Voting Rights Act

Wade Henderson, president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Human and Civil Rights

 I wanted to write something about all of the cool things that happened this past week, DOMA getting killed, Wendy Davis, or Barack's energy speech, but I think the invalidation of the Voting Rights Act really kills the mood. You know, the law that stops African Americans and every other person from being discriminated against at the voting booth? The supreme court got rid of the key parts of that law, with the opinion that America doesn't need anti-racist laws, because it's 2013, and we aren't racist anymore. 

This wasn't unanimous, the supreme court barely passed this racist bullshit five votes to four, so I at least take some solace in knowing that almost half of the judges in the highest court in my country aren't bigots wearing robes. Immediately following the decision, Texas announced that they will be implementing their redistricting and voter identification laws that had previously been blocked federally on grounds that, AND I QUOTE, "They discriminated against African Americans." Yep, and Supreme Court Judge Scolia said that were don't need this protection anymore, because our country has grown-up. 

The laws that these Texans are implementing now do two things. The voter identification law forces the voter to show extra forms of identification that most minorities simply do not have, and the redistricting law lets the republican controlled Texan senate to redraw district maps across the state anyway they see fit. Their new redistricted map kicks two black mayors out of office, increases the number of voting booths in rural white areas, and decreases the number of voting booths in ethnic metropolitan areas. So, increase the average wait in law for a black Texas voter from one hour to twelve, and when they do get to the front of the line, they may not even be able to vote, because they don't have a fishing license. The question is, is this a republican thing, or a Texas thing? Certainly the republican party, who is in the throws of begging latinos to vote for them, realize that people watch tv right? Do you really think that minorities who already don't vote for you can't turn on their tv and see what you're doing? I get it, blacks don't vote republican, so stop blacks from voting, I see the logic, but wouldn't an election be so much more meaningful if the majority of the population liked you, instead of a majority of the population you allowed to vote liking you? That would be better, right?