ABSTRACT
The concept of deracialization gained notoriety following elections held in November of 1989. During these elections, a number of African-American candidates captured victories in majority-white electoral jurisdictions, leading McCormick (1989: 1) to coin this Election Day as “Black Tuesday.” Among those elected on “Black Tuesday” include: L. Douglas Wilder as governor of Virginia, David Dinkins as mayor of New York City, Norman Rice as mayor of Seattle and Chester Jenkins, mayor of Durham, North Carolina. In this article we systematically examine the deracialization construct/strategy and the potentially damaging impact that such a strategy might pose on the black community.
