No Two Seats: The Elusive Quest for Political Equality

‘The goddamndest, toughest voting rights bill’: Critical Race Theory and the Voting Rights Act of 1965

“…The lack of emphasis on issues of race and racism in mainstream school texts and the iconization of civil rights legislation and leadership (Aldridge 2006;Brown and Brown 2010;Hess 2005;Kohl 1993; Southern Poverty Law Center 2011) requires that teachers utilize outside sources and alternative theoretical frameworks to augment their students' understanding of the ongoing salience of race and racism in US society. By discussing the passage of the VRA as a convergence of interests and utilizing the CRT perspectives of Bell (1980), Crenshaw (1988), Guinier (1991aGuinier ( , 1991bGuinier ( , 1994Guinier ( , 2004, and others, teachers and students can analyze why non-white groups gain benefits in society at some moments and are turned away at others. Additionally, by discussing the recent attacks on the voting rights of people of color (Weiser and Norden 2011;NAACP 2011) and the vulnerability of the protections created by the VRA (NAMUDNO v. Holder 2009), students can recognize the persistence of racism in US society and the contingent nature of civil rights gains for non-whites.…”

“…An analysis of why the voting access provided under the VRA failed to provide social and economic equality is appropriate, yet there have been very few critical analyses of the VRA or of the limitations of majoritarian electoral politics. The work of Guinier (1991aGuinier ( , 1991bGuinier ( , 1994, however, provides an exception. Guinier (1991a) claimed that the VRA represented only the 'triumph of tokenism' due to its focus on providing for the election of African American officials.…”

“…African American elected officials served to legitimate the claims of color-blindness and meritocracy that served as camouflage for white privilege and maintenance of the status quo. The emphasis on electing African American officials only transmuted the problems of racial bias in society to problems of majority rule within legislative bodies (Guinier 1991b). Marginalization of minority voice continued as a result of the principle of majority rule.…”

Women and Legislative Representation

“…If the voter can use all of her or his votes for a single candidate, it is called a cumulative vote. For an argument in favour of this system, see Guinier (1991). It is possible for the voter to be given fewer votes than there are seats to be filled.…”

Shifting selves: The emergence of new identities in South African schools

“…CRT examines the complex relationship between and among race, racism and jurisprudence (Guinier, 1991;Delgado, 1995;Ladson-Billings and Tate, 1995;Cadwell, 1996;Tate, 1997). There are no "canonical set of doctrines or methodologies to which CRT scholars subscribe.…”