Just Neighbors?

"Just Neighbors? is a needed and welcome assessment of African American and Latino relations. As more of the nation's major cities become majority minority a key question becomes how people and communities of color interact with, understand, and affect one another. Edward Telles and colleagues have pulled together an excellent set of articles that in a rich and mutually informing manner, span the fields of anthropology, political science, and sociology. The work highlights the dynamics of group identity and stereotyping processes, of local context and characteristics particularly within the labor market, and especially of community leadership in molding the tenor of group relations. Just Neighbors? provides an important and broad-gauge baseline for serious scholarship on black-Latino relations."
-LAWRENCE D. BOBO, W. E. B. Du Bois Professor of the Social Sciences, Harvard University

"Studies of intergroup relations traditionally have been framed in terms of minority-majority interactions. In the United States, this meant black-white relations or, more recently, Hispanic-white relations. As the United States becomes a minority-majority society with no single dominant group, however, this framing increasingly does not apply. Equally important now and in the future are minority-minority relations, and perhaps no relationship is as critical as to the future of America as that between blacks and Hispanics. Interactions between these groups will determine much about the future demography, politics, and socioeconomic structure of the nation. Just Neighbors? is a timely and very welcome contribution to the scholarly literature, bringing together the nation's top researchers on blacks and Hispanics and the relations between them to synthesize what is known-and not known-about this critical issue."
-DOUGLAS S. MASSEY, Henry G. Bryant Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs, Princeton University

"Just Neighbors? is a much-needed and brilliant contribution to the increasingly important fields of critical race theory and empirical racial studies. Edward Telles, Mark Sawyer, and Gaspar Rivera-Salgado and the authors they have brought to this project accomplish two extremely difficult but critical tasks. First, the authors in this volume are able to knit together and expand upon theoretical and empirical studies of racial dynamics in the United States, especially the Southwest. While many have argued that racial studies in the United States must move beyond the black-white paradigm, these authors, using the finest social science research methods, move our theoretically informed empirical understanding of these phenomena qualitatively forward. Second, as the editors explain, there is relatively little research that studies the dynamics between populations of color that also is sensitive to intra-group as well as inter-group differences. Thus, their probing of black-Latino cooperation and conflict in a number of domains is a valuable contribution to our understanding of what will be increasingly a foundation of American politics and civil society in the decades to come. Bravo!"
-MICHAEL DAWSON, John D. MacArthur Professor of Political Science and director, Center for the Study of Race, Politics, and Culture, The University of Chicago

Blacks and Latinos have transformed the American city—together these groups now constitute the majority in seven of the ten largest cities. Large-scale immigration from Latin America has been changing U.S. racial dynamics for decades, and Latino migration to new destinations is changing the face of the American south. Yet most of what social science has helped us to understand about these groups has been observed primarily in relation to whites—not each other. Just Neighbors? challenges the traditional black/white paradigm of American race relations by examining African Americans and Latinos as they relate to each other in the labor market, the public sphere, neighborhoods, and schools. The book shows the influence of race, class, and received stereotypes on black-Latino social interactions and offers insight on how finding common ground may benefit both groups.

From the labor market and political coalitions to community organizing, street culture, and interpersonal encounters, Just Neighbors? analyzes a spectrum of Latino-African American social relations to understand when and how these groups cooperate or compete. Contributor Frank Bean and his co-authors show how the widely held belief that Mexican immigration weakens job prospects for native-born black workers is largely unfounded—especially as these groups are rarely in direct competition for jobs. Michael Jones-Correa finds that Latino integration beyond the traditional gateway cities promotes seemingly contradictory feelings: a sense of connectedness between the native minority and the newcomers but also perceptions of competition. Mark Sawyer explores the possibilities for social and political cooperation between the two groups in Los Angeles and finds that lingering stereotypes among both groups, as well as negative attitudes among blacks about immigration, remain powerful but potentially surmountable forces in group relations. Regina Freer and Claudia Sandoval examine how racial and ethnic identity impacts coalition building between Latino and black youth and find that racial pride and a sense of linked fate encourages openness to working across racial lines.

Black and Latino populations have become a majority in the largest U.S. cities, yet their combined demographic dominance has not abated both groups’ social and economic disadvantage in comparison to whites. Just Neighbors? lays a much-needed foundation for studying social relations between minority groups. This trailblazing book shows that, neither natural allies nor natural adversaries, Latinos and African Americans have a profound potential for coalition-building and mutual cooperation. They may well be stronger together rather than apart.

EDWARD TELLES is professor of sociology at Princeton University and vice president of the American Sociological Association.

MARK Q. SAWYER is associate professor of African American studies and political science at the University of California, Los Angeles, and is also director of the Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity and Politics.

GASPAR RIVERA-SALGADO is project director at the UCLA Center for Labor Research and Education.

CONTRIBUTORS: James D. Bachmeier, Matt A. Barreto, Frand D. Bean, Susan K. Brown, Jessica Johnson Carew, Niambi Carter, Regina M. Freer, Michael Jones-Correa, Gerald F. Lackey, Claudia Sandoval Lopez, Monique L. Lyle, Cid Martinez, Paula D. McClain, Monica McDermott, Tatcho Mindiola Jr., Jason L. Morin, Tatishe M. Nteta, Shayla C. Nunnally, Efren O. Perez, Victor M. Rios, Nestor Rodriquez, Gabriel R. Sanchez, Candis Watts, Rosaura Tafoya-Estrada, James Diego Vgil, Kevin Wallsten, Eugene Walton Jr., Sylvia Zamora.