Eugene Robinson: The ugliest, most appalling spectacle in American politics

[babylonsister]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-ugliest-most-appalling-spectacle-in-american-politics/2016/09/05/95179af4-714c-11e6-8365-b19e428a975e_story.html?postshare=8621473122094909&tid=ss_tw&utm_term=.e686d5fd8bc6

The ugliest, most appalling spectacle in American politics


Members of North Carolina student chapters of the NAACP and opponents of voter ID legislation in the gallery of the House chamber of the North Carolina General Assembly in Raleigh in April 2013. (Gerry Broome/ASSOCIATED PRESS)
By Eugene Robinson
Opinion writer
September 5 at 6:59 PM


Every once in a while, the curtains part and we get a glimpse of the ugliest, most shameful spectacle in American politics: the Republican Party’s systematic attempt to disenfranchise African Americans and other minorities with voter-ID laws and other restrictions at the polls.

If you thought this kind of discrimination died with Jim Crow, think again. Fortunately, federal courts have blocked implementation of some of the worst new laws, at least for now. But the most effective response would be for black and brown voters to send the GOP a message by turning out in record numbers, no matter what barriers Republicans try to put in our way.

The ostensible reason for these laws is to solve a problem that doesn’t exist: voter fraud by impersonation. Four years ago, you may recall, a Republican Pennsylvania legislator let slip the real reason for his state’s new voter-ID law: to “allow” Mitt Romney to win the state. In the end, Romney didn’t. But Republicans tried mightily to discourage minorities, most of whom vote Democratic, from going to the polls.

Now, thanks to documents that surfaced in a lawsuit, we have an even clearer and more egregious example of attempted disenfranchisement, this time in North Carolina. As The Post reported, the documents show “that North Carolina GOP leaders launched a meticulous and coordinated effort to deter black voters, who overwhelmingly vote for Democrats.”

The article continued, “The law, created and passed entirely by white legislators, evoked the state’s ugly history of blocking African Americans from voting — practices that had taken a civil rights movement and extensive federal intervention to stop.”

snip//

Republicans claim they want support from African Americans, Hispanics and other minorities. They don’t deserve the time of day until they stop this appalling effort to keep us from voting at all.

[elleng]

1. Every once in a while,

[MBS]

2. Thank you, Eugene Robinson.

He's exactly right. Unfortunately.

[GWC58]

3. But the Supreme Court

said voting rights aren't needed because, ya know, we elected a black man president.
Can you detect the sarcasm?

[calimary]

32. He is. I'm glad he's on this.

I love Eugene Robinson. Really like his work. No wonder he's an award-winner!

[MBS]

33. I love him, too. n/t

[Hekate]

4. KnR.

[mcar]

5. Robinson is great

This is a powerful column.

[oasis]

10. Pulitzer Prize winner Robinson. Don't make foolish statements

if you want to have credibility on these boards.

[MBS]

19. I agree. n/t

[Fast Walker 52]

8. AYFKM? Get a clue, dude.

do you really not know the background on this?

[PatrickforO]

23. I liked Robinson's column a lot. He's right on the money on this one.

This is the disgusting, old white liver-spotted underbelly of American politics. Welcome to the 'Grand Old Party's' southern strategy!

But...what does AYFKM mean?

[3catwoman3]

28. Just a guess, but I think...

...Are You Fucking Kidding Me is a likely translation.

[Major Nikon]

9. Most likely because you just don't know that much about the issue

Do you actually believe the problem voter ID laws pretend to solve is anything other than a myth to begin with?

[Tempest]

16. Blacks with no legal IDs are common in the south

It wasn't until the 1960s that blacks were issued birth certificates in many states in the south. Without a birth certificate, they can't get legal state IDs required for voting.

You'd know that if you were even the slightest socially conscious.

Enjoy your stay. I suspect it will be short.

[PatrickforO]

24. Institutional racism with a capital 'I'

Geez. A bigot-imposed Catch 22.

I think the person who removed their post may have been a troll. Most people on here would never flame something like this.

By the way, I did not know that blacks were not issued birth certs until the 1960s in some southern states. Now, the requirement for a birth cert to get a state ID, which is required to vote makes a pathetic and racist kind of sense.

Jim Crow, anyone?

[Tempest]

25. Moderators removed their posts

It violated the TOS.

And the poster's account has been removed. They didn't even attempt to hide they were a troll.

[PatrickforO]

34. Well...that's good, because

there is absolutely nothing anyone can say to justify this ID rule once the birth certificate thing comes to light. Nothing. It's odious.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

18. You are pushing RW talking point that ignores how the ID issue suppresses AA votes.

Further, the ID issue is just one of many way the white Republican NC Legislature is suppressing votes of people of color.

Back to ID, the ID issue is not just any old one ID.

You apparently have no AA friends to talk to.

Not everyone who votes is on DU.

Enjoy your stay. You have one post hidden already in this thread.

[uponit7771]

22. Or people are purposefully conflating voter ID with voter suppression and playing dumb?

[oasis]

11. AA supporters of Trump and the GOP have to explain themselves.

The "Party of Lincoln"?

[TomCADem]

12. Did the MSM Ask Trump About During His Outreach Efforts?

Or, did they just fall over themselves praising his latest "pivot"?

[JohnnyRingo]

13. I misread the title

It appeared to be calling Robinson "the ugliest, most appalling spectacle in American politics".

Needless to say, I had to see why that would be. Perhaps it would be more clear if his name were cited in parenthesis after the article title.

[rgbecker]

14. Imagine waiting in line 7 hours to vote.

Typical in black communities across America.

[MADem]

15. The only examples of voter fraud I've ever seen are Republicans....

Ann Coulter, e.g., and Trump's new Breitbart campaign manager....

[rusty quoin]

17. This is for all of us fair- minded people.

But the most effective response would be for black and brown voters to send the GOP a message by turning out in record numbers, no matter what barriers Republicans try to put in our way.

[DLevine]

20. K&R. nt

[Shankapotomus]

21. When the dmv closed in matawan nj

many years ago, I didn't think anything of it. But now I realize it's closing might have had something to do with the large nearby African American neighborhood that was within walking distance to that now closed dmv.

[Tempest]

26. That's happening all over the country in Republican controlled states

Alabama
http://www.governing.com/topics/politics/drivers-license-offices-will-reopen-on-limited-basis.html

Wisconsin
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/10/2/1333799/-Need-an-ID-to-vote-Sorry-your-DMV-office-is-closed

Virginia
http://pdamerica.org/issues/voter-access-protection-election-integrity/item/751-virginia-republicans-admit-they-rigged-the-2012-2014-elections-by-gerrymandering-districts

And so on.

[MyOwnPeace]

27. The Pennsylvania bill......

and quote came from Speaker of the House Mike Turdseye (actually, it's spelled Turzai, but my spelling is much more appropriate!).
I sent a note after the 2012 election victory by President Obama asking how his "plan" worked.

Never heard back from him!

[3catwoman3]

29. Your creative spelling is...

...spot on. His arrogant self-assured attitude made me want to spit on him.

[King_Klonopin]

30. One correction, though, Eugene

Jim Crow never died. Jim Crow is alive and well. He had cosmetic surgery and he now
looks like a slightly more attractive "Voter ID Law"

Jim Crow also sports other new, fashionable looks: like voter legislation barring ex-felons,
disproportionate incarceration rates (especially for drug offenses) by race, gerrymandering,
the unusually high number of black Americans shot by police, the snarky hate reserved for
the BLM movement which was spawned by police shootings, the inadequate number of polling
places and equipment in minority districts, etc. etc. etc.

[cleveramerican]

31. give me two sentences

the hard thing about the creeping voter id menace
is its just hard to understand and explain to those not aware of this terrible trend
so give me two sentences that sum it up adequately