A birder strolling in Central Park. A college student lounging on a university quad. Two men sitting in a coffee shop. Perfectly ordinary actions in ordinary settings-and yet, they sparked jarring and inflammatory responses that attracted national media coverage. Why? In essence, Elijah Anderson would argue, because these were Black people existing in white spaces. In Black in White Space, Anderson brings his immense knowledge and ethnography to bear in this timely study of the racial barriers that are still firmly entrenched in our society at every class level. Regardless of the social or economic position of a Black person, the stubborn stereotype of the ghetto looms in the white imagination and subconsciously connects all Black people with crime, drugs, and poverty. From Philadelphia street corner conversations to Anderson's own morning jogs through a Cape Cod vacation town, he probes a wealth of experiences to shed new light on the urgent and dire persistence of racial discrimination in our country.
Elijah Anderson.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
