(Part 2) Best minority demographic studies according to redditors

> If you would argue that racism is institutionalized in America, even considering the attending action campaigns, then i understand why you would feel the same way about rape. I think you are seeing systems that aren't there.

I actually do argue this. Here's a good article from US News showing that institutional racism does in fact exist. And even if we discount "minor" forms of sexual assault as, y'know, sexual assault, and restrict it solely to penetration (which is itself troubling), you're still looking at around 1 in 12 female students who are raped, which is still staggeringly high for a four-year period.

> Racism is a racist acting alone, same of rape.

This is actually not what racism is - this is an example of what Racial Domination, Racial Progrss, one of the more comprehensive textbooks on race, defines as the "individualistic fallacy." The fallacy, in short, is the core belief that racism is perpetuated by a small minority of explicitly racist people instead of by institutions and cultures as well as being perpetuated unintentionally and implicitly. If you are to believe that racism is individualistic and not rampant on an institutional/cultural level, I'm not sure you'll agree that the opposite is true of rape as well. However, there are many, many sources which argue persuasively otherwise.

I've worked on papers that, while not specifically associated with urban renewal, rely on many of the same sources.

> Finding sources for Pittsburgh and Boston are a bit more difficult

First of all, you're on your own with Pittsburgh. But, I have enough BOSTON sources to kill an elephant about urban renewal, socioeconomic conditions pre-, during-, and post- the renewal projects, the political context (againt, pre-, during-, and post-), the philosophical context of "modernism", the infrastructural context (this is my particular field, fwiw), the economic context, and a few sources that tie all of those together. So, the question is: how much do you need (speaking from experience, sometimes having too much is worse than having too little)? What do you need? Books (I recommend Urban Villagers by Herbert Gans)? Primary vs secondary (loads of both...easily 1000+ period documents)?

Now....this is just a thought. If this a serious project (which it appears to be - good on you) and you want to know more about how/why/where/when/etc... urban renewal came to be in Boston, you're more than welcome to PM me and I can help out.

Really?

Your DR is likely an outlier compared to the criminals we are discussing. Maybe s/he did not grow up in the hood, or was in a high SES, or had an exceptional mentor, or bussed to a high performing school, or came from an overeducated family, or had exceptional character that allowed s/he to rise above peers, or any other number of variables that makes s/he not fit the majority we are discussing.

Talking about a single example like your Dr when discussing averages of a large groups is pointless. There will always be exceptions. We don't care about exceptions because they are not in our sample and are therefore meaningless to the conversation.

Bringing up your Black doctor who doesn't fit the studies as a reason to nullify the research behind black crime is like citing a freak snowstorm to discount all the data pointing toward global warming.

This is BASIC research design for social science, and all scientific studies really. If you want to be able to talk about this topic intelligently, start by studying up on research design, and then if you are really interested in the foundations of black crime rates try reading this excellent textbook on race relations in the US: http://www.amazon.com/Majority-Minority-Relations-Census-Update-Edition/dp/0205006574

I remember I took a class called race relations in college and in the text book it defined racism as being something committed by whites on minorities, it always bothered me that it made it seem like a one way street. (I don't remember it verbatim because this was like 6 years ago). The definition seemed fuck up to me though because it seemed counter-productive to the entire purpose of the class but no one else in the class of 200 some kids said anything and I wasn't about to be that guy.

It was this book if I remember correctly.


http://www.amazon.com/Racism-American-Cauldron-3rd-Edition/dp/0321023692

https://www.amazon.com/Cosmopolitan-Canopy-Race-Civility-Everyday/dp/0393340511

One of classes this summer (also a student teacher) had us read The Trouble with Black Boys. Sounds like these students have experienced what they perceive as racism from previous or current teachers and now it's become the expectation. I wouldn't let this discourage you, but try to gain their trust and break that expectation. I am dealing with this at my own placement, with an African American student as well, and I have learned a great deal about patience.

Edit: Also this book by Ladson-Billings