In 1978 William Julius Wilson declared the “declining significance of race” in his analysis of persistent inner-city poverty. At about the same time many U.S. residents began questioning the morality of programs such as affirmative action and denying the persistence of racism. Culture wars raged over language (English only and official English laws, Ebonics), population growth (immigration), education (bilingual ed, school funding, school choice), youth culture (especially rap music) and other cultural hot button issues. While much of the United States waged the culture wars on behalf of the status quo and encouraged the legislative rollback of the minor gains of the Civil Rights movements, prisons became the option of choice to deal with poor Black and Brown communities, a new era of xenophobic immigrant-baiting developed, drugs inundated communities of color, and poverty grew among Black and Latina/o people. It seems that instead of the declining significance of race we have seen, as Cornel West suggests, that “race matters” perhaps more than ever.

We want to examine the changing significance of race and the contemporary complexities of race. We seek to discuss how recent cultural, economic, and international events have changed the salience of race to all us. We are asking for submissions to the “Race and Culture” issue of Bad Subjects that examine new areas of race, ethnicity and culture. We are seeking essays that address issues such as biraciality, interracial cultural exchange and alliances, continued racial inequality, social movements related to issues of race/ethnicity, whiteness, intersections of race, class and gender, interracial communication, the impact of people of color on U.S. culture, economics and politics, newly racialized groups (Arabs, Muslims, for example), and the persistence of new and old forms of racism. As always, we are particularly interested in the political dimensions of race and culture, and we are dedicated to publishing accessible prose for a large, nonspecialist audience. For examples of the kind of writing we publish, please visit the Bad Subjects website at http://bad.eserver.org/.

Please send manuscripts to issue co-editors, Pancho McFarland at panchomac87@hotmail.com and Scott Schaffer at scott.schaffer@millersville.edu before the April 30, 2006 submission deadline.