The Politics of Being Afro-Latino/Latina : Ethnicity, Colorism, and Political Representation in Washington, D.C.

Historically, Afro-Latinos/as have been underrepresented in political offices in the District of Columbia. Isreal G. Mallard explores the social/racial factors that influence the political attitudes of Afro-Latino/a voters, the Latino voting community at-large, and political representatives. Also, the author examines factors such as ethnicity and “pigmentocracy” (skin color) which play a role in electing an Afro-Latino/a to political office in Washington, D.C. Furthermore, he provides answers to address the social/racial factors that influence the electability of light-skin and dark-skin, self-identified Afro-Latinos/as running for political office in Washington, D.C. In addition, he discusses how social/racial factors influence the pathway to political office for self-identified Afro-Latinos/as. He uses a qualitative methodological approach which includes interview participants to provide answers to this study.