Category: Blog 7

After reading this essay, I believe America struggles with the concept of equality while pretending to know what has to be done. President Biden, a Democrat with a black lady as his Vice President, appears to be a huge thing, and it is, but the country is still lacking in transformation. The article begins by describing how President Biden begins his address, however I believe his choice of words and the statement he chose were mostly a ruse to get the attention of people of color. I believe his entire presidency, with a black woman as Vice President, was manufactured. I believe he used specific terms carefully while speaking to people of color in order to get their support and trust. Because he has a black Vice President, he will be able to connect with black people and women of color, allowing him to win their votes. The fundamental issues, such as police killings, inadequate health care, and so on, are still present. Of course, as with any politician, promises will be made, but it appears that once the president is won, everything will be forgotten. I simply find it interesting that individuals would say or do anything to get minorities to vote for them, but fail to make the genuine changes that their communities require.

After reading “Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and the limits of representation”, Iv’e read and i agreed with most people with the things said in the article. It mostly talks about  how politicians, such as Biden and Harris, declare verbally to symbolize positive races however there’s no guarantee of their support while they are elected into workplace. In 1993, Biden confirmed his assist in the direction of assisting the 1994 crime invoice that targeted younger black humans, which brought about the stereotyping of all black people to be offenders even though it isn’t really the case. “This, of direction, was now not handiest approximately supposedly out-of-manage kids;  Biden has never taken duty for his actions in harming Black families. Cantrell refused to assist the working magnificence from getting better pay, which would appear surprising considering that’s who she was assisting before she changed into in workplace. This teaches us as vote casting residents to be careful of who we vote for to symbolize our town, city, or us as a whole. Actions will always speak louder than words.

“Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and the Limits of Representation,” by Keeanga-Yamahatta, was very informative and exciting to me, and after reading it, I noticed how some people are not represented and are overlooked in various ways. This article  focused on how black women, in particular, are never given the opportunity to be heard or to wield authority. The author made various points that demonstrated this. “Nearly a quarter of Black women live below the official poverty line,” she added, for example. “The fact that 29% of Black children live in poverty and another 57% are categorized as low-income are stark reminders that inequality in this country is strongly entwined with race and gender,” she says. These figures demonstrate how no one in the world seems to care about black women. The fact that a black woman currently holds such much influence demonstrates that we have made progress. Race, gender, and social rank, according to the author, are the “limits of representation.” If you’re a lower-class black woman, you’re unlikely to be represented by those in positions of authority. The author discusses how members in this group are frequently disappointed and underrepresented. I agree with her sentiments because, despite being a woman of color, Kamala Harris, despite her wealth and status, does not genuinely understand the struggles of black women. People of color are in general not represented  and suffer because the government and system neglects them. I remember how we discussed in class that Kamala Harris can not really understand the struggle of these women even though she is a person of color because of her power figure and authority. She is not living a hard life in poverty or in a poor low income community.  

After reading the article “Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and the limits of representation” by Keeanga- Yamahatta Taylor, the limits of representation are clear to be that different roles of different races. President Biden chose Kamala Harris as his Vice President because of the color of her skin in order to to get more votes. The article mentions that “There is an assumption that the selection of Harris means that her racial and gender identities will guide the policymaking of a Biden-Harris White House. This is the heralded power of representation in politics, and it is a powerful corral for the hopes of many Black Americans. The rise of Barack Obama convinced many Black voters that they might finally get a fair shake.” Limits or representation is shown by this because Kamala Harris could not fully compare to those who had the same appearances as she did. However, Having Kamala as his Vice President won’t give African Americans or even women in general, better opportunities. So, finally after reading this article I can say that the limitation of representation is to represent the group of people but in reality being unable to make change.

An underlying feeling that I have about the politicians that govern our country is how tone deaf they seem to be. It’s as if they care more about securing positions of power than actually enacting policies that would tangibly improve our lives. Of course, the reality is much more complicated than that, but the article “Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and the Limits of Representation” does not do much to convince me otherwise. The article goes into how Joe Biden’s vice presidential pick seems to be at odds with the policies he has supported in the past. For example, Joe Biden played a nontrivial role in the creation of the 1994 Crime Bill, which created rhetoric around black communities being inherently prone to crime. Fast forward to the 2020 election, and Biden was giving speeches that quoted civil-rights anti-capitalist Ella Baker in an attempt to sway black voters.  To me, this shows one of two things; either Joe Biden has sincerely changed his beliefs since the 90s (entirely plausible since he was the vice president for Obama), or he just wants more votes. Considering Biden has never (according to the article) given any clear apologies for his role in implementing these policies, I find the former to be somewhat unlikely. What also doesn’t help his case is, according to the article, “fifty-two per cent of African Americans said that Obama’s policies had not gone far enough to improve their situation,” which was a significant increase from his first year as president. Overall, our country still has a long way to go in terms of representation and equality, and right now I am uncertain if we are even heading in the right direction.

Keeanga-Yamanhatta Taylor’s article, “Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and the Limits of Representation,” portrays the misrepresentation of people of color, specifically African American women, in the U.S. on a social, economic, and political scale. In recent times, we were able to witness the appointment of the United State’s first African and Asian American woman vice president: Kamala Harris. As groundbreaking as this might be, Taylor’s article gives insight on this matter that dives deeper than “the celebrations of symbolic firsts.” As noted in the article, given Biden’s past/rich history of demonizing Black children as “predators on our streets” and sacrificing low-income Black women for political gain, it’s ironic that he was the one to appoint Kamala Harris to this position. Accounting for all this only accentuates Biden’s decision as another calculated, political decision in which he would benefit and gain popularity from. Regardless of his reasoning, this decision propagates the idea of representation into the minds of many citizens. As the article notes, “Black women are, in general, one of the most oppressed and marginalized groups in the United States,” so it’s reasonable to be hopeful of Kamala Harris rising to the vice presidency position. However, this is where the issue of “limits of representation” arises. The abundance of factors to consider in regards to the limitations of representation such as race, gender, social class, and experience make it all the more difficult to truly have the voices of everyone heard. There is so much to account for, but not enough information or understanding to do so. In the case of Kamala Harris, she may be a black female in a position of power, but that does not immediately mean she’ll be able to properly represent “Black women and others stuck at the bottom of the American social order,” nor does it mean she can’t do so. Politicians/officials from all different walks of life may advocate for revolutionary policies, but ultimately it’s their actions that will speak for them and the people they wish to represent, which is a tough task in itself.

After reading the article “Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and the Limits of Representation” by Keeanga-Yamahatta Taylor, I was able to deeply I was able to deeply feel the divide that exists between people. In a society where different people represent different things, the “limits of representation” are found in the race and status of people, not just as individuals, but as a group. The article mentions that “In the 2016 Presidential election, Black voter turnout declined for the first time in twenty years, dropping from sixty-seven to sixty percent. Black women are, in general, one of the most oppressed and marginalized groups in the United States.” which reflects how Black women are not valued, at least At the political level, there is so little they can say and so little they can do to change the outcome. It’s unrealistic to expect the government to go all in on helping poor people, and they have no way of understanding the social pressures on people in struggle, so there is little expectation that people at the top will naturally understand the plight of poor women, which has led to long-standing complaints about the influence of money on politics. Although Obama has done his best to contribute to this group in the past, it still hasn’t improved very much in the back, so there have been criticisms in society that he hasn’t done enough, and at least for now, what politicians are doing in this area does still fall short.

 

After reading the article, it really exposed the things that were unsaid. For example, the fact that Biden chose Kamala Harris as his vice just because she was black. Her being black is a way for him to get more black voters which I think is insane. “That choice only accentuated his selection of a Black woman, Kamala Harris, as a running mate without offering an explanation of how such gestures toward change will turn into the material goods that millions of Black women desperately need.” I also noticed how he was a part of the 1994 crime bill, which painted out black communities to be seen as dangerous. The article says he’s avoided any direct apology, which says a lot about him. The “limits of representation” all depend on mainly race and gender, which is so unfortunate. The author goes on to say “Black women are overrepresented in the ranks of the poor, in part because they make only sixty-two cents to every dollar made by white men.” So I believe the way you’re represented depends on those factors of race and gender.

After reading the article “Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and the Limits of Representation” by Keeanga-Yamahatta Taylor, I learned that the term “limits of representation” refers to the fact that different classes have different situations and that one person represents only a small portion of the race. From the article, we know that Biden chose Kamala Harris as his vice president in part because of her skin color, but she does not represent the majority of black women. According to the article, “Black women are, in general, one of the most oppressed and marginalized groups in the United States.” This illustrates that black women face a lot of pressure from society, but society doesn’t take care of what they think. However, Kamala Harris has the power and money to ensure that people will listen to her voice. From my point of view, even though Kamala Harris is from the Democratic Party, she cannot achieve all the goals promised by the Democratic Party. Kamala Harris is a representative of black women, but she cannot understand and represent the experiences of black women from the bottom because she was educated and faced with experiences that made her successful, and that is the “limits of representation”.

While reading this article, it was instantly clear to me that Kamala Harris as Vice President was a more strategic move to gain support from the black community. In the article it states that, ” In the 2016 Presidential election, Black voter turnout declined for the first time in twenty years, dropping from sixty-seven to sixty per cent”. With that being said, there is a big chance that we aren’t here discussing Joe Biden as president if it weren’t for him selecting Kamala Harris as his V.P. This was a clear move to gain support from African American supporters. Not saying it is a bad move because she turned out to be a voice for all black women but there was still much said that don’t solve their problems. According to this author, the limits of representation demonstrates that even if we put miniorites to represent their race, then it might limit the representation that they might have on others that include the poor, or other races. All throughout this article, there was much explanation that leads me to believe that even though we put a African American women as our Vice President, that will not guarantee that she represent all of the Black Americans that need her support and help!