Politics play a major role in the everyday life of an individual in the United States whether someone is involved in politics or not. The basis of our government prides itself in representation of the people, however our incredibly diverse culture has never had sufficient representation in congress. Specifically, black people in America have not had sufficient representation in Congress, making up only 12.5% in the House of Representatives, and 3% in the Senate. African Americans make up 13% total in the U.S, so at a basic level these statistics seem accurate, to some degree. However, this data seems better only when looking from an outsider’s perspective. Despite the increase in minorities in the country, the representation in Congress does not reflect that. First and foremost, this country prides itself in believing it has a congress to represent all of the people it governs over. While this shows that we are making progress as a system, it also means that this is the first time that old white individuals are not making all of the decisions for an entire, incredibly diverse, country. This ties into Spivak’s question of whether the Subaltern can speak or not. By having a system of representation that typically only directly represents older white individuals, Spivak would determine that minorities are, in a way, unable to speak. 79% of Congress is white, while only 60.4% of Americans are white. This is creating incredible bias in the types of decisions that are made, and implying that the opinion of minorities is not important enough to be represented in congress to then get a voice. If speaking as a priority for this government, it would be a requirement for minorities in America to have a voice large enough to make political decisions for the future of this country. Additionally, states with a Republican majority tend to have a lesser chance of receiving such diversity due to historical voting habits. Additionally, when states tend to vote along party lines, change on a large scale becomes increasingly difficult. The lack of political diversity in the government can strongly influence the policies that are enacted, and what ethnic groups may be more or less affected by them. Therefore, many of the systemic racism that is present in this country remains unchangeable due to the lack of representation of minorities that are continuously oppressed. This then creates a cycle that is incredibly difficult to break, where more white Americans in Congress are biased to stand by policies that may negatively influence the non-white community more so than white Americans.
Sources:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-45914491
Great post, I really enjoyed reading it. I also thought about using this topic for my systemic injustice showcase because it is still something that isnt talked about as much. For all the diversity we seem to have, it still isnt enough and more diversity is never a bad thing. Again, really enjoyed your post, great job.