Category: Blog 7

Reading the article “Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and the Limits of Representation” was very insightful, and it raised many valid points about politics overall, and especially about representation. The way Biden vilified the Black community when he served as a senator was eye-opening. He is mentioned in the article as being “the architect of the 1994 Crime Bill” which made out Black communities to be the villains of the United States. Not only this, but he made demonizing comments, calling Black children “predators on our streets,” and saying that it doesn’t matter whether these children are the victims of society, because “they’re about to knock my mother on the head with a lead pipe, shoot my sister, beat up my wife, take on my sons.” As the article goes to explain, this not only vilified the children, but Black families and mothers overall. Fast forward to now, and Biden chose Kamala Harris as his vice president, making her the first woman, the first African American, and the first South Asian to hold this office. Along with this goes Biden’s diplomatic support of Black issues. All of this goes to show, however, that his choices are calculated and made to improve his approval and popularity. This touches on the issue of representation in politics as well. Although representation is good, we see politicians use it to their benefit, instead of actually working for improvement of the society they lead. The excitement of “the firsts” drowns out the concern for actual policies, when really, we should push for real change in addition to representation. I think the article overall was very interesting, and it made me think about some things I hadn’t really thought about before.

After reading the article Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and the Limits of Representation by Keeanga-Yamahatta Taylor, I learned that black individuals especially black women are more likely to live in poverty because they are “one of the most oppressed and marginalized groups in the United States.” It is interesting to see the change of Joe Biden from 1988 to the modern-day as he went from demonizing black individuals as criminals to fighting for the justice of black individuals through Black Lives Matter and choosing Kamala Harris as his running mate. In 1993, Biden called black juvenile offenders “predators on our streets” and passed the 1994 Crime Bill that caused a spike in the incarceration of black individuals. This shows that Biden probably doesn’t actually support black individuals and he only said so for the purpose of gaining the votes of black voters. According to the author, “the limits of representation” means that just because a black person is elected to power, it doesn’t mean that he or she will fully understand the needs of the black community. During Obama’s term, “fifty-two percent of African Americans said that Obama’s policies had not gone far enough to improve their situation.” The same goes for the situation with Kamala Harris because she is wealthy with an estimated net worth of “six million dollars”. It is unreasonable to assume that an elected black official will make policies to support the poor black individuals because most individuals that are elected are wealthy. Being wealthy means that they will not understand the struggles of living in poverty and it is not guaranteed that they will policies to help the poor black individuals.

In the 2016 presidential election, black voter turnout fell for the first time in two decades, from 67 percent to 60 percent, and Joe Biden chose Kamala Harris as his running mate in order to get more votes. Joe Biden chose Kamala Harris as his running mate not only because of her strong family background and outstanding qualifications, but also because she is a black woman. Joe Biden chose Kamala Harris for the sake of voting, he did not really understand the suffering and pain that black women face even though he was the VP of Obama. Joe Biden only needed a black female representative to add to his campaign and chose Kamala Harris, not really meant to solve problems for black women and be a voice for them. I personally believe that in Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, the limits of representation means that people who look like a certain race do not mean that they can act exclusively in the interest of their race. Having people of the same color does not mean that they are treated the same, that they share the same experiences. Naturally, there is no way to directly address the problem. For example, in the article the author mentions that a black person said that Obama’s policies are not enough to improve their situation. That refers that President Obama is also limits of representation. So even if Joe Biden chose Kamala Harris to be his VP, Harris background is completely different from that of the average black woman, and her level of education is also different, she, too, is limits of representations.

After reading the article, “Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and the Limits of Representation, by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, it was interesting when it came to how the representation of black people such as Kamala Harris in political positions has not really changed much when it comes to the way black people are living within the country. After Obama was elected as President, there was hope for the lives of black people and it was expected that Obama was going to make some changes for them. In the article, it states, “In an attempt to deflect the heavy demands that were gathering across Black America during and after the 2008 financial crisis, he took to publicly chastising poor and working-class Black families for what he believed they were not doing.” Obama targeted black families and was saying that they were not doing enough things to change the way that they were brought up. Obama was representing black people, but he was not necessarily understanding black people in certain moments. It may be due to not understanding the way that black people were living in the country. Joe Biden elected Kamala Harris as his Vice President and it is alarming that he chose her after the moments that he has had that contradicted his support of black people. Taylor included, “He added, “It doesn’t matter whether or not they were deprived as a youth. It doesn’t matter whether or not they had no background that enabled them to become socialized into the fabric of society.” Biden was the architect of the Crime Bill of 1994 and he seemed to lack an understanding of the lives of black people and the way that they were living. Biden claimed to have not cared about black people being deprived within their youth or the idea of not being brought up in society in a better way. Biden did not have an understanding of the way black people were living and it showed in the way that he has talked about their lives. Joe Biden elected Kamala Harris who is black but in order for there to be help for black people, there has to be an understanding in the way that they are brought up and live. Although it is good for black people to be represented, the people taking political positions should understand the way that black people are living.

 

After reading “Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and the Limits of Representation” by Keeanga-Yamahatta Taylor, “limits of representation” can be defined as not everyone is equally represented by just placing people of color or race in positions of power. This is reflected in much of President Joe Biden’s presidential race. For years, Senator Joe Biden has accused Black communities of a place where crime happens for political gain in his career. As he continued to gain political power, he has never been apologetic to the community he once accused and built his career off of. Rather Biden would say he has not always been right in things he has said. The 2020 presidential race shed light on “limits of representation.” Black voters have been on a decline since 2016, when Donald Trump took office. The Democrats were also aware of Biden and Clinton’s lack of attraction among black voters. As a result, Biden has strategically nominated Kamala Harris as running mate to defeat his political rival, Donald Trump. Biden has chosen Kamala Harris as a running mate to pick up black voters. Although Harris was an African American Female, she couldn’t serve the needs of other African American females that continue to live well under the poverty line today. This representation limit comes from her lack of understanding of where her supporters come from. Kamala Harris, who has wealth and power, can’t understand someone who lives below their mean and is misrepresented because she has never been in that situation herself as an African American female. 

After reading “Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and the Limits of Representation”, I noticed that I agreed with the majority of the things said in the article. This article mainly touched on how politicians, such as Biden and Harris, claim verbally to represent certain races but there is no guarantee of their support when they are elected into office. In 1993, Biden showed his support towards supporting the 1994 crime bill that targeted young black people, which led to the stereotyping of all black people to be offenders even though that strictly isn’t the case. “This, of course, was not only about supposedly out-of-control youngsters; it was also an indictment of Black families and Black mothers as a source of disorder that, if unchecked, threatened to undermine white families as well. Biden has never taken responsibility for his overheated rhetoric and its role in demonizing Black families and thoroughly racializing crime”. Through Biden’s actions, we are able identify who he supports rather than blindly listening to his words and expecting him to act them out in office. In this instance, he made the action of sponsoring this bill and proceeded to talk about minorities in this way, it’s as simple as that. Even those who we think could be on minorities’ side because of their appearance, prove to be false. LaToya Cantrell, the first ever black woman in New Orleans was elected to be mayor, and considering who she identified as on the outside, those of her same race would vote to show support. However, while she was in office, she completely disregarded those of her own race and class before she was seen as important in society. Cantrell refused to help the working class from getting better pay, which would seem shocking considering that’s who she was supporting before she was in office. This teaches us as voting citizens to be careful of who we vote for to represent our city, state, or country as a whole. Words are not enough to show support, but rather their actions and decisions made are.

According to Taylor’s article, the “limits of representation” refer to how having minorities in positions of power does not guarantee that they will also represent other minorities. The article focuses on how in American politics, many minorities and low-class people are not given the same opportunities and have trouble trying to improve their conditions. Politicians also feed into this as over time they have either backed stereotypical rhetoric of marginalized people or have made promises during election season that never actually become a reality. Taylor also explains how simply having a black vice-president with Kamala Harris, does not guarantee that progress in representing Black Americans, especially Black women, and the problems they face in the American society will occur. This is because there have been incidences in the past where minority leaders did not support others once they reached a status of power. A cause for this has been prioritizing other parts of one identity, such as social status. A person in power may start supporting capitalistic ideals and laws as it would support the new life they are living. Which in turn, leads them to turn their back on working-class people who are often the victim of many capitalistic ideals. Therefore, the “limits of representations” of the article are that having representation does not guarantee progressive action for all those represented. Having one person being represented, such as having a high-ranking leadership power, does not mean a change to helping others also reach this level will occur. 

Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and the Limits of Representation was a very intriguing article it provides insight as to how people of color are not represented well in society whether from a political, social and economic lense. What surprised me the most was Biden’s hypocrisy when in supporting underrepresented communities. In 1993 he described black juvenile offenders as “predators on the streets” which was shocking. His unethical actions continued in 1994 when he signed the Crime Bill which painted Black communities as the center of crime in the U.S. However when confronted about the actions he took against Black people Biden stated, “I haven’t always been right”, but fails to take full responsibility for his actions. This article shows the dark side of politics: taking advantage of certain groups of people for political gain.

After reading Keeanga-Yamahatta’s “Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and the Limits of Representation”, I realized how some people simply don’t get represented. This article focused on how black women specifically never get the chance to be heard, or have any type of power. There were several points made by the author that showed this. For instance, when she said, “Nearly a quarter of Black women live under the official poverty line.” She continues, “twenty-nine per cent of Black children live under the poverty line and that another fifty-seven per cent are classified as low-income are dark reminders that inequality in this country is deeply bound up with race and gender.” These statistics are eye opening on how no one in this world seems to look out for black women. Seeing that there’s now a black woman holding such big power shows that we’re making progress. I believe the author says the “limits of representation” are race, gender, and social status. If you’re a lower class black female, chances are you won’t be represented by people in power. The author talks about how the people in this category are constantly let down and underrepresented. I agree with her thoughts because even today, despite being a woman of color, Kamala Harris doesn’t truly understand the struggle of black women because she has money and power. I thought this was a really interesting article, and Keeanga-Yamahatta’s point of view was similar to mine.