The Logic of Black Urban Rebellions: Challenging the Dynamics of White Domination in Miami
by Daryl B. Harris
Category: Political Science

The urban rebellions that rocked Miami in 1980, and other large cities in the United States during the 1960s, can be looked at as contributory components of the Black freedom movement. This new study argues that they are, on one level, a tactical response to contemporary forms of White domination and, on another level, an act in which key core values of the African American experience are sustained. It allows for a distinct appraisal of the systemic and societal constructs that create and perpetuate the African American predicament in urban America. Also, in referencing African American core values, such as resistance, freedom, and self-determination, we have a much broader conceptual base from which to assess the significance and limitations of urban rebellion as a stratagem to achieve justice and freedom.