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Challenging Government Policy That Perpetuate Racism Essay

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Challenging Government Policy that Perpetuate Racism The United States Constitution was written by the founding fathers, also known as the framers, in the 1700’s which structured the government, as well as government policies. When writing the Constitution, the framers expected that future governing of the United States would be done so by individuals that would think and look like themselves; therefore, the framers did not take into account individuals of a different race or of a different ethnicity. As a result, the foundation of which the Constitution is written and the interpretations the framers put in place, reflect embedded racial hierarchy within the political system. The United States political system has policies in place that perpetuate racism; the census is one such policy.
The Constitution as written by the framers wanted to empower the people of the United States over their government. In order to ensure that the voice of the American people was heard, the framers directed that representation in Congress would be based upon the population of each of the thirteen states. The greater the population in a state, the greater that state would be represented in Congress. This in turn would garner more power and more influence on how government policies would be established and executed. As a result, Article I, section 2 of the Constitution enacted the first census in 1790. This article stated that "Representatives shall be apportioned among the several

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