Race and rights in contemporary US politics

Question 1

what is racial equality

Answer 1

the belief all races should be treated the same and not be discriminated against

Question 2

how have minority rights been advanced

Answer 2

affirmative action
voting rights
representation

Question 3

what is affirmative action

Answer 3

applied to a programme which is giving members of a previously disadvantaged minority group a head start in eg in higher education

Question 4

the argument between equality of outcome and equality of opportunity

Answer 4

many civil rights advocates say that minority rights could no be guaranteed by equality of opportunity because its just ‘giving’ rights to people and it more for show

if people want to see the practice of rights then they had to work towards equality of outcome and the only way to do this was to overcome disadvantage by introducing racial advantage

Question 5

what are ways of racial advantage

Answer 5

• busing
• quotas
• affirmative action

Question 6

what is busing

Answer 6

movement of school children between racially packed neighbourhoods (white suburbs and black inner cities) to create racially mixed schools

Question 7

what are quotas

Answer 7

programme where a certain percentage of places eg in higher education are reserved for people who are previously disadvantaged

Question 8

what did democratic politicians begin to think of affirmative action

Answer 8

they thought you should positively discriminate because black americans have been so disadvantaged over the years in areas such as employment, education and housing which is when they thought of affirmative action programmes

Question 9

drawbacks of affirmative action

Answer 9

some people thought it was just reverse discrimination eg republicans think affirmative programmes are patronising to minorities and unfair to majorities

they believed that the constitution and both federal and state laws should be ‘colour blind’

Question 10

gratz v bollinger

Answer 10

sc ruled 6-3 that affirmative action based programmes for undergraduates was UNCONSTITUTIONAL because it was too ‘mechanistic’
how? - ALL black and hispanic american applicants were awarded 20 out of the 150 points required for the schools admissions

Question 11

grutter v bollinger

Answer 11

sc ruled 5-4 that an admissions programme was CONSTITUTIONAL because it used a more ‘individualised’ approach when considering the racial profile of its applicants

Question 12

what did justice thomas think about grutter v bollinger

Answer 12

didn’t agree because affirmative action and racial diversity programmes ‘do nothing for those too poor or uneducated to participate in elite higher education’ in the first place

Question 13

regents of the uni of california v bakke 1978

Answer 13

25 before the other cases the sc ruled that racial quotas were not constitutional in university progs BUT it left the door open to race being considered in admissions procedures

Question 14

fisher v uni of texas

Answer 14

a young white woman had been rejected from a uni and filled for a lawsuit because she said she had been a victim of discrimination because minority race students had been accepted with lower qualifications
the sc said the case should be heard with stricter scrutiny in a federal court because there was possible discrimination

the appeals court heard again and voted in favour of the uni and the woman appealed again to the sc upheld the appeals court decision, supporting the uni’s affirmative action programme

Question 15

has affirmative action been positive in the usa
yes

Answer 15

helped reverse decades of discrimination and righted numerous wrongs- the previously disadvantaged are now advantaged

in education a diverse student body creates a better learning enviro but promotes racial tolerance

it works - between 1960 and 1995 the %of black people aged 25-29 who graduated uni rose from 5% to 15%
21st century now is 21%

Question 16

has affirmative action been positive in the usa
no

Answer 16

advantage or preference of one group leads inevitably to disadvantage another group - reverse discrimination eg california v bakke
‘when you deny someone who has earnt it and given it to someone else who hasn’t, it creates anger’- Richter

aff action can be considered condecending to minorities and implies they need a helping hand to succeed which undermines their achievement - divides the black community more

Question 17

the long struggle to achieve voting rights for black americans

Answer 17

court action
bus boycotts
mass marches lead by MLK

Question 18

what has happened to voting rights since biden came into power

Answer 18

republican states have considered further state laws to restrict mail in voting

goes against voting rights because a lot of minority voters who are democrat use mail in voting

republicans also think that mail in voting is counted wrong and in the democrats favour

and want to reduce polling station opening hours

Question 19

how is mail in voting the reducing polling hours discriminative

Answer 19

its discriminative against full time workers or night shift workers - low socioeconomic background
they won’t be able to get to the polling station and vote - people on a lower income are more likely to be democrat SO the republicans want to restrict their vote in their favour

Question 20

who ran for governer in 2018 and what did they do

Answer 20

stacey abrams
ran for governor of georgia in 2018 and lost because it was against a known republican who was trying to minimise the right to vote

she founded the Fair Fight action which is an org that addresses voter suppression

in 2020 her efforts had massively boosted voter turnout, despite losing herself

Question 21

the differenc between democratcs and republicans for mail in voting

Answer 21

two parties have funded over 200 lawsuits in 43 states supporting and opposing mail in ballots
- 60% of democrats plan to vote by post (massively effects dem vote)
- 20% of republicans plan to vote by post

Question 22

shelby county v holder 2013

Answer 22

struck down the preclearance formula as unconsitutional meaning that boundaries could be drawn and not be checked which was against minority rights

Question 23

what was the preclearance formula

Answer 23

every 10 years districts draw up boundaries and have to hand them in to check that they are fair

Question 24

voting rights act 1965

Answer 24

prohibits racial discrimination in voting and all citizens have equal access to the right to vote regardless of ethnicity and race

Question 25

representation

Answer 25

seeking to get elected in office at all levels for minorities can be difficult

EG BILL CLINTON all three levels of federal gov should ‘look like america’

Question 26

obamas makeup of gov

Answer 26

65% male
52% white
87% gov experience

Question 27

trumps makeup of gov

Answer 27

82% male
86% white
55% gov experience

Question 28

why is representation important in gov

Answer 28

many black americans view political rep as a potential catalyst for an increase in racial equality

4 in 10 black adults said that working to get more black people elected to office would be a very effect tactic for groups striving to help black americans to achieve equality

Question 29

rep in congress

Answer 29

in 1984 there were only 21 black american members in congress
over the last two decades this has increased to 63 black americans
WHY - the creation of majority-minority distcicts for election in the house of reps who are elected every 2 years

Question 30

what are majority minority disctircts

Answer 30

redrawing the boundaries to mak districts have a majority of minority voters