Lacan & Voting Rights

White majorities rarely elect black representatives. The black image in the white mind is not representative of white representational desires. Whites see themselves as whites. Whites represent themselves as whites.

Peering into the dark mirror of the Other, peering into the mirror of the dark Other, standing opposite the mirror, whites see themselves as white, whites see themselves represented as white, whites represent themselves as white. The mirror is both for and before the look. Enter the Other: a dark, two-dimensional figure which seems, paradoxically, to possess an infinite depth. So stands the mirror image known as the "black" Other.

Whites look deep into the mirror - the place of the black- to see themselves as sufficient unto themselves, as absolute beginnings, as coherent parts of a whole, as Leviathan. This Essay is a look at this look and a discussion of the ways in which this look is written into law, specifically, voting rights.