Discrimination In Law Enforcement
In this day and age, we as a society have made great leaps and bounds in reaching a state in which there is equal suffrage. Some people even make the preposterous claim that with the election of an African American as president of the country, we essentially have become colorblind, and that racial disparities no longer exist. This claim is far from the truth, as minorities still hold a disproportionately low number of public offices when compared to their percentage of the overall populace, attend school with significantly less funding, live in less well off neighborhoods, and are discriminated against in everyday life by law enforcement at a much higher rate than their white counterparts. However, all those problems having been recognized,
there is a frustratingly small amount of research into whether or not voters in primarily minority areas are being suppressed by current voting systems, and if so, how that takes place. Based on the evidence, it is obvious that certain residential areas are being suppressed. Examples of this suppression based on area taking place include, for example, the density of voting sites decreases substantially in minority area, resulting in increased travel times and longer lines at voting locations, resulting in suppressed minority voter turnout. Furthermore, gerrymandering and redistricting can result in majority black and latino communities having less power than the minority white citizenry, thus suppressing their voting power. Even the structure of the federal government results in less power for minorities, as the electoral college and the senate vastly favor small states over large ones (the latter being where minorities are primarily concentrated). All these biases provide support for the for the idea that minorities are not just discriminated against through more commonly researched methods, but also that current voting systems disenfranchise minority communities through targeting and enforcing limitations on primarily minority residential communities.
there is a frustratingly small amount of research into whether or not voters in primarily minority areas are being suppressed by current voting systems, and if so, how that takes place. Based on the evidence, it is obvious that certain residential areas are being suppressed. Examples of this suppression based on area taking place include, for example, the density of voting sites decreases substantially in minority area, resulting in increased travel times and longer lines at voting locations, resulting in suppressed minority voter turnout. Furthermore, gerrymandering and redistricting can result in majority black and latino communities having less power than the minority white citizenry, thus suppressing their voting power. Even the structure of the federal government results in less power for minorities, as the electoral college and the senate vastly favor small states over large ones (the latter being where minorities are primarily concentrated). All these biases provide support for the for the idea that minorities are not just discriminated against through more commonly researched methods, but also that current voting systems disenfranchise minority communities through targeting and enforcing limitations on primarily minority residential communities.