, does the rise of conservatism among blacks influence their voting patterns? Is class more powerful than race in determining voting? And what is the value of the notion of a black political party?

In the 1990s, Tate suggests, black organizations will continue to stress civil rights over economic development for one clear, compelling reason: Republican resistance to addressing black needs. In this, and in the friction engendered by affirmative action, she finds an explanation for the slackening of black voting. Tate does not, however, see blacks abandoning the political game. Instead, she predicts their continued search for leaders who prefer the ballot box to other kinds of protest, and for men and women who can deliver political programs of racial equality.

Unique in its focus on the black electorate, this study illuminates a little understood and tremendously significant aspect of American politics. It will benefit those who wish to understand better the subtle interplay of race and politics, at the voting booth and beyond.