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Puerto Rican Politics In The United States: A Preliminary Assessment, José E. Cruz

New England Journal of Public Policy

This article examines the following question: What characterizes Puerto Rican political development and what promise does electoral politics hold for Puerto Ricans in the United States? Its central premise is that an analytical framework which focuses on economic deprivation and racial prejudice is partial and inadequate to an understanding of the political experience of Puerto Ricans. Throughout the years, mainland Puerto Ricans have moved in and out of the political stage holding the banners of anti-colonialism, separatism, incorporation, and ethnic identity in search of vantage points from which they can satisfy their cultural, social, and economic needs. Despite the Airbus …

Mexican-American Class Structure And Political Participation, Jorge Chapa

New England Journal of Public Policy

This article examines the political attitudes and participation of Mexican-Americans in the context of Milton Gordon's assimilation theory and William Julius Wilson's analyses of bifurcated economic structures resulting in middle-class and lower- or underclass populations. For Gordon, civic assimilation was a step toward complete assimilation. After demonstrating that the Mexican-American population has not achieved parity with the Anglo population even when controlling for generational differences over five decades, the author specifically examines the political attitudes and practices of lower-class (high school dropouts) and middle-class (high school graduates) third-generation Mexican-Americans. The two class groups have similar attitudes about bilingual education and …

"New" Civil Rights Strategies For Latino Political Empowerment, Seth Racusen

New England Journal of Public Policy

Latinos became the largest "minority" group and significantly increased their political representation in Massachusetts in the past decade. Even with these gains, their political power is not nearly commensurate with the size of their population. Many aspects of Latino political demographics, including a large immigrant population with low citizenship rates, high poverty rates, and dispersion across many electoral districts, contribute to their underrepresentation. The political demographics facing Massachusetts Latinos have led many analysts to prescribe alternative electoral systems as avenues to achieve increased political representation. This article reviews the critiques of the 1970s and 1980s civil rights redistricting strategies and …

Latina Women And Political Leadership: Implications For Latino Community Empowerment, Carol Hardy-Fanta

New England Journal of Public Policy

Mainstream studies of Latino politics have tended to reflect a primarily male view of political participation and political leadership. In such a view, the study of Latino political leadership continues the tradition of viewing leadership as derived from official positions in elected or appointed office and informal organizations. This article demonstrates that (1) contrary to prevailing myths, Latina women in Massachusetts run for and are elected to office in very high numbers, and (2) when the definition of political leadership is expanded to include community-based, not solely position-derived, forms of leadership, Latino community empowerment may depend, to a great extent, …

Speech: The Handover, Desmond Tutu

Archbishop Desmond Tutu Collection Textual

The speech that Archbishop Tutu made in Pretoria South Africa during the handing over of the Truth & Reconciliation Commission final report to President Thabo Mbeki. Handwritten notes throughout typewritten speech.

The Agrarian Legacy: A Study Of Political Structure And Ideology In Modern China, Zuo Xiang

Morehead State Theses and Dissertations

A thesis presented to the faculty of the College of Education and Behavioral Sciences at Morehead State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Sociology by Zuo Xiang in December of 1992.

Vote Dilution Research: Methods Of Analysis, Sheila Ards, Marjorie Lewis

Trotter Review

Why have issues which disproportionately affect African Americans not been brought to the policy forefront and given attention properly so that effective solutions can be found? Because of their roles as controllers of the government's budget, politicians and other policy makers decide which problems will be addressed. It is important, therefore, that African Americans elect political candidates of their choice. In the past, African Americans largely were outside the arena of public policy setting. Thus, solutions to problems which disproportionately affected African Americans were not pursued.

Race And Presidential Politics '92: The Challenge To Go Another Way, May Louie

Trotter Review

At presidential election time in 1992, America is once again looking at limited political options for national leadership. The Republican party platform is its most conservative ever. The Democratic party ticket is dominated by southern Dixiecrats. And we who have marched and organized, and risked and sacrificed much for racial equality and political empowerment, must now match our sense of foreboding with our determination to meet the challenge before us. Jesse Jackson's 1984 and 1988 nation-shaking, agenda-setting presidential campaigns took us to places we had never been before and gave us a glimpse at the possibility of racial and economic …

Black Women And The American Political System, Dorothy A. Clark

Trotter Review

Black women and politics—it is an association rarely made by the American electorate. As a group, black women have never been prominent players in the nation's political arena. In a system of decision making and power holding designed and dominated by white men, black women are an alien group in the formal political process. Their participation in that process has been limited—indeed often blocked—by a hierarchical system of race, gender, and class oppression that relegates black women to the lowest rungs of the political power ladder.

Ron Daniels: Profile Of A Presidential Candidate, Harold Horton

Trotter Review

The mass media has said very little about it, but Ron Daniels, an African American, is a presidential candidate. In 1988, Daniels was the southern regional coordinator and deputy campaign manager for Jesse Jackson's campaign. Daniels, a veteran social and political activist as well as former director of the National Rainbow Coalition, declared his candidacy for president at a news conference October 14, 1991.

From 1974 to 1980, Daniels served as president of the National Black Political Assembly and in 1980, he was the chairperson of the founding convention of the National Black Independent Political Party. Daniels was the convener …

A Historic Moment: Black Voters And The 1992 Presidential Race, Clarence Lusane

Trotter Review

November 2, 1991, may well be remembered as a watershed date in the unique and quixotic 1992 presidential race. On that day, stating that he would "not seek the nomination for the Democratic Party," Jesse Jackson backed out of the presidential campaign spotlight and started a chain reaction that has put the black vote in perhaps its least influential position since before 1984.

Extremely low black voter turnout was one of the most significant trends of the 1992 primaries. In the Democratic contests, Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton won an impressive percentage of black votes, about 70 percent. However, those votes …

A. Philip Randolph And Boston's African-American Railroad Worker, James R. Green, Robert C. Hayden

Trotter Review

On October 8, 1988, a group of retired Pullman car porters and dining car waiters gathered in Boston's Back Bay Station for the unveiling of a larger-than-life statue of A. Philip Randolph. During the 1920s and 1930s, Randolph was a pioneering black labor leader who led the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. He came to be considered the "father of the modern civil rights movement" as a result of his efforts to desegregate World War II defense jobs and the military services. Randolph's importance as a militant leader is highlighted by a quote inscribed on the base of the statue …

Introduction, James Jennings

Trotter Review

This special issue of the Trotter Review is devoted to a broad range of topics related to race, power, and voting. Although voting is a critically important political tool for black America, the vote does not necessarily guarantee that a group will enjoy power in society. At the same time that we seek greater rates of voter registration and turnout at all levels of the electoral process, we must also continue to struggle towards an agenda that delivers power to the black community.

The issue opens with an explanation of why statehood for Washington, D.C., should be a key item …

Promoting Voting Behavior Among Low Income Black Voters Using Reminder Letters: An Experimental Investigation, William Kelly Canady, Bruce A. Thyer

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

A controlled experimental design applied in a field setting was used to determine the effectiveness of a bipartisan mailed letter reminding registered low income black voters to participate in the 1988 Presidential election. Each member of three groups of approximately 85 voters received either one, two or three such reminder letters shortly before the election. A fourth, control group of voters did not receive any letters. Statistical analysis revealed that the reminder letters appeared to have no effect on voting behavior.

The Vanguard (Vol. 36 [37], No. 6 [1]), Nov-Dec [Jan-Feb] 1990, Lutheran Human Relations Association Of America

The Vanguard

During the mid-1980s, the Rural Crisis Issue Team of the National Council of churches worked with several Inner-City Church Groups on the loss of land experienced by farmers, especially black farmers, and the changing food system and Rural-Urban Connection Conferences across the country. It was evident by the attendance at those events that urban dwellers were not too concerned that farmers were being forced from the land but some participants registered concern over the quality and price of food stuffs.

The Vanguard (Vol. 36, No. 6), Nov-Dec 1989, Lutheran Human Relations Association Of America

The Vanguard

When an ecumenical gathering of 30 clergy arid lay persons circled Jorge, a Guatemalan refugee, on Sept 15, 1983, in front of the altar at Cross Church, Milwaukee, and an ecumenical congregation of 250 stood in solidarity with them to prayerfully inaugurate sanctuary at Cross Church, we at Cross Church knew we had done the right thing. We were convinced that the Spirit had been leading. We felt confident that our action was part of the coming of Christ's Kingdom of justice and peace.

The Vanguard (Vol. 36, No. 5), Sep-Oct 1989, Lutheran Human Relations Association Of America

The Vanguard

Ada Maria Isasi-Diaz, is Director of Program and Associate General Director of Church Women United. Born and educated in Cuba, she has lived in the United Stares since 1960. A Roman Catholic, Ms. Isasi-Diaz is an accomplished linguist and has written extensively in both Spanish and English. The following is the text from her keynote speech at the LHRAA Summer Institute "Andando Juntos."

I am most grateful for the invitation to be here with you. It has given me the opportunity to reflect on the issue of ministry among Hispanics and to put in writing some of the understandings and …

The Vanguard (Vol. 36, No. 3), May-Jun 1989, Lutheran Human Relations Association Of America

The Vanguard

AMERICA'S LARGEST RELIGION IS more often blamed for creating our environmental problems than credited with helping to solve them. Indeed, ever since historian Lynn White, Jr., published "The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis" (Science magazine in 1967), the anti-earth nature of Christianity has become standard doctrine in environmental circles. (Mother Earth News, Nov/Dec issue, repeated this truism in their "Open Road" column.)

The quote above from the first chapter of Genesis forms the backbone of White's-and others'-arguments that Christianity is an anti-ecological religion. And certainly, the notion of subduing the earth and taking dominion over its creatures does sound …

Radical Perspectives On The Rise Of Fascism In Germany, 1919-1945, Michael N. Dobkowski, Isidor Wallimann

Books

The rise of National Socialism in Germany and the resulting Holocaust has proven to be one of the most engaging subjects of historical reflection. Rather than presenting the Weimar Republic as a failed democracy, flawed in both its political culture and its democratic institutional tradition, and undermined by an economic collapse, the emphasis here will be on seeing it as a developed capitalist society with distinct structural deficiencies and contradictions that weakened it from the outset.

The Vanguard (Vol. 35, No. 4), Jul-Aug 1989, Lutheran Human Relations Association Of America

The Vanguard

Armies of both liberation and occupation have incited fear throughout history in the lands through which they marched or in which they were posted. Since World War II, an increasingly militarized world has continued to suffer under the power of this military presence.

Strong cries of protest are now not only being raised, but are also finally being heard. Not surprisingly, they are women's voices. Women worldwide, struggling for their own human rights, are also expressing the rage and horror of their people who witness the ravishment of their culture, their land, and their lives.

Political Participation Of Puerto Rican Women: Mapping A Research Agenda, Sherrie Baver

Publications and Research

This article reviews the theoretical approaches used to study Hispanic women in politics and highlights their inadequacies for studying the political behavior of low-income Puerto Rican women, who are used as a case in point. It is not an in-depth study but an effort to develop appropriate research questions and to suggest strategies for the systematic collection of data. In general, community groups are the basic arena for the political activity of Puerto Rican women in New York City. Thus, new theoretical approaches are necessary to capture Hispanic women’s modes of influencing public policy.

The Vanguard (Vol. 35, No. 1), Jan-Feb 1988, Lutheran Human Relations Association Of America

The Vanguard

Capital, along with labor, is a fundamental building block of American society. Together they help create the industry services, and information we need to live in the present and to build for the future.

But what kind of future? The purpose of this article is to help you shape a healthy future through socially responsible investing.

You can help influence the way our economy uses capital, regardless of your financial position - whether you are just beginning to accumulate capital, whether you have substantial wealth in a multitude of investments, or even if you have no money to invest.

The Vanguard (Vol. 34, No. 1), Jan-Feb 1987, Lutheran Human Relations Association Of America

The Vanguard

About 110 Christians from across the U.S. recently gathered on Chicago's South Side for a three day conference to examine and reflect on the Kairos Document of South Africa. They were joined by dozens of southern Africans, including several who were at the heart of that document's genesis, and who shared with participants some story of the document's unique evolution as 'Challenge to the Church: A Theological Comment on the Political Crisis m South Africa.'

The Vanguard (Vol. 34, No. 5), Sep-Oct 1987, Lutheran Human Relations Association Of America

The Vanguard

Participants at the 1987 Human Relations Institute meeting Waukesha, WI, July 17-19 were challenged to respond to the suffering of the world while being renewed by the promise of Jubilee and hope proclaimed in the scriptures.

In a keynote address Friday afternoon, the Rev. Barbara Lundblad, pastor of Our Saviours Atonement Lutheran Church in New York City, urged participants to reclaim the whole of the Bible both Old and New Testaments to help understand the Jubilee tradition.

The Vanguard (Vol. 33, No. 7), Nov-Dec 1986, Lutheran Human Relations Association Of America

The Vanguard

Allegations by Lutheran and Presbyterian congregations that body-bug-packing undercover agents of the United States government violated their constitutional rights were dismissed in mid October by a federal judge in Phoenix, AZ.

What it means, commented the Rev. James A. Oines, pastor of Alzona Lutheran Church, Phoenix, one of the congregations that was infiltrated, is that the federal government "can come into any church, any time, with a tape recorder, and without a warrant. And they have said they would do it."

The Vanguard (Vol. 33, No. 6), Sep-Oct 1986, Lutheran Human Relations Association Of America

The Vanguard

When Rev. Brian (Red) Burchfield went to South Africa, he believed he and his co-pastor/wife Susan were missionaries to that racially-divided nation. Now, however, he understands that he was meant all along to be a missionary to the U.S.

Arriving in Cape Town last January to serve several, small congregations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in South Africa (ELCSA), Burchfield said they were met with two responses: "a warm and gracious reception and ... an attitude that took for granted that we would be going back to the United States and beginning our real work."

The Vanguard (Vol. 33, No. 5), July 1986, Lutheran Human Relations Association Of America

The Vanguard

Church leaders in El Salvador, the U.S. and Europe have firmly denied accusations by a member of the non-governmental Human Rights Commission that the leader of the Lutheran Synod of El Salvador is a member of the Communist Party.

In a May 30 press conference, Luz Yaneth Alfaro Pena linked humanitarian and church-based organizations to the Faribundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN), a guerrilla federation aiming to overthrow the Salvadoran government.

The Vanguard (Vol. 33, No. 4), June 1986, Lutheran Human Relations Association Of America

The Vanguard

Sanctuary activists around the country have vowed to continue to provide assistance to refugees of Central American war despite the conviction of six Sanctuary workers May 1 in Tucson, Ariz.

After a six-month trial, the verdict returned by the jury convicted six defendants of conspiracy plus lesser charges. convicted two others on lesser charges only, and acquitted three defendants. The lesser charges included harboring. transporting and encouraging the illegal entry of aliens.

The Vanguard (Vol. 33, No. 3), May 1986, Lutheran Human Relations Association Of America

The Vanguard

Lutherans Concerned/North America has recently distributed '' A Call for Dialog,'' a theological document offered as a resource for gay and lesbian Christians and for the churches.

Approved by the LC/NA board last fall, the Call for Dialog is the result of more than two years of study, writing and redrafting by a Task Force on 1beology. The task force included several ordained people, and the redrafting was based on comments by LC/NA members, theologians and church leaders.

The Vanguard (Vol. 33, No. 1), Feb 1986, Lutheran Human Relations Association Of America

The Vanguard

In Tucson, the trial of the 11 Sanctuary workers continued in January, one year after a grand jury returned indictments against them.

Defense attorneys have repeatedly challenged the government's key informant, Jesus Cruz, in an attempt to discredit him.