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"Closed for Democracy investigates the declining presence of public schools in large cities and its political consequences on the Americans most directly affected - poor Black citizens. The book examines the targeted nature of urban public school closure and its impact on the politics of those affected. It documents how school closure policies target these communities and, through the process, makes them feel excluded from the public goods afforded to equal citizens under the law. Targeted groups become superlative participators to make their voices heard, and some even attain policy gains. But their negative experiences with the policy process undermine their belief in the power of political participation. In the end, the book makes clear that when schools shut down, so does Black citizens' access to and belief in American democracy"--Provided by publisher.
List of contents
Introduction Closed for school, open for Business: When citizens become targets in the era of mass school closures; 1. What targeted citizens Think: Racial differences in public opinion on school closures; 2. Who targeted citizens Blame: Blame, approval, and black power; 3. How targeted citizens fight back: Participating while poor and a minority in the policy process; 4. Who wins and who loses in the era of mass school closures?: Toward a theory of collective participatory debt; Conclusion closed for school, closed for democracy: Why closing schools undermine democracy; Epilogue Close to home; Bibliography; Appendix.
About the author
Sally A. Nuamah is an assistant professor at Northwestern University. She is the author of the multi-award-winning book, How Girls Achieve (2019), and the recipient of over thirty additional honors including Forbes Magazine '30 under 30 in Education,' the Marilyn J. Gittell Activist-Scholar Award, and the Andrew Carnegie Fellowship.
Summary
This book studies the high costs and suffering associated with battles to save public schools while poor and Black in America. It is valuable for understanding how repeated political battles, even those won by the poor and minoritized, can have serious negative impacts on their relationship to democracy.
Foreword
This book analyzes how public-school closures and the costly battles waged to stop them undermine the citizenship of Black Americans.
