Black Identity Viewed from a Barber's Chair: Nigrescence and Eudaimonia

Abstract

expensive than temporary, emergency services) or identity-based (veterans have served our country and should not remain homeless). Together, economic and identity-based arguments show the strength of the nation’s commitment to free market capitalism and to assistance that rewards people seen as innocent, good, or deserving. These pillars of public opinion have endured for generations and inform policy decisions that will be monumentally difficult to change. The authors may agree with this conclusion. In fact, and despite this book’s significant contributions, the looming question of whether or not we, as a nation, ‘‘will extend the same focus, attention, and resources to the rest of the population without stable housing’’ (p. 204) remains unanswered.