Where Are All the Other Barack Obamas?

Essay by onvinhtanCollege, UndergraduateA-, May 2008

download word file, 7 pages 3.0

Politics affect everyone here in the US as well as people all around the world. The decisions that are made everyday from the White House, and other government offices, affect everything from wages to whether or not we are at war. Many of these decisions are made overwhelmingly by rich, caucasian men. There is lack of diversity in politics and the effect is that other people are not getting their voices heard. Since the end of the civil rights era, African Americans have received their full rights and racism has progressively decreased all around the US. But the lack of diversity in politics displays the realities that we face today. The lack of economic stability in the lower class and negative societal prejudices about race has limited the numbers of African American politicians in the US.

In order to get elected in the US an important factor is whether or not you have a college education or not.

Your SAT score is a very important determinant of what college you will be able to go to. The fact is that fewer blacks take the SAT, which in conjunction with a good GPA is the way to get into college. Of the new SAT tests given this year, African Americans accounted for only ten percent of the total test takers (SAT National Report, 2006). They also scored on average, lower than the other ethnicities. In the critical reading section Africans Americans averaged the lowest score with 434, lowest on the math section with 429, as well as the lowest on the writing section with an average score of 428( SAT National Report, 2006). This clearly shows that African Americans are not performing at the level of the other groups.

This in turn leads to fewer African Americans being accepted into good...