Joan McCord

In the following viewpoint, Joan McCord argues that violence in urban America is the result of a history of unequal treatment of and discrimination toward minorities. She contends that blacks have been refused economic opportunities since the nineteenth century. McCord maintains that the effect of such inequality is resentment and anger. She claims that the actual target of such anger are wealthy and powerful people who treat the poor as undeserving, but that the ultimate victims are those close by, which is why urban violence is most commonly committed by and against black Americans. McCord is a professor of criminal justice at Temple University in Philadelphia.

As you read, consider the following questions:

1. What type of jobs were blacks excluded from after the Civil War, according to McCord?
2. According to Albert K. Cohen, as...