Local Politics at the Forefront of America’s Fight for Racial Equality

Session Submission Type: In-Person Created Panel

Session Description

The movement for racial justice is taking place on the streets and in the neighborhoods of cities across the world. In the United States, the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis has sparked new momentum for police reform, accountability of law enforcement, and housing reforms. Yet these calls for racial justice are not new, and have been active at the grassroots throughout American history. This panel examines how very local political factors -- district attorneys and sheriffs’ offices, local police departments, grassroots political organizations, and even block parties -- shape political engagement and the quest for racial justice. Importantly, they draw attention to important political and social factors, including partisanship, citizen empowerment, political networks and social capital in shaping political participation and prospects for reform. By drawing from diverse methodological and theoretical approaches, this panel uncovers the local roots of political life in the United States.

This panel highlights the diversity of political life in American cities and towns. For example, “Criminal Justice, Inequality, and Voter Behavior” is a comprehensive study of inequalities in local criminal justice politics. The paper examines Americans’ voting behavior in elections for local prosecutors and sheriffs using both election results across the country and original surveys of Americans at the national-level and in 11 individual cities and counties. Focusing on police reform, “Local Government: Social Accountability and #Black Lives Matter” introduces a new model of police accountability that focuses on horizontal ties and citizen empowerment. Though not explicitly about race, “Shared Space, Social Capital and Voter Turnout: Block Parties in Philadelphia” also emphasizes the importance of horizontal linkages and social capital, finding that they have a causal impact on voter turnout. Finally, drawing from participant observation research, “Grassroots Political Organizations in American Political Development” explains how grassroots organizations in the Deep South contribute to policy making in a federal system.

This set of papers highlights the surprising and pluralistic spaces of politics, which include activist organizations in the Deep South, Black Lives Matter protests across the country, block parties in Philadelphia, and district attorneys’ offices. Moreover, they require diverse methodological tools. In line with the meeting theme “Promoting Pluralism,” this panel puts participant observers, survey researchers, content analysts, and spatial data experts in conversation with one another to discuss the quest for racial justice, one of the most important political challenges of our time. It will highlight the power and potential of local interventions, choices, and movements to driving progress and transforming American society and politics from below.

Sub Unit

• Theme Panel

Cosponsor

• Division 30: Urban Politics

Individual Presentations

• Criminal Justice, Inequality, and Voter Behavior - Justin de Benedictis-Kessner, Harvard University; John M. Sides, Vanderbilt University; Christopher Warshaw, George Washington University

• Grassroots Political Organizations in American Political Development - Gwen Prowse, Yale University

• Local Government: Social Accountability and #Black Lives Matter - Rosa Castillo Krewson, Virginia Commonwealth University; Lorita Daniels

• Shared Space, Social Capital and Voter Turnout: Block Parties in Philadelphia - Michael Jones-Correa, University of Pennsylvania; Tanika Raychaudhuri, University of Houston

Chair

• Amber Wichowsky Marquette University

Discussant

• Amber Wichowsky Marquette University