Civic Hopes and Political Realities: Immigrants, Community Organizations, and Political Engagement

Chapter 1. Introduction: Civic and Political Inequalities

S. Karthick Ramakrishnan and Irene Bloemraad Chapter 1 Introduction: Civic and Political Inequalities In the spring of 2006, the United States experienced some of the largest, most widespread protest marches in its history, from massive demonstrations of a half million people or more in large cities such as Los Angeles, Chicago, and Dallas to unprecedented rallies in places like Schuyker, Nebraska, and towns across South Carolina. In total, several million demonstrators, with estimates ranging from 3.5 to 5 million, waved banners and walked in pro-immigration rallies from March 10 to May 1 (Bada, Fox, and Selee 2006; Wang and Winn 2006). The public, politicians, and even advocates for immigrant rights were taken unaware by the scale and breadth of these public protests. Yet, contrary to the depictions in many mainstream news outlets, the immigrant protests were not simply a spontaneous uprising against restrictive immigration legislation passed by the House of Representatives (ABC News 2006).1 They arose instead from an existing scaffold of immigrant-serving organizations, the groundwork for such largescale civic and political engagement already established by organizations ranging from immigrant advocacy groups and labor unions to religious institutions and transnational hometown associations (Wang and Winn 2006).2 The protests of spring 2006 thus drew back the curtain on the rich and pervasive forms of community organization and mobilization operating within immigrant communities . They also showcased the political engagement of noncitizens who are, in large part, excluded from formal electoral politics. The sudden visibility of immigrant community organizations and their ability to mobilize millions run counter to some recent studies of civic participation, which suggest that immigration is one of the primary reasons for declining civic engagement and the persistence of racial and ethnic gaps in participation (Gimpel 1999; Camarota 2001; Putnam 2007). Indeed, some of the steepest decreases in civic participation have coincided with the growing share of first- and secondgeneration immigrants in the United States, particularly those of Latin American and Asian origins. Other observers, less pessimistic, note that apparent group differences in participation may instead be the result of inaccurate measures of voluntarism that do not incorporate the different experiences of immigrants (Reynoso 2003; Vasquez 2003). These debates about the civic engagement of immigrants stand against a backdrop of scholarship suggesting that civic participation is declining for everyone: today’s June Cleaver no longer helps out at the school bake sale and today’s Ward Cleaver no longer belongs to his father’s fraternal or local community organizations. These changes in civic participation are variously attributed to the societal transformations of postindustrial economies, the rise of private forms of entertainment, and the growth of expertrun member associations (Putnam 2000; Skocpol 2003). Scholars and public officials alike worry about declines in civic engagement and social capital because of their troubling implications for democratic politics. Engagement with community organizations is often tied to political involvement and policy influence at all levels of government (Verba, Schlozman, and Brady 1995; Rosenstone and Hansen 1993). Thus declining levels of voluntarism may contribute to continuing declines in political interest and participation. Low levels of voluntarism may also adversely affect the provision of public goods in many communities, especially as cuts in government spending leave civic and voluntary organizations as major providers of social services. Implicit in these concerns is a strong belief that participation in the associational life of the United States is the underpinning of a robust democracy, a belief nurtured by a long historical narrative of America as a nation of joiners. Taken together, these two strands of literature—on the causes of declining civic engagement and their consequences for democratic politics—warn that immigration and ethnic diversification are undermining the civic and political vitality of the United States and other liberal democracies (Putnam 2007). Before taking this large step, however, it is important to better account for the various forms of immigrant civic participation, especially with respect to immigrant- and ethnic -serving organizations. Studies suggesting that declines in civic participation may be related to immigration and ethnic diversification lack such a detailed understanding . As a consequence, several questions remain unanswered: To what extent are immigrants’ community organizations, ranging from religious institutions to homeland associations and soccer leagues, transforming our takenfor -granted understandings of associational life? Will Sandeep Singh join—or be invited to join—the local Rotary Club? Will Mai Nguyen participate in the Chamber of Commerce, or will she feel unwelcome or unable to communicate effectively with other business owners? Will Rosa Hernandez have access to...