The Political Race for Diversity
Democrat and Republican Representation and Their Attitudes on Race
After this month's midterm elections, the Democrats are now a political majority. But do these electoral swings impact race relations in America?
The Democrats are now a majority in the Senate, the House of Representatives, and for the first time in 12 years have the majority of governors nationwide.The Republicans made a pathetic attempt to play the race card with governor candidates Michael Steele (Maryland), Ken Blackwell (Ohio), and Lynn Swann (Pennsylvania) being touted as the new face of black leadership for the party. However, with exit polls showing that approximately 88% of blacks voted Democrat, it is not surprising that the Republicans lost by 10, 24, and 21% respectively.
Black Democrats did achieve success in the House, voting in Minnesota candidate Keith Ellison. Ellison also became the first Muslim elected to the House, but as expected, his religious beliefs were not at the forefront of his election campaign. Ellison told the BBC, “I've always been a consistent advocate for the human rights of all people.”
Interestingly, the government seems proud of the political diversity emerging in America. In a USINFO (The United States Department of State) article entitled 2006 Elections Reflect American Diversity, author Michael Freidman asserts, “They [Americans] uphold a tradition of political pluralism and participation that dates to the founding of the United States.”
However, it is difficult to support the sentiments of that statement. When America was founded, blacks were three parts human and no one except propertied white males were allowed to vote. Women of any race didn’t get suffrage until 1920. Blacks had to wait until 1965, when the Voting Rights Act was introduced. To this day, the Voting Rights Act is only in place on a renewable basis. Indeed, George Bush signed the renewal earlier this year, just before it was set to expire in 2007.
Interestingly, it was the Republicans who were in office to usher in the end of slavery. Yet they were also there in 1882 to pass the Chinese Exclusion Act, which forbade Chinese immigrants from entering the country. Conversely, the Democrats were responsible for Japanese Internment, the forcible relocation and imprisonment of Japanese American citizens during the Second World War. But, according to the Sentencing Project, it was the Republican “War on Drugs” that has caused the black prison population to skyrocket; increasing by 465% from 1986-1991!
Thus, we should be wary of becoming too optimistic about these electoral achievements. Racism clearly does not have political boundaries and not the Senate, elected Governors or the House is remotely close to being representative.
