Category: Blog 7

There were numerous talks on the previous president and its influence on African Americans in the article “Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and the Limits of Representation.” The writer talked about how Kamala Harris’ nomination was surprising. President Biden has a history of criminalizing black people and supporting policies that harm blacks. Harris’s status as a vice president is critical in terms of Black women’s representation in the United States. They are one of the most downtrodden groups, with fewer than half of the population living in poverty. Furthermore, the piece raises an interesting topic of whether things will genuinely change.

 

It was interesting to read the article titled “Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and the Limits of Representation.” This article speaks on the idea of representation within politics. There isn’t much diversity when it comes to politics. Barack Obama was one of our only African-American presidents, and the closest thing after that would be our current vice president, Kamala Harris. Otherwise, we’ve only had white presidents as the face of America. This also applies to our senators and the supreme court. Most of the members of the supreme court are white, however, there are a few black members. It is clear that there is a small advantage for those who are white when it comes to politics. African-Americans or even Latinos are not taken seriously when it comes to the government within America. According to the author  Leeanga-Yamahatta, “limits of representation.” is the fact that people of color are less likely to be represented in politics. A colored person’s voice weighs less compared to someone who is white. This gives a massive disadvantage when it comes to politics and it is not fair to base this on somebody solely due to the color of their skin.

After reading, “Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and the Limits of Representation” by Keeanga-Yamahatta Taylor, I am not shocked when it comes to the lack of diversity amongst politicians in the past years. We can agree the we are slowly moving towards more diversity with the 8 year president in Barack Obama, and the current vice president Kamala Harris. My main problem when it comes to people bringing this topic up, is that they believe that the United States cannot be racist or can’t be accused for having a lack of diversity, because we had a black president, or because we have a woman of color as our vice president. Ultimately, there is a clear advantage for white men when it comes to politics.

According to Keeanga-Yamahatta, the ‘limits of representation’ is the idea that colored people are not provided with a fair chance at being heard in a political stand point. Their ideas aren’t being taken into consideration and they are put at a disadvantage in the political space.

In the article ” Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and the limits of Representation”, there are various of topics spoken about.  Such being the past presidency’s, affects on the African American community, politics denying certain things for their image. Overall the bigger picture of having Kamala Harris as the vice president.

Past presidencies such as Obama being the one president of color we’ve had. The affects on the African American communities , they are very oppressed minority . Politics denying certain things they’ve said in the past is very contradicting but one wont come to address it entirely. 

Now with her being in office it creates a very big step in history and for women of colors representation.

Diversity in politics is something that was not commonly seen in history in the United States but it is slowly on the rise. We have seen the first African American president in the history of the United States first be elected in 2008, Barack Obama. Not only this but he had served two presidential turns, from 2008-2012, 2012-2016. To me, this inspired minorities to get into politics and to show that they have a voice. It almost felt like a new group of minorities was being heard.

In the recent presidential race. We saw now president Biden announce his vice president, Kamala Harris. This was a bit of a shocker for many. She was the first female vice president. Not only this, but she was a person of color. I feel like this also inspired women and people of color that anything is possible that there is a chance that we are being represented. But a quote that stood out to me was “President, he would essentially abandon the most notable feature of his political past: weaponizing reactionary thinking about poor Black women in order to curry favor with white voters, during a period when Democrats felt compelled to prove that they could hate Black people, too.”. This quote stood out to me because the same thing could be happening here. In order to gain new votes, he elected Kamala Harris as his VC to attract new voters. This all leads back to the question if minorities are truly represented in our country.

In the article, ”  “Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and the Limits of Representation”, there were many discussions about the previous presidency and its impact on African Americans. The writer talked about how unexpected it was for Kamala Harris to be nominated. President Biden has had a past of criminalizing African Americans and also supporting policies that hurt minorities. Nonetheless having harris as vice president is definitely a great step going forward. Kamala Harris is the United States’ first black, south Asian vice president. It’s still a shocker to me that we’ve only had one black president and vice president. It’s modern-day and African-Americans continue to be the most heavily oppressed minority in the United States. Harris’s role as a vice president is crucial in the representation of Black women in the U.S. They are one of the most oppressed demographic and less than half live in poverty. Furthermore, the article brings up a good point regarding if things will actually change. As a former vice president and political figure, many doubt that Biden will follow his promises. Harris is said to be inexperienced as a legislator, and the writer doubts that her identity as a Black woman will actually support a good black agenda in the U.S. According to the author, when it comes to the ”limits of representation”, there continues to be a scarcity of African Americans in political power. We’ve only had two and even then, their agendas haven’t fully supported African Americans in the United States.

Although there is not much diverse representation in politics, it is important. We know this is true for many reasons, but for example, “ the Black voter turnout declined for the first time in twenty years, dropping from sixty-seven to sixty percent.”

The truth is many of these politicians have racist pasts. As they get more well-known and run for a bigger position, they tend to deny the racist things they have said and done because it just wouldn’t benefit them. Because nowadays, they need support from many different racial groups to succeed. So when Biden tries to excuse what he said about young black children saying, “I haven’t always been right. I know we haven’t always gotten things right, but I’ve always tried.” He’s trying to gain back the appeal of the people he disrespected, so they can think “maybe he isn’t that bad” and support him. There definitely needs to be a more diverse representation in politics. Specifically, more women and people of color. There are some politicians of color that are not racist or horrible people, but not enough. 

 

When I first heard that a black woman( Kamala Harris) is going to be vice president I was so happy because we have never seen this in history but I am coming to a realization that maybe this can all be in the act of getting Joe Biden to be in the favor of the people. From reading this article I feel like he flipped back and forth. The way he described young black people was very degrading then further go on to say, ”The end result is 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.” His words and actions are very contradicting because he then go on to say that everyone make mistakes. It’s like when you and someone get in an argument and they say something really hurtful because they know it will get to you. He can really believe these things in his mind but won’t prove it until he is satisfied with his goals. The limits of representation in this article basically mean just because someone in power is the same race as you doesn’t mean they will represent you how you want them to. For example it states,” But her race and gender identity as a Black woman do not guarantee that she will champion a Black-centered agenda.” This quote emphasizes that you can’t put your full trust in someone especially in politics.