Participation By Minorities

1292 Words6 Pages
Increasing voter participation by minorities may be changing California’s public policies. How and why has this change progressed? Blacks Many African Americans encountered many obstacles over the past hundred years. One of the major obstacles they were faced with was not having the chance to actively participate in politics. Blacks mainly were not given the equal opportunity to vote so they could not do anything to represent themselves let alone change California’s policies. Not only were they not given the equal opportunity to vote but, they were discouraged to run for offices. Blacks did not have a chance to win an election nor did they have any strong support from anyone. Blacks were under represented and they began to realize they…show more content…
According to Professor McDonald’s research at George Mason University, “Black voter turnout increased 4.9 percentage points from 2004”. This is a large increase possibly due to Africans becoming more educated about current issues in the government with the desire to be elected in legislature. Thus, more blacks now are running for office, holding high positions in American government and are being represented. One major example of a famous African American politician is, Senator Barack Obama who was an African American man that ran for president and now made history as our first black president. Moreover, due to positive and negative effects overtime, more Africans are now voting and on a change in California’s policies are in effect. For policies, blacks fought against mandatory school segregation, which overturned the "separate but equal" doctrine and authoritatively defined blacks as first class citizens. An example in elections, President Truman issued an executive order banning racial segregation in the armed forces which Blacks developed a strategy that ended up working. Black voters helped…show more content…
It wasn’t their fault for not being allowed to vote, not understanding the language, or even understanding the way politics work. With the evolution of time and policies government has progressed. Minorities have expressed interest and are now voting. Douglass R. Hess states, “More than 5.4 million more votes were cast in 2008 than in 2004, and 4.9 million—or 91 percent of the additional votes—were from people of color.” Blacks can now vote, Latinos and Asians are now more involved in voting and are making a difference in politics. They are making a difference in politics by speaking up for their beliefs, concerns, voting more than ever and by holding positions in government. With more minorities holding offices in legislature and moving up with higher positions, they are now becoming more represented in government. Minorities now are also having a voice and are able to stand up for what they believe in with support. Before minorities were under represented now they can help each other out with supporting one another, whether they are the same race or not. And also, In terms of law making we now consider all opinions of all races, not just one race. We need to understand that minorities now want to get involved and are getting involved. Candidates shouldn’t forget about minorities because they’re votes are important and could now be a reason of a loss of an election. Before many minorities
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