REP Guiding Questions Weeks 5-10

Why is access to the policy process important for the continued incorporation of racial groups into the political system?

Access to the policy process is important for ensuring racial groups' needs and concerns are addressed in laws and decisions. When racial groups are included in policymaking, it leads to more representative, effective, and just outcomes, creating trust in the political system.

What is the importance of the VRA to minority political representation?

Prohibits tests/devices to reduce minority votes and makes discriminatory acts unlawful, allowing minorities to have a fair voice.

What is gerrymandering?

Drawing the boundaries of an electoral constituency in order to favor an electoral outcome. Can dilute minority votes in whiter areas by packing all minorities in a district together or break up minority votes by breaking apart naturally large minority districts.

What are barriers to elected office?

Money, Time, Competition, Support from party leaders, Being asked to run, Candidate experience, Ideology, “Electability”: Who can win

• White voters see minorities as less “electable”

What is descriptive representation?

When minority populations are represented by candidates with a shared identity

What is symbolic representation?

Policy that does not substantively help a constituency but suggests a gesture to their culture or history

What is substantive representation?

When a candidate’s policy agenda matches their constituents, despite racial or ethnic identity

Who were the important precursors to the Obama presidency?

Shirley Chisholm, Jesse Jackson, Carol Moseley Braun, Al Sharpton

What is respectability politics?

Encourages Black people to behave as representatives of their race. Idea that racism can be confronted with Black morality and goodness. Often camoflaged as “tough love”.

How did Obama deploy respectability on the campaign trail?

Harped on stereotypes about Black fathers because the more Democratic Party candidates talk about personal responsibility, the more supportive white working-class voters are of Democratic candidates.

What were the stereotypes deployed against Obama?

Even supporters said he was “clean and articulate”, Right-wingers would question his citizenship.

How can we understand the backlash to the Obama presidency?

Demonstrated that the right candidate can prompt major turnout from groups that historically haven’t turned out in high numbers and showed the power and influence of multi-racial coalitions in US politics.

What are three essential things candidates need to win an election today?

Volunteers, time, electability

What role do you think money plays in electing candidates today?

Money is voting—supporting a specific candidate by donating to their campaign allows them to keep running.

What are the differences in tactics and strategies between a grassroots movement and the “machine" of a political party?

Grassroots movements have to work harder to get their name out and therefore get votes while the “machine” of a political party can just exist and still get votes because people around know their name.

How can we understand Black, Latinx, and AAPI political participation and voting behavior?

Black People:

• Feel Linked fate: What happens to other people in their community matters to what happens in their life.

• More Democrat because Democrats added the Civil Rights Act

• Who is on the ballot matters (will not vote democrat just because they’re democrat, they have to represent their interests)

Latinx People:

• Voter registration and turnout is lower than Black People

• Lower because of language, citizenship status, and information

• Party will vary because of: Religion and abortion, Country of origins (cubans will vote republican because a republican president brought them into the US), Immigration status

AAPI People:

• Even lower voter registration and turnout than Latinx People for similar reasons

• Party affiliation also varies but generally more democratic

What is pluralism?

If citizens participate, they’ll get the political outcome they want. Flaw: assumes that all systems and groups have equal access to positions in power.

What are other frameworks used to study race and ethnic politics in the US?

Other than Critical Race Theory (CRT), which focuses on how racism is embedded in laws and social structures rather than just individual biases, intersectionality is also used to study how race is a major factor in how voters and politicians behave.

What are barriers to political participation?

Time, money, skills, and information

How can we understand AAPI political participation and voting behavior?

Asian Americans have the lowest rates of participation compared to white and Black rates. They tend to vote more democrat but the strength of party identification is weak. Their participation and behavior can be explained through: Socialization, Political Geography, Party Identification, and Racial Identity Formation.

How does linked fate relate to vote choice?

Linked fate relates to vote choice because it makes you vote for the candidate you think will benefit your community the most.

How can we understand linked fate among Asian Americans and Latinxs?

Asian Americans do not have strong evidence of linked fate but Latinxs exhibit linked fate, especially in 2006. 

What are some barriers to internal racial solidarity?

Class, Gender and Sexuality

What are some barriers cross-racial solidarity?

Internalized racial oppression, lack of mutual understanding, and historical tensions between different racial groups.

How did the US political environment stoke Latinx group consciousness in 2006?

Challenged the Latinx community as a whole with HR 4437, which basically criminalized non-citizens even more. This caused Latinx’s to feel linked fate and protest this law.

What civic skills do immigrants bring to their communities?

Bilingualism, coalition formation, individual agency, economic resources, and social resources.

How did immigrants experience the threat of HR 4437?

They saw it as a catalyst to unite and protest HR 4437.

Who were the DREAMers?

“Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors”, Young undocumented immigrants

How did DREAMers advocate for their citizenship?

Organizations like Fair Immigration Reform Movement and Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund to fight for citizenship.

What is intersectionality?

The way in which the effects of multiple forms of discrimination combine, overlap, or intersect especially in the experiences of marginalized individuals or groups.

What are the core demands of the Black Lives Matter Movement?

1. End the War on Black People

2. Reparations

3. Divest-Invest

4. Economic Justice

5. Community Control

6. Political Power

How can we think about intersectionality in social movements like the DREAM Movement and The Black Lives Matter Movement?

Intersectional social movements demand a bigger solidarity and attention to the most marginalized.

What is racial triangulation?

Process of “relative valorization”: The dominant group valorizes one subordinate group relative to another subordinate group on cultural and/or racial grounds in order to dominate both groups.

Process of “civic ostracism”: Forever Foreigner Stereotype

How can we understand the US’ migration policies towards Asians?

The US directly excluded Asian immigration for years. Some legislation includes: Anti-Coolie Act of 1862 in California, Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, Asiatic Barred Zone Act of 1917: Imposed literacy tests on migrants, Immigration Act of 1924: Halted Japanese migration, and Japanese Internment in WWII.

How did the US move to characterize Asian Americans as a model minority?

States Asian Americans perform in a way that all minorities should act like given their achievements, which pushes the idea that everyone can achieve the American dream if they work hard enough. Asian Americans may now be the “model minority”, but only after constructing racialized tropes for other immigrant and minority groups (Relative Valorization).

What is the idea of “illegal immigrant” and where does it come from?

The idea of “illegal immigrant” was created by the state and stems from racism. Illegal immigrants are seen as a political threat to American sovereignty and the maintenance of a white nation that do not pay taxes/contribute to the nation but benefit from programs.

What is needed for coalition politics?

1. Parties entering into a coalition must recognize their respective self-interests

2. Each party must believe it will benefit from a cooperative relationship with the other or others

3. Each party must have its own independent power base and also have control over its own decision-making

4. Each party must recognize that the coalition is formed with specific and identifiable goals in mind.

What are the barriers to coalition politics?

Differences such as party identification, political goals, or opinions on immigration and competition over jobs, power, and resources policies drive barriers into coalition politics.