REPRESENTATION
Representation – lecture outline
• Representation
• Nonwhites better represent nonwhite interests
• Superficial versus substantive representation
• Gerrymandering
• Tyranny of the majority
Representation – lecture outline
• Representation
• Nonwhites better represent nonwhite interests
• Superficial versus substantive representation
• Gerrymandering
• Tyranny of the majority
representation
• Just and fair political representation has not yet arrived for people
of color.
• Discussion:
• Do nonwhites have equal access to the voting booth?
• Do nonwhite votes matter as much as white votes?
• Do the demands of nonwhite citizens influence the course of this country?
• Do nonwhites get the attention of our political leaders?
representation
• Nonwhites are underrepresented in our elected government
• In the years following 1965, whites have maintained a virtual monopoly
over seats of high political influence
• Since the passage of the Voting Rights Act, 97% of senators (see next slide)
and governors were white.
senate
• 1% elected to the senate were nonwhite
• From 1966 to 2007
•
•
•
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One Native American
For Hispanics
Four Asian-Americans
3 African-American
Representation – lecture outline
• Representation
• Nonwhites better represent nonwhite interests
• Superficial versus substantive representation
• Gerrymandering
• Tyranny of the majority
Nonwhites better represent nonwhite interests
• Nonwhites better represent nonwhite interests
• Many nonwhite politicians are more familiar with hardships experienced by
many nonwhite Americans
• close friends and family members are nonwhite
• have experienced American racism firsthand
• Seem able to marshal their political influence on behalf of nonwhite voters
much more effectively than their white counterparts belonging to the same
party
• Compared to white democrats, nonwhite democrats are more likely to represent the
interests of their nonwhite constituents, to draft policy that matters to many
nonwhites, and to sponsor bills and make speeches about racial justice.
• Political scientist David Canon found that:
• white legislators often do a poor job of representing black interests
• black legislators often are proficient at representing the needs of their white constituencies
• Discussion: Can whites represent nonwhites?
Representation – lecture outline
• Representation
• Nonwhites better represent nonwhite interests
• Superficial versus substantive representation
• Gerrymandering
• Tyranny of the majority
Superficial versus substantive representation
• nonwhite political leadership
• Superficial representation cares only about diversity and skin color, not
diversity and political conviction.
• E.g., appointing to political positions nonwhites disconnected from the needs and
problems of the most nonwhite citizens.
• E.g., appointing to seats of influence nonwhites who do not pose much of a threat to
white privilege.
• Many prominent nonwhite politicians refuse to lobby for policies that promote
racial justice or equality.
• Condoleezza Rice
• Alberto Gonzales
• Clarence Thomas
• Substantive representation—diverse representation of people and political
convictions.
• Thurgood Marshall
• Discussion: Is the criticism of Clarence Thomas and others fair?
Representation – lecture outline
• Representation
• Nonwhites better represent nonwhite interests
• Superficial versus substantive representation
• Gerrymandering
• Tyranny of the majority
Gerrymandering
• In the early 90s, the Supreme Court set down rulings in Shaw v.
Reno (1993) and Miller v. Johnson (1995) that deemed race-based
gerrymandering unconstitutional.
• Justice Sandra Day O’Connor
• “racial classifications of any sort pose the risk of lasting harm to our
society. They reinforce the belief, held by too many for too much of our
history, that individual should be judged by the color of their skin.… Racial
gerrymandering, even for remedial purposes, may balkanize us into
competing racial fractions.”
• Discussion: Do you agree or disagree with Sandra Day O’Connor
Gerrymandering
• Colorblind redistricting is objecting to districts where whites are not the
majority
• Whites who insist on colorblind redistricting are really demanding an electoral
system that acknowledges their majority status. Their objection is to districts
where they are not the majority, where they might have to relinquish the privileges
of their racial status.
• Criticism of the Supreme Court decisions
• The Court failed to recognize white majority districts as white districts.
• The Court adopted a definition of race that pertain only to nonwhite people (that
is, white is not a race).
• White majority districts were treated as raceless, normal, and perfectly legal.
• Black majority district were considered raced, harmful, and illegal.
•
Representation – lecture outline
• Representation
• Nonwhites better represent nonwhite interests
• Superficial versus substantive representation
• Gerrymandering
• Tyranny of the majority
Tyranny of the majority
• Alexis de Tocqueville worried about this in Democracy in America
(1835).
• observed that our political system often is steered by majority interests
that overrun minority rights and concerns, a problem he called the tyranny
of the majority.
• Discussion: Do you agree or disagree with Tocqueville?
Representation – lecture outline
• Representation
• Nonwhites better represent nonwhite interests
• Superficial versus substantive representation
• Gerrymandering
• Tyranny of the majority