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Questions or comments? Please contact the editor, Denise Shanks
Is it important for Congress to accurately reflect the racial and gender composition of the United States? Has gerrymandering helped or hindered this goal? How does diversity impact other government institutions, such as the military? You will explore these questions in the exercise below.
Read this Christian Science Monitor article on racial preferences in the military http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0328/p11s01-coop.html
1. What is the argument the Generals use in favor of affirmative action?
2. What do they argue about race-neutral alternatives to achieving minority representation?
3. Read the Policy Debate in Chapter 10 and explain what happened to minority representation after Congress ordered states to create districts that were more favorable to minorities? (also see figure 12.1)
4. Go to http://www.senate.gov/reference/resources/pdf/RS22007.pdf and list how many blacks will serve in the 109 th Congress? How many women? Asians?
5. Using the logic from the Christian Science Monitor article, do you think that the generals would argue that increasing minority representation in Congress is important enough to consider race when redistricting?
6. What are the arguments for having more minority representation in Congress?
7. Read the Policy Debate in Chapter 10. Do you think taking race (and other sociological factors) into consideration when redistricting (gerrymandering) is a good idea? Why or why not?
