Gerrymandering

in centrism among the general public” and that “there is little agreement as to what is causing the trend” (Gebelhoff). The article suggests that perhaps the political system is one of the main causes of this trend, such as gerrymandering and the primary process. Gerrymandering is the act of people in high political positions drawing the map for electoral districts, usually to benefit themselves or the party they are aligned with. The primary process can also be a cause to this trend because…

I have long been disillusioned by racialized institutions and institutions that inherently cater to white supremacy, such as public schooling, for some time. Disillusionment is tiresome and painful, like when the fourth wall is broken, all the wonder is lost. When wonder is lost and pain takes its place, the greatest challenge is to not be desensitized. So, I research the state of race relations often, I try to learn about the victims of racism, and, mostly, I try to discuss racism with people…

In a Democracy it is important to have frequent elections where all adults have the availability to participate. Until recent history the United States had mechanism put in place where some groups of society had multiple obstacles. Mechanisms like poll tax and literacy tests were given to reduce the number of minority voters. Individuals were even disfranchised and had no capability to vote. Devices and mechanisms able to break the burden of disfranchisement had first began in 1965 when a group…

What Carmichael and Hamilton mean when they say African Americans are colonial subjects of white society is that African Americans do not own anything that they have essentially produced through their own labor. They sell their labor to produce a raw material, then buy that raw material regurgitated into a product. Essentially they are working for free and are subject to the institutional racism that is evidently present. Two dimensions of this colonial status are the political and economic…

dominant period of material practices and the hegemonic phase of ‘discursive ideological practices’. The former seeks and exercises direct control and coercion. Here the covert and material practices such as “policies of population transfers, gerrymandering of borders, and forced production” (80) affect native’s physical presence and subjugate him. He says that “colonialist discursive practices, particularly its literature, are not very useful in controlling the conquered group at this early…

that plagues the country today because these elements lead to political gridlock. Although the United States dysfunction is growing Douglas argues that there is a solution to polarization. Several reforms must be put into process: elimination of gerrymandering in congressional districts, application of term limits for unfit office holders, and alteration of the congressional work week to promote in-work relationships (Douglas). Douglass also adds that respect, cooperation, pragmatism, and…

legislatures to redraw their districts and continually conduct a census every ten years to perform reapportionment. With this case, cities and suburbs gained a greater voice and the overrepresentation of the rural population decreased; However, gerrymandering still occurs in order for certain districts to gain a majority for a party. Wesberry further established the principle of “one man, one vote” and had districts follow the principle of “equal representation for equal numbers of people.”…

Lucy McMillan, a Former Slave in South Carolina, Testifies About White Violence, 1871 feels like a communication/question testimony that occurs in communities for point of views on different classified subject matters. This document does indeed originate from an excerpt from Testimony Taken by the Joint Select Committee to Inquire into the Condition of Affairs in the Late Insurrectionary States (Washington 1872) Because it stands as a creation of a group venture of a committee from the…

Elmer Eric Schattschneider’s 1960 book on the ‘The Semisoverign People’ key take away is Schattschneider statement "The flaw in the pluralist heaven is that the heavenly chorus sings with a strong upper-class accent." Schattschneider means that the economic concern of the substantive representation is that there is a bias towards the wealthy. An example of this is the American Parent-Teacher Associations (PTA) which are represented by the most affluent parents due to the availability and…

1. Cultural boundaries- boundaries between states that coincide with differences in ethnicity, especially language and religion; another cultural boundary is drawn according to geometry. Example: Based on language, Quebec, and a can be considered a cultural boundary. In Quebec, french is their official language, but the rest of the country predominantly speaks English. Chinatown, which exists in New York City, is another example. Asian’s predominantly inhabit this area, and languages such as…