Conclusion: Continuity and Change in Racial Exclusion and Inclusion

This chapter concludes by detailing the continuity of the struggle of African descendants in the West to fight for their lives and proclaim their lives matter. It equally reveals the vitality of this research enterprise in analyzing and documenting the problems and contingencies. The astonishing refrain in all these studies is how basic and fundamental is the continued contestation of the very right of African descendants to assume regularity in the societies where they have now lived for centuries. This volume documents the parallel terrains of the intercontinental, intergenerational, often state-led policy processes that institutionalize permanent differential status for African descendants. At the same time, these studies reflect the resistance, resilience, and creativity of these communities in generating spaces to thrive and continue the struggle.