OMG This explains it all.

[littlemissmartypants]

36. And...wait for it... he's also a racist...

Joe Manchin Cares More About ‘Bipartisanship’ Than Fighting Jim Crow
The senator says he won’t back a crucial voting rights bill because it’s too “partisan.” What he means is that white conservatives don’t like it.

By Elie Mystal
JUNE 8, 2021

Snip...
Manchin is enabling the disenfranchisement of Black and brown voters solely on the grounds that white conservatives don’t want those people to vote. That alone is enough for him. He doesn’t need a policy or principle to stand on; he doesn’t need to evaluate or understand why white conservatives are against equality. The mere objection of whites is apparently all Manchin needs to make his decision.

That’s how Jim Crow works, in a nutshell. History focuses on the evildoers who come up with the racist policies and the bad intentions behind them, but it ignores the role of white people like Manchin who value comity over justice. You cannot have a system of political apartheid without the help of such white people. You cannot disenfranchise a minority without a bunch of people in the majority hiding behind process and a false promise of peace in order to justify injustice. Manchin’s essay is an important part of upholding white supremacy because he treats it like it doesn’t exist.

Manchin thinks he can get away with this not because West Virginia is predominately white but because he intuits that most white people in West Virginia probably don’t care about stopping white supremacy. They likely don’t think that disenfranchising Black people is that big a deal—certainly not big enough to oust a senator. Manchin might get primaried, but if he loses it will be because he failed to deliver an infrastructure package, not because he thinks the 15th Amendment is just a suggestion.

Unfortunately, this has always been the true strength of white supremacist policies: They can’t be stopped unless enough white people give a damn. And there are never quite enough. In this case, a single white senator feels empowered to block an entire popular bill aimed at securing the most basic right in a democracy and doesn’t even feel the need to give a good reason as to why.

Snip...

Much more at the link.

https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/manchin-voting-rights/

Excellent opinion piece, imo.

❤ pants