ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book discusses the importance of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and its extensions for the ability of various racial and ethnic groups to gain elective office. It explores the attitudes that members of racial and ethnic minority groups bring to the public policymaking process and the ways they choose to participate. The book employs a sequential model of the policymaking process to explore the ways members of racial and ethnic minority groups can affect what government does and does not do and what difference these policies make for these groups. Sociologist Gunnar Myrdal argues that the contradiction within American society between an allegedly strong commitment to democratic values on the one hand and the presence of racial oppression on the other creates a moral dilemma for white Americans and is the root of the US race relations problems.
