Niambi Carter’s American While Black: African Americans, Immigration, and the Limits of Citizenship illuminates the complex nature of Black political attitudes in the post–civil rights era. Crucial to Carter’s study is the impact that white supremacy has had on Black public opinion toward immigration policy. Expanding the scholarship of politics, African American studies, and history, Carter highlights nuances within the historical development of Black citizenship and how it is traceable in various parts of the Black experience.
American While Black’s brilliance lies in its debunking of myths surrounding Black public opinion toward immigration. In chapter 1, Carter wastes no time laying out the purpose and focus of this book, and she contends that “blacks use the issues of immigration as a way to articulate their feelings about the failure of the nation-state to address their needs and incorporate them as full members of the citizenry” (13). Therefore, what appears...
University of California Press