Racism in Politics
Racism in Politics
Brenda Reed-Miller
Professor Belinda Hartnett
Sociology 100 September 2, 2012
How Race Plays a Part in Politics
This paper explores the affects of Race/Racism in Politics. I decided to do my paper on this because of some of the political coverage of the upcoming presidential election in November 2012. It should come to no surprise for those who follow politics that it is racially polarized. It is noted that most minorities vote democratic and more white, especially white men vote Republican. In 2008 when the first person of African American descent was voted in as President of the United States some thought that this showed the United States had finally left its racist past behind, that America had opened a new chapter in its difficult and frequently shameful history with race. Was this really the truth, of course not, but it had wakened what we thought to be a sleeping monster. We should have seen this coming during the presidential campaign events in 2008, he was called a Muslim, non-American, and “That One. During a recent campaign event Mitt Romney stated “No one Asked to see my birth certificate, they know I was born here” now if he would have just said it and there was no ongoing conversation from the “Birthers” on the extreme right of the Republican party maybe some would say it was a joke but we know better. I, just like many others associate this with the ongoing racial tension that has plagued President Obama’s presidency. Mitt Romney had also said that his views were “Foreign and he does not understand America, these things add to the birther movement. No one likes to say that these things are racially motivated but they all have underlying racist tones. Race is defined in our text as a socially constructed category of people who share biologically transmitted traits that members of a society consider important . The differences of race are literally only skin deep because human beings the world
Brenda Reed-Miller
Professor Belinda Hartnett
Sociology 100 September 2, 2012
How Race Plays a Part in Politics
This paper explores the affects of Race/Racism in Politics. I decided to do my paper on this because of some of the political coverage of the upcoming presidential election in November 2012. It should come to no surprise for those who follow politics that it is racially polarized. It is noted that most minorities vote democratic and more white, especially white men vote Republican. In 2008 when the first person of African American descent was voted in as President of the United States some thought that this showed the United States had finally left its racist past behind, that America had opened a new chapter in its difficult and frequently shameful history with race. Was this really the truth, of course not, but it had wakened what we thought to be a sleeping monster. We should have seen this coming during the presidential campaign events in 2008, he was called a Muslim, non-American, and “That One. During a recent campaign event Mitt Romney stated “No one Asked to see my birth certificate, they know I was born here” now if he would have just said it and there was no ongoing conversation from the “Birthers” on the extreme right of the Republican party maybe some would say it was a joke but we know better. I, just like many others associate this with the ongoing racial tension that has plagued President Obama’s presidency. Mitt Romney had also said that his views were “Foreign and he does not understand America, these things add to the birther movement. No one likes to say that these things are racially motivated but they all have underlying racist tones. Race is defined in our text as a socially constructed category of people who share biologically transmitted traits that members of a society consider important . The differences of race are literally only skin deep because human beings the world