(Page 19 of 25) - Race, Gender, and Descriptive Representation in the US: An Exploratory View of Multicultural Elected Leadership in the United States authored by Hardy-Fanta, Carol., Sierra, Christine M., Lien, Pei-te., Pinderhughes, Dianne M. and Davis, Wartyna L.

Race, Gender and Descriptive Representation: An Exploratory View of Multicultural Elected Leadership in the United States,

C. Hardy-Fanta, C. Sierra, P. Lien , D. Pinderhughes, and W. Davis. APSA 9/3/05.

VRA covered jurisdictions. Among those serving on the school boards, 65.1 percent of Blacks,
84.5 percent of Asians, and 95.3 percent of Latinos were from VRA covered jurisdictions (Table
10).

The most obvious patterns shown here are that Black elected officials consistently

constitute the lowest percentages when compared to Asian Americans and Latinos across all
levels except American Indian state legislators. That is, 85.3 – 100 percent of Latino officials are
elected from jurisdictions covered by the Voting Rights Act. Sixty-five percent to 85.4 percent of
Asian officials are elected from jurisdictions covered by the Voting Rights Act, while only 57
percent to 71 percent of Blacks are so elected.

This might seem to constitute a paradox; it was African Americans for whom the Voting

Rights Act was originally enacted, and for which the weight of discrimination was first
recognized by the nation. Why would their representatives be elected in the lowest proportions
from jurisdictions covered by the Voting Rights Act?

First, African Americans and Latinos have substantially larger numbers of elected

officials than either Asian Americans or American Indians, whether in VRA counties or not. And
while African Americans and Latinos are closer in numbers of elected officials than Asians or
American Indians, the size of the pool of African American elected officials remains
considerably greater than that for Latina/os. Second, the geographic distribution and
concentration of the groups also differ considerably, with Blacks spread across a much wider
range of the country than any of the other non-white groups. While Blacks’ population
distribution is more concentrated than whites, Blacks are more widely settled than Latinos or
Asian Americans (see discussion above and U.S. Bureau of the Census, 2000).

Another way of representing this is shown in Table 11 reporting the counties in which

each group had its lowest levels of concentrations. Of the total counties nationwide (N=3,141),
Blacks were distributed in 64 percent of the counties at less than 6 percent, and in 36 percent of
the counties at proportions higher than 6 percent. By contrast, Asian Americans resided in 96
percent of U.S. counties at rates less than 4.2 percent, and in 4 percent of counties at greater than
that level. Latina/os were
present in 77.9 percent of
U.S. counties at less than 6
percent and in only 22
percent of counties at higher
rates. At lower levels of
representation, 75.8 percent
of U.S. counties were less
than 1 percent Asian
American, and 28.6 percent were less than 1 percent Latino.

The areas first covered by the Voting Rights Act in relation to African Americans were in

their areas of heaviest concentration, in southern states and counties. But Blacks also live in
some numbers and in relatively wide swaths of the country outside of these Voting Rights Act
jurisdictions. Asian Americans and Latinos live in more concentrated regions and are in smaller

Table 11. Number of Counties of Lowest Racial/Ethnic Concentrations

Counties of Lowest
Residence

% Group
Concentration

% Total US
Counties

African Americans

2010

< 6.0%

64.0%

Asian Americans

3019
2382

< 4.2%
< 1.0%

96.0%
75.8%

Latina/os

2447
899

< 6.0%
< 1.0%

77.9%
28.6%