Black Perceptions of the Mayor An Empirical Test

Abstract

In the past ten years blacks have played a much greater role in the urban political process than they had previously. In a few urban areas-Gary, Detroit, Newark, and East St. Louis-blacks constitute an electoral majority, and there are also black mayors in these communities. In this paper two explanations, i.e., social deprivation and political reality, were tested to determine their applicability in a community with a black mayor. It was found that in a community with a black mayor, black youth were more supportive of him than were black youth in a community with a white mayor or white youth in a community with a white mayor.