James Jennings

Representation by Other Means: Mexican American and Puerto Rican Social Movement Organizations

Electoral participation is only one facet of a larger pattern of Latino political engagement. As the oldest Latino communities in the United States, Mexican Americans (since 1848) and Puerto Ricans (since 1898) have a long history of organizing to protect themselves against racial discrimination. Social movement organizations were often the only outlets for political representation and self-defense in a society where Latinos were outnumbered and barred from effective participation in the institutions of government. Latino organizations generated a leadership cadre and served as vehicles through which interests of class, gender, occupation, and ideology were mediated

The need for a third party in u.s. politics

Abstract This article is based on a presentation to the “Future Directions for American Politics and Public Policy” seminar at Harvard University, Kennedy School of Government, on May 6, 1993. The theme of the article is that a national third party is necessary in order to advance a social welfare agenda that would improve measurably the quality of urban life, and resolve the problem of race and racism in the United States. The author proposes that despite important changes in race relations, including the elimination of a multi‐generational system of legally‐sanctioned political apartheid, society still reflects continuing and intensifying race and class divisions and tensions. Neither the Democratic or Republican parties have the political will or base to offer policies that would effectively eliminate racial hierarchy in this country. It is argued that the development of a national and organzationally viable third party is essential in order to challenge the philosophical and political tendencies of th...