Racism and Voting

Posted by Gabriella Beckles Nov 8, 2006

Voting is a right but it hasn’t always been for everyone. Women, the poor and ethnic minorities have a long history of exclusion and marginalization in this important political process.

But how important is your vote? Despite Puff Daddy’s highly publicized “Vote or Die” campaign during the last national elections, voter turnout was still very low, suggesting a real lack of trust in the nation’s democratic machinery.

It’s not surprising that public confidence is at an all time low. Once your vote has been cast there is very little opportunity to truly affect state, let alone national policy on key issues. Once the candidates have campaigned at your door and made their reassuring promises and commitments, they pretty much do what they want once they’re in office. Minority issues haven’t had airtime since Jesse Jackson. Sadly, it took the horrific tragedy of Katrina to get racism a fleeting mention.

Yet, most of us care deeply about what is happening in our schools. Most of us are hugely concerned about equitable access to healthcare; two issues which, coincidently, negatively impact minorities in hugely disproportionate ways. Crime sometimes gets mentioned, but only when it serves the purpose of scaremongering and reinforcing negative stereotypes that exacerbates the situation rather than providing viable solutions. And yet war and abortion continue to serve as important but in many ways, scapegoat issues to detract us from our real concerns.

Ironically, if we all took a stand for the social issues that are most important to us, we would go a long way towards addressing many of the social iniquities that are often labeled as minority problems.