As San Diego's first Latino mayor, succeeding a White Republican, the key issue of your mandate will be the political incorporation of minorities that mobilized to elect you. Your election is a beginning: minority groups legitimately expect a change in city politics: they want a true commitment to their interests through the end of racial discrimination and the sharing of the benefits of government. To govern efficiently, you shall coordinate this expectation with the demands of the other groups. A multiracial coalition mobilized to elect you because it considered that representation and incorporation of minorities into government would result in responsive and beneficial policies. How did this happen? What is required for minority political incorporation? According to Browning et al., there are two steps to incorporate minorities: mobilization through protest activity, and mobilization through electoral effort.
[...] Of course, this measure of affirmative action calls for others. Moreover, drawing on Tom Bradley's precedent in Los Angeles, Hispanic and Latinos, as well as other members of the coalitions must be appointed to important city commissions, in order to have an efficient and broad representation of minority and general interest. Another important issue is police brutality; Browning et al's study considers police brutality to be a key index of minority empowerment. Following the example of Los Angeles, minorities can be protected from police abuses by holding police accountable. [...]
[...] Browning, Marshall and Tabb's study of big cities of California showed that the coalitions for minority incorporation often involved the same mixture of groups, which could lead us to think that these minority groups share a common ideology or political interest. However, because minorities multiplied and entered a competition for power, Sonsheim suggests in his study of Los Angeles that interracial coalitions are more and more, weak, changing and temporary. d. political incorporation and efficient government: towards a sustainable political alliance In this regard, how can we overcome the different interests and ideologies of the city's constituencies, and avoid backlash among the Anglos, that still comprise the majority of the city's actual voters? [...]
[...] Because the role of urban politics is to fulfill the needs of citizens, we should focus on providing minority groups with: Decent housing, by building low-income housing in the poor neighborhoods of San Diego, like Tom Bradley did in the Black neighborhood of Los Angeles; Services, that are often lacking: health care, fire protection, police protection; Accessible facilities, which promote a community life, such as parks and libraries. c. the issue of multiracial coalitions: how to hold a “rainbow” coalition together ? [...]
[...] found various minority political incorporation patterns in their study, and the ideal one is a biracial electoral coalition where minorities govern with Whites in a liberal coalition. Therefore, if we want to be successful, we must not be guided by self-interest. There are three concentric circles on which we must concentrate our efforts, without creating conflicts between them: the whole urban electorate, our rainbow coalition and our minority group. First, we need to put on the agenda issues of broad interest, like economic growth, in order to content the whole electorate. [...]
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