Keeping the doors to the community open.
Polls show that Americans of all races now believe that social class and national origin are more potent bases for discrimination than race. However, this assessment is rendered more complicated by (a) the high rate of exclusion of people on the basis of behavioral characteristics and (b) the strikingly disparate impact of such decisions on people of color. America’s high rates of (a) incarceration in the criminal and juvenile justice system, (b) visa denials, detention, and removal in the immigration system, and (c) suspensions and expulsions in the schools all have the effect of excluding many Latinos and African Americans from ordinary life in the community. Although norms of inclusion are adaptive for communities, such an approach is intrinsically difficult to achieve. Attention should be given to (a) facilitation of the exercise of moral leadership and (b) design of settings that ‘‘demand’’ notice of, and care for, all participants.
Clemson University, SC 29607, USA. gmelton@clemson.edu
Gary B
GB
Melton
D003416:Criminal Law; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants; D005006:Ethnicity; D006801:Humans; D008913:Minority Groups; D011057:Politics; D011287:Prejudice; D011330:Prisons; D011639:Public Opinion; D044469:Racial Groups; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012935:Social Justice; D012944:Social Support; D012945:Social Values; D014481:United States