For a nation that supposedly believes in democracy, America spends a lot of time trying to kill it.
In the postbellum era, white Democrats – the conservatives of that day – murdered hundreds of African Americans and forcibly seized state governments in order to disenfranchise Black voters. They constructed all sorts of barriers – poll taxes, literacy tests, grandfather clauses – that, while not explicitly mentioning race, had the intention and effect of stopping Black people from voting.
The 1965 Voting Rights Act curtailed much of that. Until 2013, that is, when the Supreme Court gutted it, paving the way for a new round of barriers – photo ID laws, voting-roll purges, polling-place closures – which, while not explicitly mentioning race, have had the intention and effect of stopping Black people from voting.
“Will it go round in circles?” singer Billy Preston once asked. Obviously, it will – and has.
So one is alarmed, but not surprised, by a new report from The Brennan Center For Justice, that lawmakers in 43 states are considering some 253 bills to restrict voting rights. It is hardly coincidental that this flurry of activity comes after white Republicans – the conservatives of this day – tried unsuccessfully to throw out votes from urban centers heavily populated by African Americans on the laughable claim that the November election was “rigged.”