📚 Race and Rights in Contemporary US Politics | 当代美国政治中的种族与权利
Race has long been a fault line in American society, and its role in contemporary US politics remains as contentious as ever. From the legacy of the civil rights movement to recent flashpoints such as police killings of unarmed Black citizens and debates over immigration policy, questions of racial equality and rights continue to shape electoral outcomes, public policy and judicial interpretation. This article examines how race intersects with constitutional protections, political mobilisation and institutional power in the United States today, focusing on key developments from the late twentieth century into the 2020s.
种族一直美国社会的断裂线，在当代美国政治中其角色依然充满争议。从民权运动的遗产到近期警察杀害手无寸铁的黑人公民等热点事件，再到移民政策的辩论，种族平等与权利问题持续影响着选举结果、公共政策和司法诠释。本文审视种族如何与宪法保护、政治动员和制度权力相交织，重点分析从二十世纪末至2020年代的关键发展。
1. Historical Context of Civil Rights | 民权的历史背景
Contemporary debates over race are rooted in the long struggle for African American equality. The Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the US Constitution, adopted after the Civil War, abolished slavery, guaranteed equal protection of the laws and prohibited racial discrimination in voting. However, Jim Crow laws in the South effectively disenfranchised Black citizens until the mid-twentieth century. The landmark Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education (1954) declared racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional, triggering massive resistance but also energising the civil rights movement.
当代关于种族的辩论根植于非裔美国人争取平等的漫长斗争。内战后通过的宪法第十三、十四和十五修正案废除了奴隶制，保障了法律平等保护，并禁止在投票中的种族歧视。然而，南方的吉姆·克劳法实际上剥夺了黑人公民的选举权直至二十世纪中叶。里程碑式的最高法院判决布朗诉教育委员会案（1954）宣布公立学校的种族隔离违宪，引发了大规模抵制，但也激活了民权运动。
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 represented the legislative high-water mark of the movement, prohibiting discrimination in public accommodations, employment and voting. These statutes, together with affirmative action policies introduced in the late 1960s, established a federal commitment to racial equality. Yet the subsequent decades revealed that legal reforms alone could not erase deeply embedded structural inequalities in housing, education, wealth and criminal justice.
1964年的《民权法案》和1965年的《投票权法案》代表了该运动的立法高峰，禁止在公共设施、就业和投票中的歧视。这些法律与1960年代末推出的平权行动政策一起，确立了联邦政府对种族平等的承诺。然而，随后的几十年表明，仅靠法律改革无法消除住房、教育、财富和刑事司法中根深蒂固的结构性不平等。
2. The Voting Rights Act and Its Legacy | 《投票权法案》及其遗留问题
The Voting Rights Act (VRA) of 1965 is often described as the most effective piece of civil rights legislation in American history. Section 5 required jurisdictions with a history of discrimination to obtain federal 'preclearance' before changing voting laws. This provision dramatically increased Black voter registration and electoral participation. However, in Shelby County v. Holder (2013), the Supreme Court struck down the coverage formula used to determine which jurisdictions were subject to preclearance, effectively gutting Section 5 enforcement.
1965年的《投票权法案》常被称为美国史上最有效的民权立法。其第五条要求有歧视历史的司法辖区在修改投票法之前获得联邦“预审”。这一条款极大地提高了黑人选民登记和选举参与。然而，在谢尔比县诉霍尔德案（2013）中，最高法院推翻了用于确定哪些辖区需接受预审的覆盖公式，实际上废除了第五条的执行。
In the aftermath, numerous states enacted restrictive voting laws, including strict photo ID requirements, reductions in early voting and purges of voter rolls. Critics argue that these measures disproportionately affect racial minorities, the elderly and low-income citizens. Supporters claim they are necessary to prevent voter fraud, though documented instances of impersonation fraud are exceedingly rare. The Department of Justice under both the Obama and Biden administrations has challenged several such laws under the remaining provisions of the VRA, but with limited success.
此后，许多州制定了限制性投票法，包括严格的带照片身份要求、减少提前投票和清洗选民名册。批评者认为，这些措施对少数族裔、老年人和低收入公民造成不成比例的影响。支持者声称这些措施为防止选民欺诈所必需，尽管记录在案的假冒欺诈案例极为罕见。奥巴马和拜登政府下的司法部都曾根据《投票权法案》剩余条款挑战过若干此类法律，但成效有限。
More recently, the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act has been proposed in Congress to restore preclearance requirements, but partisan gridlock has blocked its passage. The battle over voting access highlights enduring racial tensions in the political system, with minority voting power becoming a central issue in federal and state elections.
最近，《约翰·刘易斯投票权促进法案》在国会提出以恢复预审要求，但党派僵局阻碍了其通过。围绕投票权的斗争凸显了政治体系中持久的种族张力，少数族裔的投票权成为联邦和州选举中的核心议题。
3. Affirmative Action and Equal Protection | 平权行动与平等保护
Affirmative action in higher education and employment has been one of the most divisive racial policies in contemporary US politics. Initially designed to remedy past discrimination and promote diversity, these programmes have faced repeated legal challenges under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. In Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978), the Supreme Court ruled that rigid racial quotas were unconstitutional but allowed race to be considered as one factor among many in admissions.
高等教育和就业中的平权行动一直是当代美国政治中最具分裂性的种族政策之一。这些项目最初旨在纠正过去的歧视并促进多样性，但一直面临依据第十四修正案平等保护条款的反复法律挑战。在加州大学董事会诉巴基案（1978）中，最高法院裁定僵化的种族配额违宪，但允许在招生中将种族作为众多因素之一来考虑。
The Court revisited the issue in Grutter v. Bollinger (2003) and Fisher v. University of Texas (2016), upholding the limited use of race in admissions. However, the conservative majority cemented in the Trump era shifted the legal landscape. In Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard (2023), the Supreme Court effectively ended race-conscious admissions in higher education, ruling that Harvard's and UNC's practices violated the Equal Protection Clause. The decision provoked fierce debate about the future of campus diversity and the meaning of equal opportunity.
最高法院在格鲁特诉博林杰案（2003）和费舍尔诉得克萨斯大学案（2016）中重新审视了该问题，支持招生中种族有限制的使用。然而，特朗普时代巩固的保守派多数改变了法律格局。在学生公平录取组织诉哈佛案（2023）中，最高法院实际上结束了高等教育中种族意识的招生，裁定哈佛和北卡罗来纳大学的做法违反平等保护条款。该判决引发了关于校园多样性未来和机会平等含义的激烈辩论。
Beyond education, affirmative action in federal contracting and employment remains subject to executive orders and judicial interpretation. Debates linger over whether race-neutral alternatives can achieve similar levels of representation, and whether meritocracy can ever be colour-blind in a society shaped by historical racism.
在教育之外，联邦承包和就业中的平权行动仍受制于行政命令和司法解释。争论围绕种族中立的替代方案能否达到同样的代表性水平，以及在一个受历史种族主义塑造的社会里，贤能制度能否真正无视肤色。
4. Police Brutality and Black Lives Matter | 警察暴力与黑人的命也是命运动
The killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer in May 2020 ignited the largest racial justice protests in the United States since the 1960s. The Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, founded in 2013 after the acquittal of Trayvon Martin s killer, evolved into a global call for police reform and an end to systemic racism. The protests not only forced a national reckoning with police violence but also propelled race to the centre of the 2020 presidential election.
2020年5月，明尼阿波利斯一名警察杀害乔治·弗洛伊德，引发了自1960年代以来美国最大规模的种族正义抗议。黑人的命也是命运动成立于2013年特雷文·马丁枪杀者被判无罪之后，发展为一场呼吁警察改革和结束系统性种族主义的全球运动。抗议活动不仅迫使全国正视警察暴力，而且将种族问题推向2020年总统大选的中心。
Data consistently show that Black Americans are disproportionately killed by police relative to their share of the population. High-profile cases such as Breonna Taylor and Jacob Blake further fuelled demands to 'defund the police' and reallocate resources to social services. While some cities experimented with budget reallocations, the slogan became politically polarising, with Republicans accusing Democrats of being soft on crime.
数据一致显示，非裔美国人被警察杀害的比例远高于其人口占比。布伦娜·泰勒和雅各布·布莱克等引人注目的案件进一步推动了旨在“削减警察经费”并将资源重新分配给社会服务的要求。尽管有些城市尝试了预算重新分配，但这一口号在政治上变得极化，共和党人指责民主党人对犯罪软弱。
At the federal level, the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, aimed at banning chokeholds and qualified immunity for officers, passed the House but stalled in the Senate. Meanwhile, states adopted a patchwork of reforms, with some strengthening accountability and others expanding police protections. The BLM movement has also faced criticism over organisational transparency and has seen public support fluctuate, though its impact on political discourse remains significant.
在联邦层面，旨在禁止锁喉和取消警察有限豁免权的《乔治·弗洛伊德警务正义法案》在众议院获得通过，但在参议院陷入停滞。与此同时，各州采取了零散的改革，一些加强了问责制，另一些则扩大了对警察的保护。BLM运动还因组织透明度问题受到批评，公众支持度也曾波动，但其对政治话语的影响仍然显著。
5. Immigration and Latinx Rights | 移民与拉丁裔权利
Race in contemporary US politics extends beyond the Black–white binary to encompass the experiences of Latino, Asian American and Indigenous communities. Immigration policy has become deeply racialised, particularly under the Trump administration, which enacted measures such as the 'Muslim travel ban', family separations at the border and attempts to rescind Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). These policies were often framed in language that critics decried as xenophobic and racially charged.
当代美国政治中的种族超越了黑白二元，涵盖拉丁裔、亚裔美国人和原住民社区的经历。移民政策已经高度种族化，尤其是在特朗普政府时期，该政府实施了所谓“穆斯林旅行禁令”、边境家庭分离以及试图撤销童年抵美者暂缓遣返（DACA）等措施。这些政策常常被批评者谴责为仇外的和具有种族色彩的言辞。
The growth of the Latino electorate has transformed electoral politics, particularly in swing states like Arizona, Nevada and Florida. Issues such as a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, border security and refugee admissions are not only policy debates but also symbols of racial inclusion or exclusion. The 2021 surge in anti-Asian hate crimes during the COVID-19 pandemic further highlighted how racial animus can escalate in times of crisis, drawing attention to the intersection of race, immigration and public health.
拉丁裔选民的增长已经改变了选举政治，尤其是在亚利桑那、内华达和佛罗里达等摇摆州。诸如为无证移民提供通往公民身份的途径、边境安全和难民接收等问题不仅是政策辩论，也象征着种族包容或排斥。2021年疫情期间反亚裔仇恨犯罪的激增进一步凸显了种族敌意在危机时期如何升级，引起对种族、移民和公共卫生交叉点的关注。
While the Biden administration reversed many Trump-era immigration restrictions, the surge of migrants at the southern border has created political headaches and fuelled Republican claims that Democrats are failing to secure the border. Comprehensive immigration reform remains elusive, leaving millions of undocumented immigrants in legal limbo and perpetuating racialised narratives about who belongs in America.
尽管拜登政府推翻了特朗普时代的许多移民限制，但南部边境移民激增带来了政治难题，助长了共和党关于民主党未能确保边境安全的指控。全面的移民改革仍然难以实现，使数百万无证移民处于法律困境，并使关于谁属于美国的种族化叙事持续存在。
6. Supreme Court Decisions on Race | 最高法院关于种族的判决
The US Supreme Court has played a defining role in shaping the legal framework for racial equality. From upholding the constitutionality of internment of Japanese Americans in Korematsu v. United States (1944) to striking down school segregation in Brown, the Court s interpretations of the Fourteenth Amendment have swung between protecting minority rights and deferring to state prerogatives. In recent decades, the conservative-leaning Court has shown deep scepticism toward race-conscious government policies.
美国最高法院在塑造种族平等的法律框架方面发挥了决定性作用。从在是松诉美国案（1944）中支持拘留日裔美国人的合宪性，到在布朗案中废除学校种族隔离，法院对第十四修正案的解释在保护少数族裔权利与遵从州特权之间摇摆。近几十年来，倾向保守派的最高法院显示出对种族意识的政府政策的深度怀疑。
Key rulings illustrate this trend. In Shelby County v. Holder (2013), the Court invalidated the preclearance formula of the Voting Rights Act, arguing that the formula was based on outdated data. In Abbott v. Perez (2018), the Court made it harder to prove racial gerrymandering. The 2023 Harvard admissions case marked a decisive shift, with Chief Justice John Roberts declaring that 'eliminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of it.'
关键判决说明了这一趋势。在谢尔比县诉霍尔德案（2013）中，最高法院废除了《投票权法案》的预审公式，认为该公式基于过时的数据。在阿博特诉佩雷斯案（2018）中，法院使证明种族选区划分的难度增加。2023年的哈佛招生案标志着一个决定性转变，首席大法官约翰·罗伯茨宣称“消除种族歧视意味着消除所有种族歧视”。
Below is a summary of select Supreme Court cases involving race:
下表汇总了涉及种族的部分最高法院判例：
| Case | Year | Ruling Impact |
|---|---|---|
| Brown v. Board | 1954 | Ended school segregation |
| Korematsu v. US | 1944 | Allowed Japanese internment (widely condemned) |
| Shelby County v. Holder | 2013 | Weakened Voting Rights Act |
| Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard | 2023 | Ended race-based admissions |
The ideological composition of the Court, heavily influenced by presidential appointments, means that federal jurisprudence on race is likely to remain restrictive for the foreseeable future. This has prompted calls from progressives to expand the Court or limit its jurisdiction.
最高法院的意识形态构成深受总统任命的影响，这意味着关于种族的联邦判例法在未来可预见的时期内可能会继续保持限制性。这引发了进步派关于扩大法院或限制其管辖权的呼吁。
7. Racial Gerrymandering and Representation | 种族选区划分与代表权
Redistricting, the process of drawing electoral district boundaries, often becomes a tool for diluting minority voting power. Racial gerrymandering can take the form of 'cracking' – spreading minority voters across multiple districts so they lack a majority anywhere – or 'packing' – concentrating them into a single district to minimise their influence elsewhere. The Voting Rights Act had required that districts be drawn to give minorities an opportunity to elect their preferred representatives, but this requirement has been eroded.
选区重划，即绘制选举区边界的过程，常常成为稀释少数族裔投票权的工具。种族选区划分可以采取“拆分”的形式——将少数族裔选民分散到多个选区，使他们在任何地方都缺乏多数——或“集中”——将他们集中到一个选区以最小化他们在其他地方的影响。《投票权法案》曾要求选区划分应给予少数族裔选举其首选代表的机会，但这一要求已被削弱。
Supreme Court rulings such as Shelby County and Abbott v. Perez have made it harder to challenge discriminatory maps. States like North Carolina and Texas have repeatedly seen their district maps struck down or challenged for diluting Black and Latino votes. Meanwhile, partisan gerrymandering, while often overlapping with racial effects, has been declared a non-justiciable political question by the Court, leaving minority communities with limited legal recourse.
谢尔比县案和阿博特诉佩雷斯案等最高法院判决使得挑战歧视性选区地图更加困难。北卡罗来纳和得克萨斯等州因其选区地图稀释黑人和拉丁裔选票而屡次被推翻或被挑战。与此同时，党派性选区划分虽然常常与种族效应重叠，但被最高法院宣布为不可审理的政治问题，使少数族裔社区法律救济途径有限。
Independent redistricting commissions in states such as Michigan and California offer an alternative, yet they remain the exception rather than the norm. The 2020 redistricting cycle, conducted after the census, sparked fresh litigation and illustrated how demographic changes and partisan control intersect with race to shape political representation for the next decade.
密歇根和加利福尼亚等州的独立选区重划委员会提供了一种替代方案，但它们仍然是例外而非惯例。在人口普查之后进行的2020年选区重划周期引发了新的诉讼，并展示了人口变化和党派控制如何与种族交织在一起，塑造未来十年的政治代表。
8. The Impact of the 2020 Election and Capitol Riot | 2020年选举与国会山骚乱的影响
The 2020 presidential election saw record turnout among minority voters, with Joe Biden winning overwhelming support from Black, Latino and Asian American communities. However, the aftermath of the election exposed deep racial fissures. Donald Trump s repeated false claims of widespread voter fraud centred on cities with large Black populations such as Detroit, Philadelphia and Atlanta, which critics interpreted as an attempt to delegitimise minority votes.
2020年总统选举中，少数族裔选民的投票率创纪录，乔·拜登赢得了黑人、拉丁裔和亚裔美国人社区的压倒性支持。然而，选举的余波暴露了深刻的种族裂痕。唐纳德·特朗普一再谎称存在广泛的选民欺诈，这些指控集中于底特律、费城和亚特兰大等拥有大量黑人人口的城市，批评者将其解读为试图非法化少数族裔选票。
The January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol by a predominantly white mob further highlighted the role of white grievance politics. Comparisons were drawn between the law enforcement response to the Capitol riot and the heavy-handed tactics used against Black Lives Matter protesters the previous summer. The presence of white supremacist symbols among the rioters underscored the racial dimensions of the 'Stop the Steal' movement.
2021年1月6日，主要由白人组成的暴徒袭击了美国国会大厦，进一步凸显了白人不满政治的角色。人们将执法部门对国会山骚乱的反应与前一年夏天对黑人的命也是命抗议者使用的高压手段进行了比较。暴徒中白人至上主义符号的存在突显了“停止偷窃”运动的种族维度。
In the following months, Republican-controlled state legislatures passed dozens of laws that civil rights groups argued would suppress minority turnout. The narrative of election integrity versus voter suppression became a key dividing line between the parties, with race sitting squarely at the centre of the dispute.
在随后的几个月里，共和党控制的州立法机构通过了数十项法律，民权组织认为这些法律将压制少数族裔的投票率。选举公正与选民压制的叙事成为两党之间的关键分界线，种族处于争端的正中心。
9. The Role of Media and Political Discourse | 媒体与政治话语的作用
Contemporary media landscapes amplify and shape racial narratives in politics. Cable news channels like Fox News and MSNBC offer starkly different framings of race-related events, while social media platforms enable movements such as #BlackLivesMatter and #StopAsianHate to gain global visibility. However, the same platforms also allow disinformation and racist tropes to spread rapidly, from the 'birther' conspiracy against President Obama to the 'great replacement' theory that motivated some mass shooters.
当代媒体格局放大并塑造了政治中的种族叙事。福克斯新闻和MSNBC等有线新闻频道对与种族相关的事件提供截然不同的框架，而社交媒体平台使诸如#黑人的命也是命和#停止亚裔仇恨等运动获得全球可见度。然而，同样的平台也让虚假信息和种族主义比喻迅速传播，从针对奥巴马总统的“出生地”阴谋论到驱动某些大规模枪手的“大替代”理论。
Political leaders frequently use coded racial language – keywords such as 'welfare queens', 'inner-city crime' and 'illegal aliens' – to mobilise voters without explicitly violating norms against overt racism. Scholars refer to this as 'dog-whistle politics'. The debate over critical race theory (CRT) in schools became a major flashpoint in 2021, with conservative media framing CRT as an anti-white ideology, though the term was often applied loosely to any diversity education.
政治领导人经常使用编码的种族语言——诸如“福利女王”、“内城犯罪”和“非法外国人”等关键词——来动员选民，同时不明显违反反对公开种族主义的规范。学者称之为“狗哨政治”。2021年，关于学校中批判性种族理论的辩论成为一个主要爆发点，保守派媒体将CRT框定为反白人意识形态，尽管该术语常被宽泛地用于任何多元化教育。
The fracturing of media ecosystems means that voters increasingly inhabit partisan information bubbles, reinforcing racial attitudes and limiting cross-racial understanding. This polarisation makes bipartisan compromise on racial justice legislation extremely difficult and entrenches racial divisions in the electorate.
媒体生态系统的分裂意味着选民越来越多地生活在党派信息泡沫中，强化了种族态度并限制了跨种族理解。这种极化使得在种族正义立法上达成两党妥协极其困难，并固化选民中的种族分歧。
10. Intersectionality and Broader Inequality | 交叉性与更广泛的不平等
Race in US politics cannot be understood in isolation from class, gender and geography. Intersectionality, a concept developed by legal scholar Kimberle Crenshaw, highlights how overlapping identities produce unique experiences of discrimination. For instance, Black women face both racial and gender wage gaps, and low-income minority communities are disproportionately affected by environmental hazards – a phenomenon known as environmental racism.
美国政治中的种族不能脱离阶级、性别和地理孤立地理解。由法律学者金伯勒·克伦肖提出的交叉性概念强调重叠身份如何产生独特的歧视体验。例如，黑人女性同时面临种族和性别工资差距，低收入少数族裔社区受环境危害的影响不成比例——这一现象被称为环境种族主义。
Wealth inequality starkly illustrates racial disparities. The median white family s net worth is roughly ten times that of the median Black family, a gap rooted in historical practices such as redlining and exclusion from the GI Bill. Economic policies ranging from tax cuts to minimum wage debates are thus intrinsically racial issues, even when not explicitly framed as such.
财富不平等鲜明地说明了种族差异。白人家庭的中位净资产大约是黑人家庭的十倍，这一差距根植于红线歧视和被排除在《退伍军人法案》之外等历史做法。因此，从减税到最低工资辩论等经济政策本质上都是种族问题，即使未被明确如此表述。
The COVID-19 pandemic exposed deep inequities: Black, Latino and Indigenous communities suffered higher hospitalisation and death rates due to pre-existing health disparities, frontline workforces and crowded housing. The resulting economic downturn widened the racial wealth gap, adding urgency to calls for race-conscious policymaking that addresses the social determinants of health and opportunity.
新冠疫情暴露了深刻的不平等：黑人、拉丁裔和原住民社区由于预先存在的健康差距、一线劳动力和拥挤的住房而承受了更高的住院率和死亡率。随之而来的经济衰退扩大了种族财富差距，使针对健康与机会的社会决定因素制定具有种族意识的政策呼声变得更加紧迫。
Published by TutorHao | Politics Revision Series | aleveler.com
更多咨询请联系16621398022（同微信）
或截图后用「扫一扫 → 相册」选择本图