African Americans in Politics

African Americans in Politics

Kalin Harris
University of North Carolina at Charlotte

IntroductionYou are watching television and images begin to flash on the screen, pictures of
teenagers; young men lying face down on the street dead with multiple gunshot wounds covering
their bodies. You think for a minute and try to figure out what nation this all could be taking
place in but upon further viewing you find out that this is no third-world country where there is
no stability in government, these events are all taking place in your backyard; places that have
now become household names due to the extreme violence. Places like Ferguson and St. Louis
Missouri because of young African Americans being killed by police, the same police who took
an oath to serve and protect the American people. In the country that you call home, in the land
of the free and home of the brave, in the United States of America government oversees these
infringement on human rights and yet does nothing to stop it. This all plays a part in politics, the
men and woman in congress have not taken measures against violent killings of American
children while prejudices and negative racial light also are still being cast upon African
Americans and the effect of all of this is African American people being treated differently in
everyday life and even on Capitol Hill.
African Americans are treated differently no matter what the case of circumstance even if
he or she is a high political figure, although it may not be apparent in many cases. African
Americans now politically cannot run the country or hold a government office without a certain
stigma being cast on their job description, weather it is signing a bill into law or making sure that

African Americans in Politics

another innocent person does not go to jail a racial light is cast upon them followed by
opposition from opposing sides. However documentation surrounding African Americans in
politics after the 20th century become non-existent. When you search the term African Americans
in politics into a search engine for example Google, No useful information about my topic
comes up that is relevant to this time period even though we have a high number of African
American figures holding high political offices like President of the United States. This is
concerning and shows that people of this new era believe that racial issues and certain stigmas
surrounding African Americans have disappeared, when that is entirely not the case.
It is necessary to shine some light on the reason for this particular
paper and why I chose to write this. As an African American
myself I felt that need to document the lives and responsibilities
of African Americans in Politics as well as show what obstacles
they might face; and why there is practically no information about
the lives of African Americans in politics after the 20th century is
astounding to me. It is as if the lives of African American leaders
in government do not matter or exist after 1999, even though we
currently have the first African American President as leader of the free world today in the
United States. My personal bias is that I believe there is no proper representation of African
Americans in American government in the news or anywhere else and this lack of information
will lead to future generations growing up and not knowing the full information/heritage about
their country. Throughout this paper we will consider the influence of African Americans in
political roles. Clear patterns of issues with race, violence, and voter turnout emerge as the result
of more African Americans becoming involved in political office. And now even with the first

African Americans in Politics

African American President Barack Obama there is gap in the research from about 1997 to 2014;
I intend to propose reasons for this gap.

Literature Review
In todays society connections and interactions between people are more important than
anything with connections to our family and friends we can find out a lot about our heritage and
where we all come from; without these connections of information people could end up
becoming lost and searching for all of the answers about their heritage, sometimes in the wrong
places. In government you use your political capital to make connections with other people by
doing or saying something that other people want you can gain their support, Frank James agrees
when he writes about the president using his Political capital to do something no other holder of
his office has ever had the life experience to do: He used the bully pulpit to, as an AfricanAmerican, explain black America to white America in the wake of the acquittal of George
Zimmerman in the shooting death of unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin (James 2013). On the
evening of February 26, 2012 Trayvon Martinan unarmed 17-year-old African American
studentwas confronted, shot, and killed near his home by George Zimmerman, a Latino
neighborhood watch captain in the Orlando, Florida, suburb of Sanford .The case has garnered
national media attention because Trayvon was unarmed and a young African American male the
case also sparked a host of public debates over racial tensions, vigilantism, police practices, and
gun laws (Weinstein 2012). When violence and tragedy strikes like what happened to young
Trayvon Martin, Americans look to their government to solve the issues and offer insight into the
case, sometimes the government cant explain the cause.. When the determinants of these lethal

African Americans in Politics

events were investigated, most researchers ignored racial antagonisms. It is difficult to believe
that the animosities created by economic and political struggles between blacks and whites do
not explain at least some of the variation in interracial homicides. (Jacobs & Wood 1999).
This interracial violence could be a reason as to why many people want to try to ignore
these issues and they do so by not writing about them or documenting them in public archives.
Race remains a divisive issue in American politics, indeed in some ways more than ever, the
discord and intensity of feelings over issues like affirmative action and busing are unmistakable;
and in the contemporary context on is struck by the strong racial undercurrents that characterize
debates on such prominent and emotional issues as crime and welfare (Peffley, Hurwitz, &
Sniderman 1997). When emotional issues like these welfare and crime pertain to American
people it affects how they vote and how they see government, people will not vote for someone
who is not going to care about the peoples issues or do not take a plan of action to fix these
issues on the opposing side of that is some people will not vote a person based on the color of
their skin. In districts in which African Americans enjoy political prominence, white constituents
are more likely to remain on the margins of the electoral process. Black congressional
incumbents routinely experience white turnout rates that are 518 points lower than at polling
places elsewhere in the state (Gay, 2001). Voters affect who can be in local and federal office
and what policies they have to vote for or against even though they are not obligated to vote for
what their state wants.
Another reason as to why there is no proper
information on African Americans in politics is that
African Americans have only in recent decades

African Americans in Politics

been able to hold a government office. Blacks have been elected at the local, state, and federal
levels of government since the second half of the nineteenth century. During the short-lived era
of Radical Reconstruction, the first major wave of black political participation, African
American males were elected to state legislatures and the U.S Congress (Snipe, 2000). An
example of an African American man holding a high political office would be Eric Holder who
is the former attorney general of the United States Eric Holders complicated role in Barack
Obama's administration was inextricably bound to race he was the first African-American
U.S. attorney general, appointed by the first African-American president. For Holder and
Obama, breaking the racial barrier as the nation's top two law enforcement officers meant living
with the consequences, it meant that countless points of conflict with their opponents would be
cast in a racial light (Elving, 2014). To hold a high official office like Eric Holder did you have
to appeal to the people and give the American people what they want at the same time African
American politicians can use their heritage and connections as one of their advantages, it is all
about what the people want.
People today now want to see themselves represented in government and in other forms
of their life like television, radio, and even plays but, television is a more visual example of a
way to show how far African American people have come in politics. Now sitcoms are being
created that depict African American people in politics using their political capital for good
shows like scandal which follows the life of Olivia Pope a young African American woman who
owns her own firm and has powerful connections with the Whitehouse and other very influential
people, she uses this political capital to influence what she wants. Olivia works to fix the lives of
innocent people and solve the crisis of the lives of others including Whitehouse representatives.
She is the protagonist and the episodes that I observed showed how she solves her cases and how

African Americans in Politics

she handles other peoples problems (Harris, 2014). I chose to point out the television show
scandal because I myself did an observation paper on the topic and the figured world of a public
relation firm for many people who do not know a figured world is just like the real world that we
are living in today and a part of. A figured world is a non-physical space where people exist and
are separated and subdivided into categories called communities. For example the figured world
of Scandal would be Public Relations in Washington DC (Harris 2014).
Scandal is only one show out of many

up

incoming new shows where cable companies

try

to use diversity to grow their audience and in

turn increase their ratings, this in turn changes

the

television viewing landscape for many

Americans. The viewing landscape is
constantly changing and Gene Demby made a good argument by stating that, in 197475, Sanford and Son was in its third season on the air; Good Times had premiered the year before
and The Jeffersons would premiere as a midseason replacement. Each of those shows ended that
season as one of the 10 highest-rated shows on television; because the viewing landscape has
changed so much, very few sitcoms today have that kind of reach, and it's unlikely that we'll see
any sitcom centered on families of color pull in audiences of that size (Demby, 2014). Yet today
we constantly see growth in diversified television it might not have the same audiences as Good
Times or Sanford and Son but companies are trying to reach that level, I personally believe that
scandal has outgrown Good Times and The Jeffersons, by being a diversified sitcom show
depicting what no one has ever seen before an African American woman running the country one

African Americans in Politics

case at a time. This television show only proves that American people want to see more diversity
in their politics and even more diversity in their democracy.

Entering the ConversationWhen it comes to politics different views and opinions are what makes democracy what it
is today, you have the democrats on one hand who believe in certain things and the way the
country should be ran and on the other hand you have republicans who have opposing views on
the same issues. These issues are what the American people are most interested in like abortion,
gay marriage, the legalization of marijuana, taxes, etc., on top of this you have other party groups
like the environmentalist who pick up the issues that neither the republican nor democratic party
want to touch that is what makes politics diverse and makes the united states what it is today.
When you add into the mix African Americans you add a new perspective and insight into a
whole race of people who are grossly misrepresented in government. It is true that now there are
more African Americans in politics and on television shows than there have ever been before,
but information about these people have either been neglected to be publicized to the American
people or are non-existent.
Reality and television are two completely different things when it comes to this specific
topic, in recent television sitcoms the number of African American people being represented has
gone up and down. Since the viewing landscape has changed so much since the last 20 years we
now see people of color being put in positions of higher status such as in hit TV show Scandal
where the main character Olivia Pope played by Kerry Washington is the fixer of politicians,

African Americans in Politics

senators and even the presidents messes. In reality however there is no one documenting what
African American people have achieved since becoming key political figures after 1999. Does
this show young African American children that no one cares if you become mayor or governor
or even president because you will go recognition and your name will not be in the record
books? Is America saying that it is okay to not have any information about an entire race being
prevalent in the government which is the central figure of how the continent is governed and ran?
The answers to these questions is yes. What children and young adults are viewing on television
is completely different than what is going on in their own back yard, on television seeing a
strong powerful political black woman handling the country is seen as normal and no one bats an
eye. However when an African American Illinois senator becomes president of the united states
there is no in depth information about how this African American man got into politics and how
his race changes everything about what a normal president should look like. People seem to
ignore the issues of race as if there was never a problem. I want to address the issue of race, we
all know that race has played a huge role in our society since the founding of the united states
and these animosities against African Americans and white Americans have only grown until the
law that stated that slavery was to be abolished was enacted by government and future laws put
into place to stop the spread of prejudice. This race issue cannot be swept under the rug only
addressed and documented so that future generations cannot repeat the same mistake.

African Americans in Politics

Literature Found pertaining to African Americans in Politics

6
5
4
3
2
1
0
1990

1992

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001-2014

Dates

I would like to add to this conversation of race and prejudice, my belief on the reason
why there is a gap in information about African Americans in politics after 1999 until now. To
put it simply no one cares to add information, The chart above however shows the sources that I
found pertaining to the topic of African Americans in politics and as you can see there are a
substantial amount of material found between 2001-2014 because that is the time period that the
assignment required us to find information. And sure there are articles about specific African
American people who have become prominent in American politics like three of my sources
(Ron Elving, Tracy D. Snipe, and Frank James) but these articles are all coming from the 20th
century and little to no new information is found on most search engines or libraries. Even
though for the first time in history the United States has an African American president there are
no articles describing how he is using his African American heritage to influence government
and change the face of the United States. It seems as if writers have believed that the racial issues
of the century have disappeared with the beginning of the 20th century, even though that is not

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the case. Racial issues and different beliefs cannot be removed overnight it will take time and the
election of the first African American president in history is a good first start.
Without proper documentation of these historic events there will be no information to
pass down to the next generation of upcoming writers, engineers, and presidents. How can we
expect young African American boys and girls to learn about everything that the United States
has to offer on politics if we cannot give them the right tools to be successful. This is something
that has not been talked about before concerning this topic and I would like to shine some light
on what this could do to our country. Without the knowledge of African American politicians in
government and their works younger children cannot grow to understand the full scope of
American politics like voting rights, why should they vote if they do not hear or read about the
candidate and what they have accomplished so far?

ConclusionTo review what has already been said the topic of this paper is to consider the influence
of African Americans in political roles. Also point out clear patterns of issues with race,
violence, and voter turnout emerge as the result of more African Americans becoming involved
in political office; and to propose a reason as to why there is a gap in information between 1990
and today on African Americans in politics. Throughout the paper I have done so I described
cases of African Americans in politics and their roles such as Eric Holder I also pointed out that
voter turnout is dependent upon the American people and who is running for office and why race
is an issue in this case. Along with my contribution of what might happen if America does not

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properly document the lives and roles of African American leaders in politics. The lack of
information could lead to future generations losing who they are and their heritage.
You might ask yourself so what all of this information is meaningless and what could I
do about it, you could choose to stay more vigilant in your daily life by reading more being more
involved in your surroundings listen to the news and take time out of your busy day to write
about what you see in your political government. This could all allow you to look back and see
what is really going on in American and why and maybe someday future generations can use
what you have written to see how they can change and connect. Make this issue important to
yourself stop the spread of racism and prejudice by spreading the word of American people in
politics and become more politically involved, you could become a valuable resource just by
taking the time to write something on a political African American figure and detailing what is
going on with African Americans in politics. Will you take on the charge to help future
generation know about their government and about the positives of having African American
leaders in government? You could do anything with this topic research and study the
repercussions of not having enough information on this topic you could do anything you want to
help better equip the children of tomorrow just by being more informed.

References Demby, G. (2014). The Pre-Huxtable Golden Age Of The Black Family Sitcom [Radio series
episode]. In code switch. Retrieved from NPR.
Elving, R. (2014). Why We Won't See The Likes Of Eric Holder Again. Retrieved from NPR

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Gay, C. (2001). The Effect of Black Congressional Representation on Political

Participation. American Political Science Review, 95(03), 599. Retrieved from Google
Scholar
Harris, K. (2014). Assignment 1 Observations.
Jacobs, D., & Wood, K. (1999). Interracial Conflict And Interracial Homicide: Do Political And
Economic Rivalries Explain White Killings Of Blacks Or Black Killings Of
Whites? American Journal of Sociology, 105(1), 157-190. Retrieved from Google Scholar
James, F. (2013). Obama Explains Black America to White America [Television series episode].
In its all politics. WDAV. Retrieved from NPR.
Mark Peffley; Jon Hurwitz; Paul M. Sniderman. (1997). Racial Stereotypes of Whites Political
views of Blacks in the context of Welfare and Crime. Retrieved from Google Scholar.
Snipe, T. D. (2000). The Role of African American Males in Politics and Government. The Annals
of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 569(1), 10-28. Retrieved from
UNCC Library
Weinstein, A. (2012). The Trayvon Martin Killing, Explained. A Shred of Truth in a World of
Misinformation. Retrieved from Google Scholar

Pictures CitedPete Souza, the Obama-Biden Transition Project. Obamas first term presidential portrait (2009).
Web. 10/20/2014.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama#mediaviewer/File:Official_portrait_of_Barack_
Obama.jpg

African Americans in Politics

NPR. Evan Vucci/AP. Web. 10/20/2014.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2014/09/26/351728857/why-we-wont-see-the-likesof-eric-holder-again
ABC. Danny Feld. Web. 9/25/2014.
http://www.salon.com/2013/10/04/stop_comparing_everything_to_scandal/

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