ipl-logo

Policy Debate And Racial Representation Essay

1642 Words7 Pages

Policy Debates and Racial Representation The specific social policy I will explore is voting rights. Voting rights have had a loaded history in America, with the very first people gaining the right to vote being white, property-owning, Protestant men. Voting rights have expanded throughout history with the enfranchisement of marginalized groups. Women gained the right to vote in 1920 with the conception of the 19th amendment. Black men gained the right to vote in 1870 with the ratification of the 15th amendment. The Voting Rights Act of 1965, signed into legislation by President Lyndon B. Johnson, states that it is prohibited to engage in any election practice that denies people the right to vote due to race (MassVote, n.d.). Voting rights were an important aspect of integration into American culture, especially for black Americans…(Takaki, …show more content…

The elephant in this comic represents the Republican party as their symbol is an elephant. In the first panel, gerrymandering is listed as “Step 1” of “the plan”, with the elephant saying “limit real competition”. This is a jab at gerrymandering tactics that…idk find something about trump using them. It is also of note that the artist chose to write “real” in terms of the competition… Representation in voting has been noted as a common issue for minority groups. Minority groups are more likely to advocate for policies such as affirmative action, (Ginsberg, Lowi, Weir, Tolbert, & Spitzer, 2017). Additionally, a tactic called gerrymandering has been used to skew the vote, by manipulating district boundary lines so that certain areas received more or less votes .Racial gerrymandering is a tactic Racial gerrymandering often creates property divides that force people of color into smaller districts, so that they get less votes. As Takaki stated, “the Civil Rights movement was unable to overcome the structural economic foundations of inequality…” (Takaki, 2008, p.

Show More
Related
802 Words | 4 Pages

The African American males were eligible to vote now, but ended up not enjoying their citizenship and rights to vote. All African Americans were granted “The First Vote,”(Document F). They were now citizens and were allowed to vote due to the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendment. This should have been a great moment in history for the blacks, but instead whites made them feel like being a citizen was bad and they hurt and tormented them. The Reconstruction Era negatively affected the South more so than the North politically.

Read More
992 Words | 4 Pages

An important goal of the Radical Republicans after the Civil War was to provide African Americans with equality in government. In doing so, by passing the 15th Amendment, no citizens of the United States could be neglected the right to vote on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude (Document C). This allowed men of different races to vote in upcoming elections. By passing this amendment, there was great hope that Black Americans were finally gaining back their political rights. During Reconstruction, it occurred that many African Americans were starting to run for office, in South Carolina there were more Black State legislatures than White.

Read More
623 Words | 3 Pages

In the mid 1960’s, nearly one hundred years after African Americans were legally granted the right to vote, problems were occurring regarding their voting rights. The Mississippi Freedom Summer Project of 1964 and the Civil Rights march from Selma, Alabama to Montgomery, Alabama happened about a year apart from each other, but they had the same common goals. Surprisingly not only African Americans were involved in these projects, but the majority of people were white. The overall common goal was getting African Americans the right to vote in certain states while not being discriminated against, as well as showing them that they are not alone with their white supporters.

Read More
810 Words | 4 Pages

The Fifteenth Amendment, which was ratified February 3, 1870, states that the “right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” By dodging around the Amendment, people still found ways to disclude African Americans from voting. According to Document L, “Denying black men the right to vote through legal maneuvering and violence was a first step in taking away their civil rights. Beginning in 1890s, southern states enacted literacy tests... The laws proved very effective.

Read More
1823 Words | 8 Pages

It was only a matter of time before racial disputes became prominent again. Black males were viably stripped from the privilege to vote in 1890. The Mississippi Plan or, “The Disenfranchisement Plan first

Read More
1059 Words | 5 Pages

People of African American descent were viewed as property in the eyes of American citizens for a great deal of time. However, between the years of 1860-1877, there was an unprecedented increase in freedom for African Americans. For example, the image in Document G, titled “The First Vote” shows black men casting their votes. This is a vast change from being unable to be considered anything but property to having a say in government and politics. Additionally, document G suggests the addition of the 15th amendment, stating the right of citizens to vote shall not be denied on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

Read More
66 Words | 1 Pages

To accomplish social equality and justice has been a long controversial issue in U.S. history. Voting Rights Act of 1965 should be understood as a tremendous accomplishment today because it not only represent a symbol of the triumph of fighting social injustice, but also open the first gate for African American and minority to strive for more political power in order to create a “great society.”

Read More
824 Words | 4 Pages

Significant amounts of people today often do not comprehend how recently African-Americans truly gained the right to vote. About fifty-some years ago, less than one generation, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act; a landmark piece of federal legislation. The Voting Rights Act help African-Americans across the nation to overcome the legal barriers, such as the racially discriminatory Jim Crow Laws, that often prevented them from exercising their right to vote—which is guaranteed under the fifteen amendment, in national, state, and local elections. More specially, from the ratification of the fifteen amendment to the passage and signing of the Voting Rights Act, African-Americans, as well as other minority groups, endure countless

Read More
156 Words | 1 Pages

African Americans have been victims of voter suppression ever since they were given the right to vote by the fifteenth amendment in 1870. There were multiple efforts to suppress the African American vote such as literacy tests, poll taxes, and violence. These efforts continued until the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed. Before the law was signed for sure, the Senate and the House of Representatives had to vote to pass or deny the bill. On May 26, the Senate passed the bill by a vote of 77-19.

Read More
563 Words | 3 Pages

The 15th Amendment (Amendment XV), which gave African-American men the right to vote, was inserted into the U.S. Constitution on March 30, 1870. Passed by Congress the year before, the amendment says, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” Although the amendment was passed in the late 1870s, many racist practices were used to oppose African-Americans from voting, especially in the Southern States like Georgia and Alabama. After many years of racism, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 aimed to overthrow legal barricades at the state and local levels that deny African-Americans their right to vote. In the

Read More
788 Words | 4 Pages

The law were enacted to ensure that white and blacks were afford separate experiences and privilege. An example of such a measure was the segregation of facilities, such as schools, theaters, hospital, and restroom. In an effort to have this law abolished, in the South blacks had sit-in and boycotts and a marched on Washington, they were often met with violence from their white counter parts, who opposed their efforts and wanted things to remain the same. However there efforts paid off and segregation of institutions was declared Unconstitutional. Furthermore here are some ways the black vote was suppressed, literacy testing, Violence, intimidation, and the grand father clause, however these voting laws primarily effected black men because women had the right to vote long before they did.

Read More
750 Words | 3 Pages

As the United States was being built as a country many years ago, specifically during the Reconstruction era, African Americans in the South were given the right to vote while they were constantly strayed away from voting. For many years the right to vote was not given to all American citizens. In 1870 the 15th Amendment was ratified so that the right to vote for any American citizen should not be denied or abridged. Although this amendment was put in place many times African Americans strayed away from voting due to poll taxes, literacy tests and other things that easily discouraged them. Not until 1965 was the “Voting Rights of 1965” established, by President Lyndon B. Johnson, which prohibited the racial discrimination of voting.

Read More
649 Words | 3 Pages

The property owning requirements were removed in 1856, meaning all white men could vote. Voting rights expanded with the 14th amendment passed in 1868, the 15th amendment

Read More
1821 Words | 8 Pages

However, until today, African Americans still couldn’t get their real voting rights. This act doesn’t totally infer this situation, no matter how industrious blacks demand their completed fundamental rights. Except African American, within the United States, many minorities have struggled for their rights for many years. It is necessary for a government to protect all citizens’ rights, including the minorities. If the government couldn’t do that, as a citizen, we should speak out our perspectives by participating in the voting

Read More
486 Words | 2 Pages

African Americans have scored major gains, especially in the political realm. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 has brought dramatic increases in the size of the black electorate. African Americans have become an important voting bloc in most urban centers as well as in many areas of the rural South. The number of black elected officials has more than quadrupled. Black mayors started governing many of our largest cities.

Read More

More about Policy Debate And Racial Representation Essay

Related Topics

Open Document