Race and rights in contemporary US politics

Question 1

Define racial equality

Answer 1

The belief that all races should be treated alike and should not be discriminated against by the state or by private individuals and employers

Question 2

List the different methods that have been used to try and bring racial equality to US minorities

Answer 2

• Constitutional amendment
• Legislation
• SC decisions
• Presidential leadership
• Citizen action
• The role played by interest groups and political parties

Question 3

What two types of equality did the 20th century see ongoing debate between?

Answer 3

Equality of opportunity and equality of outcome

Question 4

Explain the idea as to why equality of outcome is necessary because equality of opportunity does not go far enough

Answer 4

From the middle of the century, many civil rights activists began to believe that minority rights and representation could not be guaranteed solely by giving rights to people, as this would merely give the appearance of rights and equality. If people wanted to see rights and equality in action, they had to work towards equality of outcome. The only way to overcome racial disadvantage was with racial advantage through policies such as busing, quotes and AA

Question 5

What is busing

Answer 5

The mandated movement of school children between racially homogenous neighbourhoods to create racially mixed schools

Question 6

What is AA?

Answer 6

A programme giving members of a previously disadvantaged minority group a head start in areas such as higher education and employment

Question 7

Which of these policies was the most important and enduring?

Answer 7

AA

Question 8

Describe the rationale behind AA

Answer 8

Given how disadvantaged black Americans had been for over 100 years, D politicians began to think that government needed to discriminate in their favour in areas such as housing, education and employment

Question 9

What does AA mean in employment?

Answer 9

Having preferential hiring practises for minority groups

Question 10

What have these practises led to?

Answer 10

Diversity and multiculturalism

Question 11

Define multiculturalism

Answer 11

The view that the school, the college, the firm and the workplace should reflect the racial diversity of the nation

Question 12

What was it believed that AA would lead to?

Answer 12

Equality of outcome for members of previously discriminated against minority groups

Question 13

What two ideas around AA does the SC have to umpire between?

Answer 13

That it is necessary and that it is simply reverse racism

Question 14

List the methods that have been adopted to achieve fair and equal voting rights

Answer 14

• Direct action like the Bus Boycotts, Freedom Rides and mass marches led by MLK during the civil rights movement
• The passage of key legislation through congress like the VRA
• Efforts by politicians, especially at state level, to support minority groups to vote in elections

Question 15

Give a quote from Jesse Jackson about the progress blacks have made in voting rights?

Answer 15

‘Hands that picked cotton can now pick a president’

Question 16

What happened 20 years after that?

Answer 16

Voters elected their first ever black president

Question 17

What did black Democrat Senator Raphael Warnock say after he was elected to the senate in 2021?

Answer 17

‘The other day, because this is America, the 82 year old hands that used to pick somebody else’s cotton went to the polls and picked her youngest son to become a US senator

Question 18

What did GWB do in 2006 to reinforce government support for minority voting rights?

Answer 18

He re-authorised the key provisions of the VRA for a further 25 years, including the preclearance formula used to determine which states and localities must have any major changes to their voting laws or practises approved in advance at the federal level

Question 19

What have many R states considered doing in the past few years?

Answer 19

Further state laws to restrict mail in voting and to limit polling places and hours

Question 20

What did the 2021 For the People Act do?

Answer 20

Updated voting procedures and required states to hand over the task of redrawing congressional districts to independent commissions, thus potentially eliminating the distortions of gerrymandering

Question 21

What do many people argue has happened to minority voting rights in the 21st century?

Answer 21

That they have been squeezed

Question 22

Why can it be said that R legislators and governors have a vested interest in suppressing voter turnout?

Answer 22

Because the Ds tend to do better with higher turnout, and vice versa for the Rs

Question 23

How was the 2013 Shelby County v Holder negative for the VRA?

Answer 23

It struck down the preclearance formula as unconstitutional

Question 24

What did the majority opinion state here?

Answer 24

The coverage today is based on decades old data and eradicated practises. While racial disparity in turnout and voter registration was convincing evidence for the preclearance formula and the coverage formula in 1965, there is no longer such a disparity

Question 25

What did Texas announce within days of the decision?

Answer 25

That a voter ID law that had been blocked would go into immediate effect and that the states redistricting maps would no longer need federal government approval

Question 26

What did Obama say in response to the decision?

Answer 26

He said that he was ‘deeply disappointed’ and called on congress to draw up a new formula for determining whether state voting laws were racially discriminatory

Question 27

Give some statistics to illustrate how black voting has increased significantly over the last 40 years

Answer 27

Back in 1980, only 50% of black voters went to the polls compared to 61% of white voters. By 2012, a record 2/3 of blacks went to the polls, which was more than the 64% of white voters

Question 28

List some of the recent worrying developments that disproportionately impact black voters

Answer 28

• 9 states introduced photo ID requirements in the lead up to the 2016 elections. 6 of these states had large black populations that were disproportionately affected as they were statistically less likely to possess this documentation
• By 2016, the Brennan Centre for Justice estimated that 6 million Americans had lost their right to vote because of previous criminal convictions. This is referred to as felony disenfranchisement. The centre estimated that 1/13 voting age black americans had lost their right to vote because of a past conviction, a rate 4x higher than for all other Americans
• Research conducted by the sentencing project showed that felony disenfranchisement amongst the black community had risen sharply since 1980. In 1980, just two states had disenfranchised more than 10% of black voters due to past convictions. By 2020, this had risen to 20 states, with two states having more than 20% of black voters having undergone felony disenfranchisement, with Wyoming topping the list at over 36%, while the felony disenfranchisement for all adult citizens in the state was just 2.6%
• The 2018 SC decision in Husted v Randolph Institute continued the practise of voting caging. This is where if an individual has not voted for a period of time, they are sent a notice through the mail; if they do respond to this and continue to not vote, they will be struck off the voting register. The National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People argued that this would disproportionately impact minority voting

Question 29

How could the net result of all this be seen in 2016?

Answer 29

Black turnout decreased to 60%, while white turnout increased to 65%

Question 30

What did the SC do in a series of cases in the lead up the 2020 elections?

Answer 30

Upheld voting restrictions put in place by some R states. For example it allowed Florida to disenfranchise convicts unless they paid court fines and fees

In another decision, it ruled 5-3 to block a trial judge’s ruling that would have allowed, but not required, counties in Alabama to offer curbside voting

Question 31

What did California Law Professor Richard Hasen say in criticism of all of these SC rulings?

Answer 31

‘Roberts has shown himself to be much more sympathetic to the political rights of donors that the rights of voters’

Question 32

What did the election of Barack Obama as president in 2008 seem to prove in terms of minorities looking for proportional representation within the government

Answer 32

It seemed to confirm that the political system was fully accessible for blacks, as the ultimate prize in US politics had been achieved by a black person

Question 33

Why has the number of black congresspeople increased over the last 40 years?

Answer 33

Mainly because of the creation in some states of majority minority districts in some states for elections to the house

Question 34

When did the 117th congress begin?

Answer 34

Jan 2021

Question 35

How did the 117th congress fare in terms of racial diversity?

Answer 35

It was the most racially diverse in history. A record 26% of its representatives came from minority ethnic groups, continuing a trend from recent elections. The number of black Americans increased from 56 to 63, there was a record number of 52 Hispanics and the Asian increase from 17 to 24 was at a record high

Question 36

Why does congress still have a way to go to become fully representative even considering these glowing statistics for the 117th congress?

Answer 36

39% of America’s population comes from minority ethnic groups, meaning they are underrepresented by the 26% in congress. 84% of these minority candidates are Ds, which suggests that this increase in minority representation exists only in one party

Question 37

Why was 1972 an important year for minority representation in the executive?

Answer 37

Shirley Chisholm became the first major party black candidate for the presidency when she competed in that years D primaries, winning 152 delegates at the national convention

Question 38

How did Jesse Jackson have similar success in 1984 and 1988?

Answer 38

In 1984, he won over 3 million votes in the D primaries, finishing 3rd in the contest. He ran again in 1988 and did even better, winning 11 contests and finishing 2nd overall

Question 39

How many years would it be before another black candidate for the presidency who had a serious chance of winning appeared?

Answer 39

20 years

Question 40

Why did the successive election of Obama as president not mean that the issue of black representation for the office of president was resolved?

Answer 40

In 2016, of the 22 declared major party presidential candidates only one was black and only three were from minority ethnic backgrounds. In 2020, none of the minority candidates made it through to the final two in the D primaries, as this was Biden and Sanders, two old white men. This dominance of white candidates has led critics to claim that this demonstrates a lack of opportunity for minority candidates

Question 41

Why was Biden’s selection of Harris as VP good for diversity?

Answer 41

Because she has black and asian heritage

Question 42

How was 1966 a significant year for minority representation in the executive?

Answer 42

LBJ appointed Robert Weaver as secretary of housing and urban development. He thus became the first black to head a federal executive department and thereby a member of the cabinet. Since then, over 20 blacks have been cabinet members

Question 43

Why was the cabinet appointed by Biden in 2021 a success for diversity?

Answer 43

It was the most racially diverse in American history. His nominees included 7 non whites to full cabinet postions. This included Deb Haaland in the Department of the Interior, the first ever native American to serve in cabinet, and Lloyd Austin, who became the first ever black American to serve in the defence department. 7 out 16 full cabinet posts were given to minorities, compared to just 3 minority appointments in the Trump cabinet, which was accused by critics of being dominated by old white men

Question 44

What promise did this indicate he was keeping?

Answer 44

‘I’m going to keep my commitment that the administration, both in the WH and outside in the cabinet, is going to look like the country’