It is a commonly heard critique, from scholars and activists alike, that many of the established civil rights organizations have lost their capacity to effect meaningful political change. The argument goes that these groups have become out of touch with the needs and priorities of average Black and Latino Americans and are more concerned with organizational maintenance than they are with pressing for consequential transformation of public policy. Minta’s innovative book offers a nuanced rebuttal to this account, making a persuasive case that long-standing civil rights groups still provide valuable and effective representation within the U.S. Congress, if only one knows where to look.
The key contribution of these organizations is found not in specific campaign contributions or particular votes, but rather much earlier, in the candidate selection stage. He argues that the long-standing efforts of civil rights organizations since the passage of the Voting Rights Act to increase the presence of Black and Latino legislators have paid large representational dividends. Black and Latino members of Congress are more likely to advocate among their colleagues for policies that would serve the needs of Black and Latino Americans and are more likely to invite representatives from established civil rights organizations into the legislative process to provide expertise and policy recommendations. Thus, the effectiveness of these groups is best evaluated not in isolation, but in conjunction with the efforts of the Black and Latino legislators that these organizations worked so hard to bring into the political system.
Minta takes a systematic and multi-pronged approach to his analysis, beginning with an historical account of the congressional advocacy activity of Black and Latino civil rights organizations. He traces the tactical shift among Black civil rights organization before and after the passage of the Voting Rights Act, from pressuring primarily White members on anti-lynching legislation to a dual focus on increasing the ranks of sympathetic Black legislators (particularly through the formation of majority–minority districts) in addition to broader legislative advocacy centering civil rights and social welfare policies. Latino organizations were less likely to engage in congressional policy advocacy during the first half of the twentieth century, but by the 1960s had multiple organizations lobbying for better access to resources and civil rights protections for Latino Americans.
The next prong of his probe into the effectiveness of Black and Latino interest groups evaluates the relationship between the priorities of Black and Latino organizations and the Black and Latino Americans they represent. He finds that, though these organizations do expend ample resources on the maintenance of organizational capacity, the broader legislative priorities put forth by these groups largely line up with the issues that average Black and Latino Americans highlight as being most important to them, including healthcare, education, immigration, civil rights, and the economy. The book could spend more time parsing what lobbying in service of organizational maintenance actually constitutes for these groups, to speak more directly to criticisms that these organizations have turned too far inward, but the argument for considerable priority convergence between these groups and those they represent is compelling and well supported.
The final two components of the investigation center an empirical analysis of advocacy activity in congressional committees. This focus on the advocacy opportunities presented by committee markups and hearings mark one of the important contributions of this book, as the inner-workings of congressional committees are a crucial but generally understudied component of the legislative process. Chapter four follows the growth of Black and Latino legislators in positions across the committee system, and finds that, in the 110th and 111th Congresses, committees with a greater degree of racial and ethnic diversity are much more likely to hold markups on bills lobbied for by civil rights organizations than committees with fewer Black and Latino members. This connection between the increased presence of Black and Latino legislators within Congress (the vast majority of whom are elected by majority–minority districts) and greater opportunities for legislative advocacy by civil rights organizations is further drawn out in the succeeding chapter’s evaluation of congressional testimony. Committees with a higher percentage of Black and Latino members also provide greater opportunities for civil rights organizations to provide testify about issues and legislation prioritized by Black and Latino Americans. These groups are not equally engaged in giving testimony across all issue priorities, though, with Black advocacy groups devoting most of their participation in committee hearings to civil rights issues, while Latino advocacy groups focus on immigration, education, and economic policy. Minta argues, however, that this specialization does not constitute a representational deficit. Instead, civil rights organizations are supplemented in their advocacy by Black and Latino members of Congress, often testifying themselves on a much broader range of issues impacting Black and Latino Americans.
A repeated caveat throughout the book is the negative impact that political polarization has on legislative advocacy opportunities. The corresponding trends of increasing polarization and increasing incorporation of Black and Latino advocacy organizations into the Democratic Party agenda raises real questions about the future effectiveness of these groups if their access is contingent upon single-party control. The book gives some brief thoughts on these developments and the future of civil rights advocacy in the age of hashtags and Internet activism but is generally noncommittal on predicting what their effects will be. This leaves a tantalizing assortment of loose ends for future researchers to explore, to carry the thesis into the present and beyond.
This surprising thin volume accomplishes a great deal and should be read not just by scholars with an interest in racial and ethnic politics or interest groups but by anyone seeking a better understanding of legislative advocacy and civil rights history. Minta offers a creative exploration of the nonlinear path that effective legislative advocacy can take, with an impressive richness of historical detail. His book moves beyond the common wisdom and makes an innovative contribution to our understanding of how successful organizations can change and adapt to achieve their goals.
