The Endless Struggle for Supremecy

            Race still plays just as big of a role politically as it did during the Civil Rights Movement.  More races have an impact on politics now than just blacks and whites.  Although, blacks have the most storied history with struggling for political rights.  According to Michael Dawson in “The Future of Black Politics”, blacks aren't as big of national advocates as they were in the 1950’s and 60’s.  This doesn't mean that all races are equal now; instead color blind racism has become more prevalent as the overt forms of racism have declined.  As a result, Dawson argues that blacks should learn from the movements of past generations, but adapt the goals to current problems such as high unemployment, the amount of minorities in prisons, and the wealth disparity between whites and blacks.

            A great deal was made about how Barack Obama was the first black president in America.  First of all, he is only half black.  While this makes him legally black, he is just as much white as he is black.  More importantly though, Obama has failed to address race as a key issue of his presidency; especially during his second term where he doesn't have to worry about being reelected.  He ran on the premise of wanting to improve the conditions of minorities, but he has only addressed issues of race when it has benefited him in some way.

            Other minorities have a major influence in politics as well.  For instance, Obama was able to secure 60% and 70% of Hispanics and Asians votes in 2008 and 2012 respectively.  Larry Bartels discusses why minorities favor the Democrat Party in his article, “Can the Republican Party thrive on white identity?”  He refers to a study that found that when Asian American’s citizenship status was questioned; they were more likely to favor the Democrat Party.  Another study investigated white, independent voters’ responses when telling them that either California is composed of about as many minorities as whites or saying that Hispanics make up about as much of the population nationally as blacks.  The people who were told of the California situation were more likely to identify Republican afterwards.  Their study illustrated that as the populations of minorities continue to grow; the more whites that will cross over to the Republican Party.

            Population trends show that whites will no longer be the majority in America by 2050.  Ryan Cooper contends in his article “RacializedPolitics, and America's South African Future” that this population shift could lead to increased conservatism among whites just as Bartels pointed out in his article.  If South Africa is any indication, this polarization of races could cause numerous problems.  The party of the majority would be able to become corrupt and make decisions without the checks and balances that a second party creates.

            So, all the races listed above still play a large role in the realm of politics.  Blacks need to be more involved with movements that will help the conditions of their race.  The experiments that Bartels mentioned illustrate that all people can easily be manipulated or swayed towards the values of one party of the other.  Lastly, a couple different studies have found that whites are scared to lose their majority status in politics.