Racial Linked Fate Essay

The concept of racial linked fate is one that is defined as “the notion that one's personal well-being is directly affected by the well-being of the larger Black community” (Tesler, 178). The concept of racial linked fate suggests that individuals within a racial group identify with each other due to shared experiences of systemic oppression and discrimination. They view their own destiny as closely linked to the destiny of the larger Black community. This causes Blacks to work together for the advancement of the group through the pooling of group resources, the Black counterpublic, and through voting similarly. Racial linked fate can be seen as a political device used to confront structural inequalities in American society. By relying on a

Pluralist theory of American politics states that every group has their advantages and disadvantages in the American political arena. In this theory, the political system is marked by equilibrium and non-cumulative inequalities, as well as dispersed, variable power and influence. Racial linked fate challenges the pluralist theory by suggesting that race plays a fundamental role in shaping political outcomes because of the cumulative inequalities Blacks have faced. The pluralist theory assumes that all groups have equal access to political incorporation within the American democratic process. However, Blacks do not have equal access to the political incorporation, and that their voices may be systematically marginalized or excluded from decision-making through voter suppression techniques that are designed to specifically disenfranchise Blacks, leading Blacks to have strong levels of group solidarity. The concept of racial linked fate specifically contradicts the final stage of the Pluralist Model of Political Incorporation because this stage states that ethnic politics and ethnic identity loses salience (Lecture 1/10). But, racial linked fate is based on ethnic politics and ethnic

Blacks’ shared history of inequality causes them to pool interests. Because linked fate is theorized similarly to exceptionalism models that acknowledge a long history of oppression, racial linked fate leverages group power as a proxy for self interest because of the perception that the group’s destiny influences one’s own destiny. Examples of this include the existence of a Black counterpublic and the repeated support for Black candidates. The political system’s discriminatory barriers endured by Blacks — like gerrymandering and other voter suppression techniques — prove that Blacks have a unique experience within the political arena as a discriminated group, a core part of the exceptionalist theory. The continuing political significance of racial linked fate among Blacks lends support to exceptionalist theories of Black politics, and directly contradict pluralist theory (Lecture