QOTD -- The SCOTUS Assault On Voting Rights

 

"It took the blood, the courage and the martyrdom of civil rights workers combined with the political spine of a president and congressional leaders to break this stranglehold on the right to vote. The legislature passed and President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act (VRA), which would save America from its worst self. And, this time, in the late 1960s, the US supreme court came down on the side of democracy and the 15th amendment. Two crucial decisions buttressed the VRA, noting that it was not only constitutional but also created to deal with “the subtle, as well as the obvious, state regulations which have the effect of denying citizens their right to vote because of race”.

"The Roberts court, however, bears no resemblance to the one in the 1960s and has all the anti-voting rights earmarks of the court after the civil war. The Roberts court’s assault on the VRA and the 15th amendment has been relentless and brutal to American democracy." -- Carol Anderson, professor of African American Studies at Emory University, writing in The Guardian about the Roberts Court's turning the clock back to the Jim Crow era of Black disenfranchisement.

Sunday Reading: The Sublime And The Asinine

Carol Anderson, associate professor of African American studies and history at Emory University, has a must-read piece in this morning's once great Washington Post Bezos Bugle, "Ferguson Isn't About Black Rage."  Anderson tells us that, rather than black rage being the culprit in incidents such as the killing of an unarmed black teenager in Ferguson, MO, it is white rage at the progress being made by blacks in this country that's fueling the latest "wave of fear and anger:"

It’s more subtle — less overtly racist — than in 1865 or even 1954. It’s a remake of the Southern Strategy, crafted in the wake of the civil rights movement to exploit white resentment against African Americans, and deployed with precision by Presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan. As Reagan’s key political strategist, Lee Atwater, explained in a 1981 interview: “You start out in 1954 by saying, ‘N-----, n-----, n-----.’ By 1968 you can’t say ‘n-----’ — that hurts you. Backfires. So you say stuff like ‘forced busing,’ ‘states’ rights’ and all that stuff. You’re getting so abstract now you’re talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you’re talking about are totally economic things, and a byproduct of them is blacks get hurt worse than whites. And subconsciously maybe that is part of it. I’m not saying that.” (The interview was originally published anonymously, and only years later did it emerge that Atwater was the subject.) 

Now, under the guise of protecting the sanctity of the ballot box, conservatives have devised measures — such as photo ID requirements — to block African Americans’ access to the polls. A joint report by the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the NAACP emphasized that the ID requirements would adversely affect more than 6 million African American voters. (Twenty-five percent of black Americans lack a government-issued photo ID, the report noted, compared with only 8 percent of white Americans.) The Supreme Court sanctioned this discrimination in Shelby County v. Holder , which gutted the Voting Rights Act and opened the door to 21st-century versions of 19th-century literacy tests and poll taxes.

The disproportionate effects of the recession and the right-wing's efforts to weaken social safety net programs and the public sector in general are also part of this pattern, as Anderson points out.  (And to be sure, the right is also fighting advancement and enfranchisement of Hispanics, women, LGBTs, and anyone who might be considered a potential Democratic voter).  The election (and re-election) of Barack Obama was simply the most recent cause for the unleashing of the white right's rage.

While we're on the subject of white rage, look no further than the same once great Washington Post Bezos Bugle for the latest rage-gasm from George "The Man With No Mirrors"  Will.  Will's op/ed (here's the link, but you're just going to waste several minutes of your life that you can't get back if you read the whole thing) is yet another stab at perpetuating the image of Rep. Paul "Lyin'" Ryan (Galt-WI) as a giant intellect of conservatism (well, considering the comparative brainpower on the right, maybe he has a point).  In the process, though, Will shows that he's still (white) enraged at the way President Obama dealt with Ryan's 25-watt intellect in an incident from over 3 years ago. Then, he took a personal swipe at the President:

[Obama] demonstrated the self-­destructive nature of his now-evaporating presidency by his contemptuous, and contemptible, treatment of Ryan on April 13, 2011. After he loftily aspired to teach Washington civility, the White House invited Ryan to sit in the front row at a speech in which Obama gave an implacably hostile and mendacious depiction of Ryan’s suggestions for entitlement reforms [ed. note: bullshit]. Obama thereby repeated his tawdry performance in his 2010 State of the Union address, when, with Supreme Court justices in the front row of the House chamber, he castigated them for the Citizens United decision, which he misrepresented [ed. note: bullshit again]. 

Both times, Obama’s behavior bespoke the insecurity of someone who, surrounded by sycophants, shuns disputations with people who can reply. Ryan, however, has replied with a book that demonstrates Obama’s wisdom in not arguing with a man who has a better mind and better manners.  (our emphasis)

A "better mind and better manners?"  Asinine on many levels.  We seem to recall Joe Biden already did a beautiful job of popping Ryan's deep thought balloons.  But that was one white guy schooling another white guy, so no multi-year umbrage from Will.  So are we the only ones who detect more than a whiff of condescending plantation racism in Will's wording?  To us, that wasn't even dog whistling, that was a siren.  Should the twice-elected President of the United States not presume to challenge his white betters?

If the once great Washington Post Bezos Bugle had a soul, this would be Will's last column for them.  Unfortunately, they don't and it won't.  But, we'll add this to the bulging "George Will is an ass" file anyway.

BONUS:  If you're still not convinced there's a problem in the Ferguson, MO, police force, check this out.

BONUS II:  Still not convinced there's a discrepancy between police treatment of whites and blacks? Remember this?  And we won't even get into Cliven "Hoof" Bundy and his band of armed thugs.