The poor voting among racial minorities is an important issue to the minority community in California because it limits their participation in electing leaders who govern the society. In other words, it limits their political voice. It limits their ability to influence policy through election of leaders. This is in consideration of the fact that the policy of a county or state government is almost as good as the leadership elected to govern it. Voting gives voters an opportunity to choose leaders whose ideologies and goals align with those of the voters and by extension, the community. Voting gives voters an opportunity to indirectly govern their own affairs through election of leaders. Poor voting is therefore tantamount to refusing to participate in the governance of a state.
This issue of poor voting among California’s minority is important to me by extension because I am a racial minority in California as well. I would wish the minorities to participate more in voting so as to have a greater chance of actualizing the interests of racial minorities. This is in consideration of the fact that different racial groups often have different political interests from other racial groups. Some of the interests of minorities are naturalization of immigrants, tackling racial profiling, and improvement of working conditions among others. These interests which are also important to me cannot be effectively addressed with poor voting by the minorities.
Civic engagement is one of the several ways that citizens or members of a community can contribute to making their communities or societies a better place to live. One of the definitions of civic engagement is “promoting the quality of life in a community, through both political and non-political processes” (New York Times, 2017). A moral and civically responsible individual sees himself as a member of a larger community, considers the issues of the community as his own and makes efforts to address the issue through civic engagement. For example, a racial minority residing in Los Angeles belongs to the city’s racial minority community, something that should make such a person to be conscious of the social problems that racial minorities face in the city of Los Angeles. Such a person should then be ready to address such problems through civic engagement. One of the commonest means of civic engagement is voting. People participate in voting so that they can elect leaders that can help fix the problems in the society. However, as available data reveals, voting is in itself a social problem in the minority community of Los Angeles because the rate of minorities’ participation in voting is far much below the rate of the majority communities, something that should be of great concern not only to the minority community but to anyone who cares about the minority community.
Available statistics indeed indicate that the rate of participation among the minorities in California greatly lags behind that of the majority white groups. This is despite the fact that the racial minorities form the majority of the Californian population. In fact, California is the first state that has the minority forming the largest section of the population. According to the Public Policy Institute of California, Latinos make up 38% of California’s population with the non-Hispanic whites forming 39% (2017). On the other hand, Asian Americans and African Americans constitute 14% and 6% of the state’s population. However, despite the racial minorities forming the largest fraction of the population at 62 %, they only form 38% of the states’ voters (Public Policy Institute of California, 2017). This clearly demonstrates that racialminorities’ participation in voting is weaker than the majority white participation in the state of California.
The above statistics as regards to the poor participation in voting by minorities is also reflected in another study that analyzed thousands of interviews from the PPIC Statewide Survey which showed that racial minorities in California are less likely to vote than the white minorities. According to the study, minorities make up 59% of California’s population with 36% being Latino Americans, Asians being 14%, African Americans being 6%,and others being 3% with the whites only making up 42 % of the population (Baldassare, 2016). The study further found that this superior numbers of minorities in the population is not reflected in voting rates as 6 out of 10 California voters are likely to be white with Latinos only forming 18% of the voters’ population. On the other hand, among non-voters, 78% are likely to be racial minorities with 22 % being white(Baldassare, 2016). These statistics confirm that indeed poor participation in voting exists among California’s racial minorities as compared to the white majority race. This should be a problem of concern to California’s racial minority community considering that voting is an important means of social engagement that is supposed to address other problems in the community.
The poor voting among racial minorities is an important issue to the minority community of California because it limits their participation in electing leaders who govern the society. In other words, it limits their political voice. This understanding is supported by available facts which indicate that an exceptionally higher support for President Obama by minority voters and their subsequent unexceptionally higher turnout for the same were partly responsible for his victory in the 2008 and 2012 elections. Show et al. note that in the 2008 and the 2012 elections, the minorities’ support for the Democratic Party grew dramatically from the 2000 and 2004 figures because the Democratic PartyPresidential Candidate (Barack Obama) was a minority; an African American. For instance, “By 2008, Blacks offered 95 percent of their votes to the Democrats, Latinos 67 percent, and Asian Americans 62 percent (2016). This increased support for the Democratic Party and candidate, the authors contend, was partly responsible for the victory of President Obama in the two elections of 2008 and 2012.
The above statistics from 2008 and 2012 elections indeed demonstrate that the minorities can influence electoral incomes if they turn out to vote. It also means that by voting in low numbers, minorities give away their influence of electoral outcomes which by extension, limits their ability to influence policy through election of leaders. This is in consideration of the fact that the policy of a county or state government is almost as good as the leadership elected to formulate and govern it. Voting gives voters an opportunity to choose leaders whose ideologies and goals align with those of the voters and by extension, the community. Voting gives voters an opportunity to indirectly govern their own affairs through election of leaders. More importantly, voting gives voters an opportunity to indirectly help address the problems in the community or society through choosing the leaders to do so. The poor voting among the minorities of California should therefore be of great concern to the state’s and LA’s minority community because then, it denies it them an opportunity to actively and effectively participate in addressing their problems.
This issue of poor voting among California’s minority is important to me by extension because I am a racial minority in California as well, a civically and morally responsible one for that matter. Given my Asian roots, I consider myself to be a member of California’s minority community together with other Asian Americans, African Americans, Latin Americans, and Native Americans. Hence, any issue that affects the minority community personally affects me by extension. The fact that poor voting by minorities denies them influence on electoral outcomes also means that our issues and by extension mine will not be given a priority in governance. This is in consideration of the fact that minorities have unique issues and interests that are different from those of the majority community. Examples of these are immigration issues, racial discrimination, naturalization of immigrants, tackling racial profiling, and improvement of working conditions among others. I would wish the minorities to participate more in voting so as to have a greater chance of actualizing these unique interests of the racial minority community and by extension, mine. These interests which are also important to me cannot be effectively addressed with poor voting by the minorities.
This issue of poor voting among California’s minority is important to me by extension because I am a racial minority in California as well, a civically and morally responsible one for that matter. Given my Asian roots, I consider myself to be a member of California’s minority community together with other Asian Americans, African Americans, Latin Americans, and Native Americans. Hence, any issue that affects the minority community personally affects me by extension. The fact that poor voting by minorities denies them influence on electoral outcomes also means that our issues and by extension mine will not be given a priority in governance. This is in consideration of the fact that minorities have unique issues and interests that are different from those of the majority community. Examples of these are immigration issues, racial discrimination, naturalization of immigrants, tackling racial profiling, and improvement of working conditions among others. I would wish the minorities to participate more in voting so as to have a greater chance of actualizing these unique interests of the racial minority community and by extension, mine. These interests which are also important to me cannot be effectively addressed with poor voting by the minorities.
References
Baldassare M., (2016). “California’s Exclusive Electorate Who Votes and Why It Matters.”
Public Policy Institute of California. March 2016.
Public Policy Institute of California (2017). Race and Voting in California. Retrieved on 10th
October 2017 from http://www.ppic.org/publication/race-and-voting-in-california/
Shaw, Todd; Louis DeSipio; Dianne Pinderhughes; and Toni-Mic helle C. Travis. (2016)
Uneven Roads: An Introduction to U.S. Racial and Ethnic Politics.
www.nytimes.com/ref/college/collegespecial2/coll_aascu_defi.html
No comments:
Post a Comment