Clinton or Obama Presidency Would Chip Away at Prejudice

To the editors:



Re: “The Crack in the Glass Ceiling,” Op-ed, April 16.

First, to address the belief that an Obama or Clinton presidency in and of itself would not notably alter the nature or level of prejudice and its effects in America. In “Political Progress and the Development of Black Insurgency,” Douglas McAdam affirms descriptive representation is valuable in its contribution to the cognitive liberation—what Americans consider to be legitimate and acceptable within society’s institutions—of American society as a whole. A black man or a woman of any color, in the highest office, may help reform the way current and future Americans conceive of those who hold power, and it may also affect many Americans’ unconscious assumptions that the reason why an African-American or a woman has never been elected to the highest office is because they lack the necessary skills and mental capability to handle such responsibility.

Bolduc makes a particularly egregious generalization in denying a relationship between political and economic success. As McAdam traces, black migration out of the South following the collapse of cotton tenancy placed large numbers of African-Americans in several northern states considered critical to winning presidential elections. As political elites began to recognize African-Americans’ growing reputation as a politically mobile and cohesive block of voters, Truman implemented the Fair Employment Commission in 1948. This helped raise the standard of living of African-Americans by challenging discrimination in the workplace.

In the record numbers that Obama has turned out the black vote in democratic primaries—most notably in South Carolina in which blacks represented 55 percent of voters but only 30 percent of the population—the reality of median voter politics dictates that the pronounced level of interest blacks are taking in politics will have an effect on their economic outcomes and government’s attention to black issues.

Nevertheless, perhaps the most insulting section of Bolduc’s article was when he compared African-Americans to Japanese-Americans, implying that blacks have not achieved the same level of success because, well, they’re lazy. The experiences and obstacles faced by each minority group have varied significantly and influenced each people differently. Unlike any other minority group in the states, black Americans endured 300 years of slavery. The early 1900s were highlighted by the highest number of lynchings and murders of blacks in America’s history. Even after the civil rights era, police brutality in the inner cities instigated city-wide race riots.

What Bolduc might not know is that the apparent respect other citizens and the government show a minority group impacts the respect they hold for themselves concerning their worth and ability. Danielle Allen elaborates in her book “Talking to Strangers,” explaining that when a group is forced to constantly compromise not simply their civil and natural rights, but their dignity as well, a deep-rooted sense of distrust and hopelessness develops within the group, ultimately leading many to withdraw socially and politically from society.

Considerations of race and gender require politicians to approach social issues more generously, acknowledging that former public policy has placed many groups at great disadvantage.



ERIN A. MAY ’09

LANDON S. DICKEY ’09

Cambridge, Mass.

April 23, 2008