Ming Hsu Chen, Visiting Professor of Law, UC Hastings College of Law, Lecture on Race, Citizenship, and Political Inequality

 
Co-Sponsored by CLALS, Penn Law Office of Equity and Inclusion, as part of the 2021-2022 Lecture Series on Race and Regulation, presents "Race, Citizenship, and Political Inequality".
Abstract:Citizenship has contradictory impulses: it can foster inclusion and also perpetuate exclusion for noncitizens and Asian, Latinx, and other racial minorities perpetually seen as foreigners. This lecture examines the relationship between race, citizenship, and political inequality. It asks: what role does formal citizenship play in excluding noncitizens, particularly racialized foreigners of Asian, Muslim, Black, and Latinx descent? What more is required to include them as members of a political community, even as they remain legal outsiders?
Professor Chen will discuss her research on the regulatory barriers that prevent Asian and Latinx communities from participating equally in the American political process. She explains why courts are unreliable protectors of noncitizen rights and makes an unorthodox proposal: turning to politics. Professor Chen examines voting laws that disproportionately burden Asian and Latinx communities–such as voter identification laws and restrictions on noncitizen political participation–and proposals to contract political representation of noncitizens in Congress and state legislatures. Ultimately, she shows how regulations can bolster equality in politics for Asian and Latinx communities while also transforming electoral outcomes and enhancing substantive democracy.