ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on aspects of the second dilemma by examining (1) coalition politics–the aggregation of groups to pursue a specific political goal–of blacks, Latinos, and Asian Americans; and (2) the increasing tensions among blacks, Latinos, and Asians and between these groups and the white majority. Political competition between blacks and Latinos was evident only when controls for white political outcomes were introduced. Latino immigration into urban areas, especially in the South, has introduced a new dynamic into interminority group relations. Memphis, Tennessee; Little Rock, Arkansas; and Durham, North Carolina, are illustrative of this changing dynamic. The largest black-owned insurance company in the United States, North Carolina Mutual, was founded in Durham and is still headquartered there. In Durham, a majority of whites and blacks believed that relations between whites and blacks in general were positive, but blacks appeared to view their relations with whites more positively than whites viewed their relations with blacks.
