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Race, Politics and Equity

Ian Haney López, J.D., author of “Dog Whistle Politics: How Coded Racial Appeals have Reinvented Racism and Wrecked the Middle Class,” discussed how the last 50 years of American political leadership and public policy has been shaped largely via racial pandering, resulting in public policies that reinforce deep-seated inequities in our society.

The presentation is part of the 2016-17 Health Equity Learning Series of The Colorado Trust. The education series is designed to increase knowledge and awareness of health equity through presentations from experts discussing factors that increase disparities and solutions that advance health equity.

What’s dog-whistle politics? Haney Lopez, the Earl Warren Professor of Public Law at University of California, Berkeley and Haney Lopez explains: “So a literal dog whistle is a whistle used to train dogs. It blows at such a high frequency that human ears can't hearit, but dogs can. And as a metaphor, it’s pointing to a form of political speech which operates on two levels: silent on one level, but designed to produce sharp reactions on another.”

In his presentation, Haney López emphasized examples from national political campaigns that show how racial fear has become an effective tool to influence elections. This in turn has a severe impact on health equity for people of color and low-income communities.


He stressed how addressing social and political equity in the United States requires an inclusive approach, and a broader understanding that racist policies and practices towards people of color also negatively impact whites. Acknowledging strategic racism is key to understanding current sentiments about the role of government in civic life.

“Racism is a divide-and-conquer weapon that hurts all of us,” he said. “It's a story about how dog whistling does tremendous damage to communities of color. You think about mass incarceration, mass deportation, disinvestment from our cities and our schools… All of that concentrated harm to communities of color – that's rooted in dog whistle politics."



“Dog whistling is not only about racial anxiety, it's about changing people's perspective about government. But it's also a story about how we've changed the views of many whites towards government, so that they are hostile to the idea that government should actually help people,”

On June 15, the Colorado Latino Leadership, Advocacy and Research Organization (CLLARO) is hosting a community viewing and discussion of Haney Lopez’s Denver talk. The event will be facilitated by Dara Burwell, President and founder of Transformative Alliances LLC, a consultancy dedicated to personal and collective liberation. The CLLARO discussion will be held from 5:30 to 8pm on Thursday, June 15 at Montbello Recreation Center, 15555 E 53rd Ave. RSVP here.

Watch Haney-Lopez’ presentation:

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