The color of punishment: African Americans,skin tone,and the criminal justice system

Public debate and scholarly research has largely concentrated on the vast array of disparities between blacks and whites in their treatment by and experiences with the criminal justice system. Nevertheless, a growing body of research shows that African Americans’ life chances are internally stratified by gradational differences in their skin tone. This study brings together research on race, color, and the criminal justice system by using nationally-representative data to examine whether (and to what extent) skin tone is associated with policing and punishment among African Americans. I find that skin tone is significantly associated with the probability of having been arrested and/or incarcerated, net of relevant controls. Further analyses, using a sub-sample of whites drawn from the same nationally-representative survey, show that disparities in policing and punishment within the black population along the colour continuum are often comparable to or even exceed disparities between blacks and whites as a whole.     

Results of Go Girls: A Weight Control Program for Overweight African‐American Adolescent Females

Objective: Go Girls was a church‐based nutrition and physical activity program designed for overweight African‐American (AA) adolescent females. Research Methods and Procedures: Ten predominantly middle‐socioeconomic churches were randomized to either a high‐intensity (20 to 26 sessions) or moderate‐intensity (six sessions) culturally tailored behavioral group intervention delivered over 6 months. Each session included an experiential behavioral activity, ～30 minutes of physical activity, and preparation and tasting of healthy foods. In the high‐intensity group, girls also received four to six telephone counseling calls. From the 10 churches, 123 girls completed baseline and 6‐month post‐test assessments. The primary outcome was BMI; secondary outcomes included waist and hip circumferences, percentage body fat estimated by bioimpedance, serum insulin, glucose, and lipids, and cardiovascular fitness at 6‐month follow‐up. Selected measures were also collected at 1‐year follow‐up. Results: At 6‐month follow‐up, the net difference between the high‐ and moderate‐intensity groups was 0.5 BMI units. This difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.20). There were no significant group differences in secondary outcomes. Girls in the high‐intensity condition, however, who attended more than three‐quarters of the sessions had significantly lower BMI and percentage body fat relative to girls in the high‐intensity group who attended fewer sessions. Findings at 1‐year follow‐up mirrored those at 6 months. Discussion: We concluded that the intervention was not effective in reducing adiposity, although there were some positive findings among high attenders. Despite the null result, the intervention was generally well received by participants. Future interventions may require greater dose and a more structured dietary change program.     

Frequency and chronological distribution of dental enamel hypoplasia in enslaved African Americans: A test of the weaning hypothesis

The dentition of 27 enslaved African Americans from archaeological sites in Maryland and Virginia were examined. All 17 males and 7 of the 10 females in this study exhibited enamel hypoplastic defects indicative of systemic nutritional and disease stresses interfering with amelogenesis. Estimates of the ages of occurrence of these defects show that most occur between 1.5 and 4.5 years of age, 0.5–3.75 years later than historically documented weaning age (9–12 months of age) in similar plantation populations. Comparisons are made with studies of dental enamel hypoplasia in contemporaneous enslaved and free African American populations, including our data on 75 individuals from the First African Baptist Church cemetery in Philadelphia. These populations were highly stressed. While there appears to be a modest effect of early weaning stress, no direct relationship of peak frequencies to weaning age can be shown. These data raise questions about the attribution of peak hypoplasia frequencies to age at weaning or “post-weaning” stresses in previous paleopathological studies. High hypoplasia frequencies during the middle years of enamel development are more likely the result of a combination of 1) multiple environmental stresses, 2) differences in hypoplastic susceptibility in enamel, and 3) random factors. © 1994 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Formation of ethnic and racial identities: narratives by young Asian-American professionals

This article examines Asian-American professionals’ ethnic and pan-ethnic attachments and identities through fifteen autobiographical essays. Classical assimilation theory predicts that well-educated Asian-American professionals will be highly acculturated into the white middle class, with little retention of their ethnic subculture; yet many of our essayists had strong, bicultural orientations. Their high level of social assimilation, reflected in their friendships and intimate relationships with whites, indicates that Asian Americans can socially assimilate without relinquishing their culture. Most of the 1.5 and second-generation essayists tried to hide their ethnic culture and non-white characteristics during their early school years. Yet, they experienced a painful but gradual establishment of an ethnic identity, usually beginning in their college years. Some contributors also expressed varying degrees of pan-Asian identity and a moderate level of Third World racial identity.     

Strategic ethnic performance and the construction of authenticity in urban Japan

This paper introduces the concept of strategic ethnic performance (SEP), when members of one ethnic group present themselves as members of a phenotypically similar ethnic group for economic gain. I use ethnographic and interview data focused on Sub-Saharan African merchants involved in the Hip Hop fashion boutique business in urban Japan to show how SEP develops from four interconnected areas: the opportunity structure for ethnic entrepreneurs, the physical presentation of sellers, the arrangement of the selling venue, and feedback loops between the seller and the consumer. By utilizing SEP, ethnic entrepreneurs enhance the perceived authenticity of their goods and themselves. A thorough analysis of this process illuminates the interactional nature of ethnic authenticity as it is understood by consumers within urban areas.     

Wade in the Water: Personal Reflections on a Storm, a People, and a National Park

This article is a product of my associative thoughts on Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, my return to the city, and my position as park anthropologist at Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve, which includes the Chalmette Battlefield and National Cemetery. Fazendeville, or "the village" as it was known, was a historical African American community located on the site of the Battle of New Orleans, now Chalmette Battlefield, from 1867 to 1964. In 1999, the park undertook an oral history project on the community. As the anthropologist for the park, I wanted to reestablish contact with former residents or descendants who had been displaced as a result of the storms. It is my hope that the community's voices will not be lost in the floodwaters but will reemerge as determined and strong as they were once heard, singing "Wade in the Water" during the baptismal processions to the river.     

Forward to the past: race,the colour scale and Michael Banton

This study examined differences in religious participation and spirituality among African Americans, Caribbean blacks (black Caribbeans) and non-Hispanic whites. Data are taken from the National Survey of American Life, a nationally representative study of African Americans, black Caribbeans and non-Hispanic whites. Selected measures of organizational, non-organizational and subjective religious participation were examined. African American and Caribbean blacks were largely similar in their reports of religious involvement; both groups generally indicated higher levels of religious participation than non-Hispanic whites. African Americans were more likely than black Caribbeans to be official members of their places of worship, engage in activities (choirs, church clubs) at their place of worship and request prayer from others. Black Caribbeans reported reading religious materials more frequently than African Americans. The discussion notes the importance of examining ethnic differences within the black American population of the United States.     

The Declining Significance of Race in the twenty-first century: a retrospective assessment in the context of rising class inequality

No other book in modern sociology is so well known but yet so roundly dismissed as William J. Wilson's The Declining Significance of Race. Its major thesis is supported, however, by a great deal of credible and systematic evidence. Its historical analysis is notably informative and prescient in predicting rising class inequality. The Declining Significance of Race remains vitally important reading for enhancing our understanding of inequality in contemporary America.     

Review article: Polonia studies and the collapse of Communism

This paper asks to what extent Suriname's consociational democracy still rests on its historically shaped meta-ideology of ethnic essentialism. Based on ethnographic data of the country's national elections in 2010, I suggest that the ‘ethnic taboo’ of ethnic mobilization by politicians was present to a certain extent. However, this taboo was challenged by the nationalist turn of Desi Bouterse's National Democratic Party. Furthermore, when considering voting behaviour and that of ethnically mixed Doglas in particular, we see that Surinamese politics is more complex. I will argue that while we have been thinking about Surinamese politics as being on a par with ethnic groupings, these 2010 elections were not simply about ethnicity. Ethnicity may have informed but did not fully explain people's political choices, because people are too complex to be captured in an exclusively ethnic category, and because the Surinamese political system is too complex to maintain clear ethnic categories.     

Cortical bone remodeling rates in a sample of African American and European American descent groups from the American Midwest: comparisons of age and sex in ribs

This study employs regression analysis to explore population and sex differences in the pattern of age-associated bone loss, as reflected by histomorphometric variables that are measures of intracortical and endocortical bone remodeling. A comparison of an African American sample from the Washington Park Cemetery in St. Louis, Missouri, and a European American rib sample composed of cadavers, autopsies, and forensic cases from Missouri reveals the existence of complex age-associated patterns for differences in measures of intracortical remodeling and cortical area. Females from the two samples express similar bone dimensions and dynamics. The African American females appear to lose more bone than their male counterparts, but this difference is absent in the European American sample. When age-associated patterns are considered, it is in the younger cohorts that African Americans exhibit greater relative cortical area than European Americans, but this is reversed in the older ages, when the latter group manifests greater bone mass. The European American males consistently differ in the slopes and intercepts for the variables compared to the other groups, and differences are highly significant with African American females, with the former group maintaining bone mass while the latter exhibit a more rapid bone loss. Achieving larger relative cortical area due to smaller endosteal area, coupled with better bone quality due to lower intracortical porosity early in life, may be a mechanism by which African Americans, especially females, maintain adequate bone mass in older ages, which buffers them from bone loss and related fragility fractures despite higher rates of intracortical remodeling and endosteal expansion later in life. These results suggest that both genetic and environmental factors are responsible for the differences in bone remodeling and bone mass observed between these samples.     

Moral residue and health justice for the global south: Addressing past issues through current interventions and research

This paper introduces the concept of moral residue to global health, and shows how its presence undermines crucial interventions and research, especially in the global south. Lingering feelings of anxiety, anger, blame or frustration often exist among local populations, where previous interventions or research have left traces of harm and/or exploitation. The existence of such feelings reflects the presence of moral residue, recognizing the moral experiences of epistemic injustices, which in turn undermines critical interventions and research through outright rejection or passive non‐compliance among affected populations. While such situations have been variously interpreted and relevant strategies developed to address the issues, little to no consideration is made on the implications of moral residue experiences in global health contexts and how to address them. This paper demonstrates the presence of moral residue in global health and proffers an African ethical approach, a harmony framework, for addressing moral residue issues, as part of a holistic approach towards tackling population health crises without compromising health gains for affected populations in the global south.     

Entrepreneurship and interracial dynamics: a case study of self-employed Africans and Chinese in Guangzhou,China

ABSTRACT

Guangzhou is the most popular gateway city for African migration to China. Unlike stereotypical international migrants, Africans in Guangzhou are predominantly self-made entrepreneurs, doing business face-to-face with Chinese entrepreneurs who are mostly internal migrants with truncated citizenship rights. African-Chinese encounters in local markets and residential neighbourhoods offer a rare opportunity for studying interracial dynamics beyond the classic black-white dichotomy and traditional paradigm of ethnic entrepreneurship. In this paper, we draw from in-depth interviews and field observations to examine how interacting social forces shape interracial relations and mobility pathways for migrant entrepreneurs in an emerging city of opportunities. Our analyses suggest that interactions between African and Chinese entrepreneurs are economically interdependent and socioculturally contentious processes, and that these processes shape a myriad of intersecting identities and create room for cooperation that transcends race, class, and migrant status. We discuss the theoretical implications of these findings.     

Racialized political shock: Arab American racial formation and the impact of political events

This article explores significant factors influencing the process of Arab American racial formation. I bring into conversation theories of racial formation and ‘political shock’ in social movement scholarship to develop the notion of ‘racialized political shock’ as an important factor in how racial and ethnic groups mobilize and organize. Many moments of political shock are highly racialized and have the potential to reorder the racial and ethnic landscape in ways that can open opportunities or introduce constraints to mobilizations around racial formation. Drawing on existing studies of Arab Americans, this paper highlights how Arab American racial formation has been galvanized during moments of racialized political shock. In the Arab American case, these moments have led to a call for recognition outside the category of white. I conclude by outlining ways forward in the study of Arab Americans, who have been overlooked in studies of race and ethnicity in the US.     

Arginine pathways and the inflammatory response: Interregulation of nitric oxide and polyamines: Review article

Summary. An early response to an acute inflammatory insult, such as wound healing or experimental glomerulonephritis, is the conversion of arginine to the cytostatic molecule nitric oxide (NO). This anti-bacterial phase is followed by the conversion of arginine to ornithine, which is the precursor for the pro-proliferative polyamines as well as proline for the production of extracellular matrix. This latter, pro-growth phase constitutes a repair phase response. The temporal switch of arginine as a substrate for the cytostatic iNOS/NO axis to the pro-growth arginase/ ornithine/polyamine and proline axis is subject to regulation by inflammatory cytokines as well as interregulation by the arginine metabolites themselves. Arginine is also the precursor for another biogenic amine, agmatine. Here we describe the capacity of these three arginine pathways to interregulate, and propose a model whereby agmatine has the potential to serve in the coordination of the early and repair phase pathways of arginine in the inflammatory response by acting as a gating mechanism at the transition from the iNOS/NO axis to the arginase/ODC/polyamine axis. Due to the pathophysiologic and therapeutic potential, we will further examine the antiproliferative effects of agmatine on the polyamine pathway.     

Associations of serum CRP levels with demographics,health behaviors,and risk of cancer among the Mexican American Mano A Mano Cohort

C-Reactive protein (CRP) is a well-known inflammatory marker, and elevated CRP levels has been reported to be associated with the risk of various cancers. To date, no study has investigated the association between elevated CRP and incidents of cancer among Mexican Americans. In the current prospective cohort study, we measured pre-diagnostic CRP levels in serum samples and evaluated their relationships with demographic characteristics and health behaviors associated with cancer risk among 2753 Mexican Americans selected from the Mano-A-Mano Mexican American Cohort Study. At baseline, median levels of serum CRP significantly differed by demographics (sex, age category, marital status, and education levels) and health behaviors (cigarette smoking status, alcohol drinking status, BMI category, and physical activity levels). In the multivariable analysis, the study participants who were women, older, never drinking alcohol, overweight or obese, and physically inactive had increased likelihood of having high CRP levels (≥ median levels among all study participants) compared to their counterparts. A total of 177 cancer cases were identified during the follow-up with a median follow-up time of 127 months. In the quartile analysis, study participants in the 4^th quartile with highest CRP levels had significantly 1.88 fold increased risk of cancer (hazard ratio (HR) = 1.88, 95%CI: 1.12, 3.13) compared to those in the 1^st quartile with lowest CRP levels. The association was further confirmed in analyses using clinical CRP levels. In summary, our findings suggested that serum CRP levels have potential to serve as a predictive marker of cancer risk in Mexican Americans.     

Tracing the history of the ubiquitin proteolytic system: The pioneering article

A series of findings made by several researchers during a two-decade period between the mid-1950s and mid-1970s raised the suspicion that the lysosome might not be the organelle that degrades the bulk of cellular proteins under basal conditions. These findings predicted the existence of a nonlysosomal, adenosine triphosphate (ATP)-dependent proteolytic system. Yet, following the initial discovery of such activity in a crude cell extract, it was a single article published in this journal [A. Ciechanover, Y. Hod, A. Hershko, A heat-stable polypeptide component of an ATP-dependent proteolytic system from reticulocytes, Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 81 (1978) 1100-1105], my first study as a graduate student of Avram Hershko, that made it clear that the system that catalyzes the activity is novel and complex, and does not follow the paradigm in the field of proteolysis where a single protease typically cleaves its substrate; here at least two components were required to carry out this activity, and one of them was an unusual, small, and heat-stable protein later identified as ubiquitin.     

Immigrant political socialization as bridging and boundary work: mapping the multi-layered incorporation of Latin American immigrants in Toronto

We present a longitudinal map of three overlapping organizational trajectories developed by Latin American immigrants in the city of Toronto. We propose the concept of bridging and boundary work to specify how new (1) intersectional political identities and organizational agendas are constituted by Latin American feminist women and artists in the interstice of (2) country-of-origin and (3) mainstream pan-ethnic organizations. Boundary work occurs as activists with intersectional priorities carve out a distinct political agenda; the ‘out-group’ relations based on a shared sectoral focus constitute bridging work. Tracing changes in the local and transnational political opportunity structures, we consider how negotiations over resources, representation and agendas between these three Latin American organizational forms generate multi-directional political learning and socialization and the coexistence of different Latin American political cultures. We define political socialization as in-group and out-group encounters between political cultures understood as civic toolkits or ways of doing politics.