"Today, in the shadows of gleaming downtown skyscrapers and showy gentrified neighborhoods, conditions in many impoverished black ghettos in America's rust belt have substantially worsened. Leaders and residents in these communities struggle to acquire the resources to upgrade their communities, but contest a formidable obstacle: the accelerated push to make and protect downtown revitalized landscapes of consumption, pleasure, and affluent residency. Cities and Race comprehensively explores this new black ghetto reality."--Jacket.