Type a new keyword(s) and press Enter to search

Voting Rights

 

The Thurnstroms questioned what the standard against which inequality can be judge and found no real definition as to what the word "unequal" actually means. "How much protection from white competition were black candidates entitled too .And when is enough truly enough in the way of race-conscious legislative redistricting?".
             Throughout the chapter, the Thernstroms have many reasons regarding why race-based redistricting is not the solution to ensure black representation in Congress. They believe it to promote racial separatism and assume that all blacks think (and vote) alike. Blacks are stigmatized by the notion that their interests can be defined by race and thus can only vote for black candidates. This notion, the Thernstroms contend, encourages a backward ideology. Practicing race-consciousness in re-districting widens the divide and heightens our senses of racial identity. Racial exclusion may not be the problem, they continue, but racial and ethnic fragmentation is perhaps the greater danger.
             David Lublin discusses the effect of racial redistricting on the election of minority representatives and their influence over public policy. Using empirical data, Lubin concludes that protecting majority black and majority-minority districts remains vital to the election of blacks and Latinos to congress but fails to ensure that legislation supported by the minority population will get conceded.
             African Americans rarely win elections from districts that do not contain either black or combined black and Latino majority. The racial composition of an electorate greatly influences the racial composition of a districts representative. Lubin doesn't necessarily argue against racial re-districting but feels that through the virtual representation of minorities in Congress policies favoring those minorities are left by the wayside.
             He states that the inherent conflict between maximizing the number of black majority districts is that it packs white Republicans into other districts.


Essays Related to Voting Rights