Temple University Press Journals
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“Frankstown Was the World with a Big W”: Pittsburgh and Beyond, an Interview with John Edgar Wideman
No full textOn Friday, October 18, 2019, I conducted an interview with John Edgar Wideman at his home in New York City. The conversation was incredibly rich, John being very generous indeed with his memories and his profound insights. Our first focus was Pittsburgh itself—what a joy to hear him speak about the Homewood of his childhood, about something like a lost world. We discussed basketball, the languages of his childhood, and origin stories; as the conversation progressed, John reflected poignantly on what he sees as the cost of his success, that he is pushed ahead as a token while very little of his privilege is afforded to his own community.
He also had much to say about a driving quality of shame that he has experienced on a number of occasions in his life—in being shamed by a white classmate for not knowing more about Black music, and the related shame of not knowing much Black literature, and how that motivated him to establish the African American Studies program at the University of Pennsylvania. We discussed the expansion of his intellectual and cultural horizons that came with the experience of being a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford. The interview concluded with a sense of the awe with which the author regards his brother as well as his son, who have retained their humanity in spite of the greatest odds, and a reflection on the role of creativity in accomplishing such a feat
A City Divided: Race, Fear, and the Law in Police Confrontations, by David A. Harris
No full textTo most any U.S. American who has paid even a modicum of attention to the news over the past several years, the central incident of police violence examined in David A. Harris’s A City Divided: Race, Fear, and the Law in Police Confrontations is familiar almost to the point of banality. Indeed, even if you have never heard of Jordan Miles, you can probably guess the exact sequence of events with little effort: an eighteen-year-old Black man, who is unarmed and has committed no crime, is brutally beaten by multiple police officers; the young man’s version of the events contrasts drastically with that of the three police officers; the police force immediately backs its officers before any investigation has taken place; the community cries out for justice; authorities are extremely reluctant to prosecute the officers involved; criminal charges against the officers are unsuccessful but a large civil settlement is paid out to the victim; and a series of milquetoast reforms are instituted that fail to address the problem. The sad reality is that by simply changing the names and few geographic details, this book could be discussing virtually any incident of police brutality in the United States. Yet it is very much the terrifying familiarity of the Jordan Miles case that makes Harris’s book so gripping and informative
A Tale of Two Cities Revisited: The Philadelphia Mayoral Election of 2003
Get PDFThis article examines the Philadelphia Mayoral Election of 2003, which was a re-match of the 1999 contest. The author contends that while Philadelphia remained a divided city, partisanship rather than race best explains the election’s outcome. By “nationalizing” the election, Democratic Mayor John Street tied his moderate Republican challenger, Sam Katz, to the unpopular Republican administration in Washington, D.C. The revelation of a recording device in Mayor Street’s office, rather than damaging Street, galvanized his African-American base while bringing a number of white Democrats back into the Street camp. These factors, along with a massive voter registration drive by Democratic Party operatives, transformed the party’s narrow victory of 1999 into a landslide four years later
Demographic and Family Differences in Use of Early Childhood Care and Education in Pennsylvania: A 2002 Baseline
Get PDFStudies show that Pennsylvania ranks below the national average in the percentage of preschool children enrolled in center-based programs. This is important because center-based care has been shown to better prepare children for entry into school. In 2002, we examined demographic and family influences in the use of early childhood care and education (ECCE) in a statewide random sample of 1005 Pennsylvania families with children under 6 years of age, providing a baseline of ECCE in Pennsylvania during a time when the state offered no public funding specifically for preschool. Our findings suggest that Pennsylvania children, particularly those from less educated and lower income families, may not have been well prepared to enter school in 2002. Policy changes since 2002 are described, and the likelihood of these policies to better prepare Pennsylvania\u27s children to enter school ready to learn are considered
State Influence in the Presidential Selection Process: Assessing Pennsylvania\u27s Non-Participation in the Frontloading Trend
Get PDFThe frontloading trend in the presidential primary system has been widely criticized for creating disparities among states in their level of influence over the presidential selection process. This article examines the general motivations, benefits, and consequences of state participation in frontloading. It focuses upon Pennsylvania, which has not joined the trend. Presidential primaries in Pennsylvania have become increasingly uncompetitive due to frontloading in other states. Comparative analysis with Ohio and forecasting analysis based on Pennsylvania voting history suggest that an earlier presidential primary in Pennsylvania in 2000 would have resulted in not only more candidate competitiveness and campaign activity, but also more voter choice and voter turnout. Yet, fear of increased administrative burdens and disruption to the electoral status quo stopped Pennsylvania\u27s legislators from adopting the change
Immigrants, Ethnic Lobbies and American Foreign Policy
Get PDFThe United States is so obviously an immigrant nation that this fact is assumed to be significant for the contuct of its foreign policy. This article examines the assumption and whether the recent change in immigration patterns away from Europe and towards Asia as the point of origin may portend a significant shift in the orientation of U. S. foreign policy. This article also describes the effect that immigration groups and ethnic lobbies have had on U.S. foreign policy in the past, extrapolating generalizations from earlier experiences that may apply to the latest group of immigrants