In 1965 the United States Congress passed the Voting Rights Act that gave the justice department the right to legally challenge voting practices and policies in states that had a history of racist voter suppression laws and intimidation of potential black voters.
Undeterred by their racist past, the white Republican controlled Alabama legislature did virtually the same thing this year their predecessors had done prior to 1965, drawing a redistricting map that put most black voters into one district while establishing seven white majority districts.
Six weeks ago the Supreme Court ruled (barely) that the map violated the Voting Rights Act, agreeing with a lower court ruling’s that had struck it down.
The response of the white Republican controlled legislature was not contriteness in the least. Instead, the white majority drew a new map that essentially ignored the Court’s ruling, keeping the one majority black district while shifting a larger percentage of black voters into predominantly white districts which will actually dilute the voting power of the black community even more.
Their action left no doubt that racism is alive and well in Alabama. Who knew?
This kind of behavior by MAGA Republicans who are the majority in the party tell the truth about Republicans they refuse to acknowledge, that the party is racist in actions and policies, if not in attitude, the two hardly being separable.
In short, racism now defines the Republican Party. In one red state after another, white Republicans are doing whatever they can to limit or dilute the black vote in the name of a lie that they are making voting safer.
Since 2021 they have passed 34 voter restrictions laws while in Democratic controlled state legislatures voting laws have made voting easier, especially via expanded mail-in balloting.
The state of American politics in 2023 is that America’s racial divisions fall largely along the lines of our two major political parties. Republicans are preventing black Americans from voting and Democrats are expanding their voting rights.
Just as disturbing is the fact that the conservative controlled Supreme Court came close to supporting Alabama’s racist voting districts (Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch, and Barrett).
Republicans defend themselves by insisting they are not being racist in their actions, they are simple trying to eliminate the issue of race as a factor to be considered when laws are passed and policies are implemented.
Why? Because, they say, the country is passed the days when racism was so overt that it corrupted courts and laws and state governments.
It’s the same argument Chief Justice Roberts made when the majority struck down that portion of the Voting Rights Act that required states with a history of racism to get pre-approval from the justice department before making changes in their voting laws.
“Times have changed,” Roberts said. Well, yes, of course, they had, but in many instances racist attitudes had not. I often wonder what Roberts thought about his own argument when the day after the Court issued its ruling bills aimed at making voting harder for minorities were submitted in 13 Republican controlled states, a number that has more than tripled since.
The truth is, Republicans are excusing their racist actions with the audacious claim that they are doing just the opposite, trying to be “color blind” while Democrats are injecting race into issues.
If that were true, then Republicans should answer these questions:
Why are you still blocking the passage of an updated 1965 Voting Rights Act?
Why did you support the Supreme Court striking down Affirmative Action in college admissions?
Why did you say nothing when Senator Tommy Tuberville said some people call “white nationalists” by that name while he calls them “Americans?”
Why won’t you distance yourself from white nationalists or neo-Nazis?
Why do you remain silent when your colleagues in Florida want history books to say slaves benefited from slavery?
Why are you silent as Republican Governor of Texas puts illegal buoys with razor wire on the Rio Grande when illegal immigration has dropped 70% under the Biden administration policies?
Answer these questions, and I will have others waiting for your response as well. That’s how extensive the evidence is of your racism.
It may be true that not all Republicans are racists, but every Republican who remains one without challenging the racist actions of their colleagues cannot complain when others see them as complicit in them.
But here is another critical point about MAGA Republican racism and how it now defines the entire Republican Party.
Not only should it be clear that elections have consequences, just as important is understanding that they are both individual and collective moral choices.
Elections reflect the moral character of the voter, and, collectively reflect the moral character of the nation. Voting is not a morally neutral act. It is a profoundly moral one.
Think about that for a minute. Every time you and I vote, we are making a moral choice about what kind of character our nation will have based on the moral character each of us has already.
That is an awesome responsibility. It means we are affecting the kind of nation in which our children and grandchildren will be living as adults.
Having lived through the civil rights era of the 60s and saw first-hand the ugliness of racism in America, it is stunning to me to see MAGA Republicans trying to take our country back to those awful days.
It causes me cognitive dissonance when I hear Republican voters deny they are racists while continuing to vote for people who support laws that are racist in intent and content and stand silent in the face of overt racist actions such as the razor wire buoys placed in the Rio Grande by a Republican governor.
Nothing is more morally offensive that when people claim to be one thing yet do another and then get upset when the rest of us tell them their words have no integrity or credibility.
Whatever else can be said about the 2024 election, the fundamental truth about it is that it will be a history-making moral choice for the nation, perhaps the most important one since the Civil War.
Will we choose leaders at all levels who have a vision of an America determined to continue the hard work of achieving racial justice or will we choose leaders who see race as an issue to be used to divide the nation for political gain?
As partisan as it sounds, but in fact isn’t, that choice will necessarily be between a MAGA Republican and a Democrat.
linnposts.com 