Fauntroy, Michael K.

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Fauntroy, Michael K.

PERSONAL:

Son of Kenneth Fauntroy; married; wife's name Lisa. Education: Hampton University, B.A.; Howard University, M.A., Ph.D.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Washington, DC. Office—School of Public Policy, George Mason University, 4400 University Dr., Fairfax, VA 22030. E-mail—[email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected].

CAREER:

Policy analyst and educator. U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Washington, DC, analyst, 1993-96; Howard University, Washington, DC, adjunct professor, 1998-99; University of the District of Columbia, adjunct professor, 2000-01; Congressional Research Service, Washington, DC, analyst, 2000-02; American University, Washington, DC, adjunct professor, 2001; Trinity College, Washington, DC, adjunct professor, 2001; George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, assistant professor of public policy, 2002—. Frequent commentator on radio and television, including ABC News, National Public Radio, and "The Cliff Kelley Show," WVON-AM, Chicago, IL.

MEMBER:

National Capital Area Political Science Association (vice president, 2004-05; president, 2005-06), Kappa Alpha Psi.

WRITINGS:

Home Rule or House Rule: Congress and the Erosion of Local Governance in the District of Columbia, University Press of America (Lanham, MD), 2003.

Republicans and the Black Vote, Lynne Rienner Publishers (Boulder, CO), 2007.

Contributor to periodicals, including Washington Times, Black Commentator, Chicago Defender, New Pittsburgh Courier, Topeka Capital-Journal, Urban Affairs Review, and Civil Rights Journal.

SIDELIGHTS:

Michael K. Fauntroy, an assistant professor at the George Mason University School of Public Policy, writes widely on urban policy, race, and American politics. Fauntroy, the nephew of civil rights leader and Congressional delegate Walter Fauntroy, formerly served as an analyst at the Congressional Research Service and the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. His writings have appeared in the Black Commentator and the Urban Affairs Review, among other publications, and he is a regular commentator on national radio and television shows.

In Republicans and the Black Vote, Fauntroy examines the complex historical relationship between the Republican Party and its African American constituency. The author contends that although the GOP once enjoyed widespread support from the black community, African American membership in the party has been steadily declining since Republicans began court- ing conservative Southern white voters. "The Republican Party has a multi-generational history of purging, demonizing, and opposing African American political empowerment," Fauntroy wrote on his Web site. "This, coupled with the use of negative political symbolism, covert racism, and public policy that some African Americans believed to be aimed at the Black community have constructed brick after brick in a political wall between the party and African Americans may take as long to tear down as it did to build." According to Booklist contributor Vernon Ford, Republicans and the Black Vote "provides an excellent overview of domestic political issues of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries."