Once upon a time the Democrats were the party of racism. In 1964 the Democratic National Convention was in my home town, Atlantic City. In one of my first demonstrations I joined the Mississippi Freedom Democrats “One Man, One Vote” demonstration for inclusion in the convention. That was the last gasp of the racist Dixiecrats, because the next year LBJ passed the Voting Rights Act. The racists defected from the Democratic Party and the Republicans welcomed them with open arms. Ever since, the Republican Party has used all possible means, legal or otherwise, to disenfranchise minority voters, thus stripping them of their right to vote. Their latest tactic in this regard is their intent to gut the Voting Rights Act itself.
As state legislatures gear up for the decennial process of congressional redistricting, one of the few obstacles preventing excessive gerrymandering in a handful of southern states is the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Still, despite the legislation’s massive success in preventing racism, many conservatives are dead set on dismantling the longstanding civil rights law.
In December, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (R) sounded the rallying cry. During a press conference, Cuccinelli declared that Virginia had “outgrown” institutional racism, and therefore ought to be exempted from the Voting Rights Act. (Virginia is one of nine southern and western states that must get their new redistricting maps pre-approved by the Justice Department in order to prevent discrimination against minority voters.)
Now, one of the architects of the Republican redistricting efforts, former Sen. Norm Coleman, wants to “reconsider” the entire Voting Rights Act. In an interview with ThinkProgress, Coleman argued that it was “absolutely” the right move to loosen the Voting Rights Act’s provisions that prevent legislators from drawing redistricting maps with a clear racial bias…
…Watch it:
Though non-partisan analysts like Stu Rothenberg dismiss such predictions, Republican leaders like Coleman are doing their best to remove roadblocks to gerrymandering like the Voting Rights Act… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <Think Progress>
Under no circumstances should Republicans be given the slightest traction to dismantle the Voting Rights Act. Republicans have a track record that proves that they will adopt racist policies if only to appease the racists they so actively recruited.
12 Responses to “The Republican War on Voting Rights”
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Coleman is absolutely right. We don’t need no stinking regulations. Why, look how much better the banking industry functioned after we got rid of those pesky rules and regs in the Glass-Steagall Act.
Oh, wait a second … that sure as hell didn’t work out so well.
Hey, Norm – GFY!
An excellent analogy.
They will return – White vs colored- in a mili second given the chance ; Battles once fought are apparently about to be fought once again
It’s only “white vs colored” from a Republican perspective. From a human perspective it’s caring coexistence.
Why does Coleman remind me of David Duke?
Maybe both wear a hood and sheets in their spare time?
No doubt this smiling asshole also claims screwing minorities through gerrymandering is actually good for them. Kind of like how tax cuts for the wealthy have helped them. Or putsourcing jobs overseas is good for them according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce president Ton Donahoe.
RepubliSpeak Dictionary
up: down
in: out
evil: good
Norm Coleman is crazier than hell, (and a turncoat, to boot), and I’m sure glad Al Franken defeated him for the Senate!
Isn’t Franken a huge improvement?
Kookinelli has his head so far up his butt, he may never see the light of day again. He says my state has outgrown institutionalized racism. I say he needs to take a drive up Hull Street towards the City of Richmond. We are the state where just a handful of years ago, there was a HUGE local “controversy” because a statue of Lincoln was erected at Tredegar Iron Works. The local klanservatives didn’t like it, because a statue of Jeff Davis flipping LIncoln the bird wasn’t put up as well. They have one made, they just can’t get the City of Richmond to agree to put it up (the City is majority black, and the City council reflects that demographic, so it’s no surprise they weren’t champing at the bit to let a statue of Davis go up. Besides, the Sons of Confederate Vets already put one up years ago, it’s just down the street). We also had a big brouhaha that erupted when a mural of Martin Luther King Jr. was going to go up down by the Canal Walk. Oh, the Sons got their knickers all in a twist over that.
Virginia is the home to two of the worst preacher-conmen ever to disgrace the american stage: Falwell and Robertson, and we all know what they thought of ethnicity beyond “caucasion.”
Yeah, virginia has really outgrown its institutionalized racism.
Thanks Bee. Nothing could have driven the impact of this story home better than the local contecxt that you provided.