To what extent is race still an issue in US politics?

Klaidas Kazak

35/45 marks

To what extent is race still an issue in US politics? (also applies to)

To what extent do racial boundaries cease to exist?

To what extent has the selection of a black president eliminated racial boundaries?

Since an African-American President was elected in 2008, the United States witnessed a change in racial attitudes. However, despite this change some have speculated that has been little to no change in eradicating racial divisions as witnessed from the police brutality incidents in 2014, the existence of racially motivated laws and the poor representation of ethnic minorities in Congress. (crap intro - argument unclear)

Racial divisions have not been overcome as demonstrated by the existence of racially motivated laws such as Alabama HB 56. Although in theory it's an anti-immigration bill, it's been used to scrutinise hispanics by giving police more authority to question their legal status. The 'stop and identify' statutes used in 27 out of the 50 states give the police more power to stop anyone they deem to be suspicious. Under this statute, ethnic minority groups, particularly African-American's are racially profiled. However, in a recent statement the Attorney General, Eric Holder, declared that he, Obama and the Justice Department are working together to eliminate such racially motivated laws. But, this is merely a promise and the underlying issue here is that these laws cannot be changed with a simple stroke of pen, and there's also question about how far the Federal government can go to change state laws.

The very unrepresentative nature of Congress is clear that racial divisions continue to exist in the US, particularly in the political system. Ethnic minorities makeup 36.3% of the U.S population, however, Congress fails to reflect this. In total, there are only 46 African-Americans, 32 hispanics, 11 Asians and 2 Native Americans. This unrepresentative nature leads to unrepresentative policies towards ethnic minorities which allows for racial divisions to occur. On the other hand, although Congress is indeed unrepresentative, it does not need to be fully representative because the role of a Congressman is to represent their constituents, not a certain minority. Also, the situation is indeed improving as demonstrated by the fact that in the 1970s there were only 10 African-American Congressmen and as of the 114th Congress this figure has increased to 46. To conclude, Congress needs to be more representative regardless as it's current nature leads to policies encouraging racial boundaries as demonstrated by Alabama HB 56.

The current police 'brutality' incidents as seen with the killing of Michael Brown in Missouri and Eric Garner in New York demonstrates that racial boundaries do still exist. Eric Garner was killed by a white NYPD police officer using a banned chokehold and just as for the Brown killing, the courts refused to indicte the police officers responsible. The very fact that these incidents sparked race riots across the US demonstrates that racial boundaries do exist. Racial boundaries also exist within the police force as seen by there only being 2 black officers in the Ferguson police force out of 55 despite being in an area with a high black population. On the other hand, not all police forces are so racially unrepresentative. The NYPD, for example, has 53.3% ethnic minorities. Also, Obama is tackling this issue by introducing the use of body cameras to the police officers, which in the aftermath of the Brown killing, Ferguson PD already implemented. But, although this issue is indeed being tackled, the police force is not very ethnically diverse as seen by the fact that there are only 76 NYPD captains (one of the highest ranks) who are an ethnic minority compared to 356 whites, showing minorities do not reach high ranking positions in the police force.

Also, the very fact that Affirmative Action programmes are still implemented in the U.S emphasises the existence of racial boundaries in US. Affirmative action itself is a type of racial discrimination which tries to help a specific minority but neglects others. Ethnic minorities are known to be less likely to attend college or finish high school which is why Affirmative Action continues to exist. However, with regards to education, racial boundaries are slowly disappearing as demonstrated by the fact that 86.6% of blacks are passing high school and 46.4% now have degrees compared to much lower statistics in the 1960s and 1960s. But, this does not guarantee them a bright future, having a degree does not ensure ethnic minorities will become employed and there is also discrimination within the work force.

With regards to employment, ethnic minorities are known to be more likely to be unemployed. Employers are known to neglect applicants from certain poor districts, often populated with mostly ethnic minorities, despite them having the necessary qualifications and unemployment in poor districts in New York and Chicago (two of the wealthiest cities in the US) can be as high as 50%. However, Obama has continued to use Affirmative Action programmes which has benefited ethnic minorities greatly. Compared to less than 15% in the early 1970s, today there are over 70% blacks in white collar jobs which is a huge sign of improvement. Although there are indeed a high number of African-Americans employed in white collar jobs, unemployment is still excessively high in areas populated with ethnic minorities. Blacks and hispanics remain the largest unemployed groups in the US.

The existence of the Birther Movement and their influence over Congress demonstrates that racial boundaries have not been eradicated. The Birther Movement question Obama's place of birth, making claims that he was born in Kenya which therefore makes his presidency unconstitutional. Although the Birther Movement claim that they are protesting the authenticity of Obama's birth certificate, the underlying issue here is his race, not his place of birth. Such accusations would not occur had the President been white. Many Republicans have also expressed doubt of President Obama's place of birth. However, the Birthers remain a small and hardly influential group. There have been no major protests, demonstrations or investigations against Obama's real place of birth nor has there been any threats to Obama's life. Most Congressmen and the US population are accepting of the fact that Obama was born on US soil. Although not influential and weak in size, the fact the Birther's continue their campaign against Obama's race emphasise that racial boundaries continue to exist.

As demonstrated above, although action is indeed being taken by the Obama administration to tackle such racial boundaries, many of them would be difficult to eradicate. There is very little the Federal government themselves can do to eliminate racial profiling laws, such as the 'stop and identify' statutes, since they are state laws. Also, discrimination within education and employment system are difficult to manage regardless of affirmative action. Overall, the selection of a black president has done very little to eliminate racial boundaries, the US can be said to be inherently racist and it will take more than just a black President to fix that.