40 Years after MLK's Death: DOJ's War on Black Voters
While remembering the life and death of Dr. Martin Luther King, it's worth noting that Republican operatives and the Bush administration's Department of Justice have turned back the clock on civil rights. They have created a new set of Jim Crow-like policies and strategies with a still-active goal: stopping blacks, who lean Democratic, from casting ballots that count.
Have Justice Department officials and GOP loyalists become essentially an upscale, white-collar version of the Klan, armed with voting lists on their Palm Pilots rather than burning crosses and guns to keep blacks from voting?
This week, a series of articles have been published online underscoring the ways that the racist restrictions of the past have been revived, in often disturbing ways. In the Huffington Post, I reported how the FBI ignored threats to jail voters in Dallas during a hard-fought 2006 state legislative race. The Campaign Legal Center today demanded an in-depth Justice Department probe of its failure to investigate this blatant violations of civil rights.
The full story behind these sorts of vote-suppressing schemes is told in the latest issue of The American Prospect, which explores, in "The Republican War on Voting," how local, state and federal officials and GOP operatives targeted the community group ACORN with phony claims of voter fraud because of its successful voter registration drives. The claims of widespread voter fraud live on in briefs supporting the Indiana photo ID law filed by the federal government, the state and conservative Republicans now before the Supreme Court.
What was once primarily a series of tactics stretching back from the evil days of the poll tax in the 1960s to "caging" and photo ID today, has become official Justice Department policy -- either by ignoring threats to black voting rights or active steps to disenfanchise them and most other low-income minorities. Steve Rosenfeld in Social Policy looks at the full scope of vote-suppression strategies pursued by the Justice Department, pulling together a complete picture of its lawsuits, rulings and advisory actions aimed at promoting photo ID, ignoring threats to the civil rights of blacks and promoting massive purging of voter rolls.
As Project Vote noted in an overview of these articles:
Three recent articles made available online this week - including two by Art Levine and one by Steve Rosenfeld - focus on the partisan subversion of the Department of Justice and show how partisan schemes to engage in widespread voter suppression targeted one of the most active defenders of the rights of poor people and people of color. These articles have exposed what amounts to an entire war waged by conservatives against the voting rights gains of the past generation. Taken in total, the picture that emerges shows nothing less than an attempt to take America back to days of segregation and Jim Crow except this time the marauders are wearing suits and ties and carry briefcases rather than wearing white hoods and sheets and burning crosses. Even more disturbing is their willingness to subvert the non-partisan nature of the nation's top law enforcement institution, the Department of Justice and commit the resources of the Federal government to the systematic disenfranchisement of American citizens.
As my piece in the American Prospect points out:
[Attacking ACORN has been part of] the Republican Party's ongoing nationwide campaign to suppress the low-income minority vote by propagating the myth of voter fraud. Using various tactics -- including media smears, bogus lawsuits, restrictive new voting laws and policies, and flimsy prosecutions -- Republican operatives, election officials, and the GOP-controlled Justice Department have limited voting access and gone after voter-registration groups such as ACORN. Which should come as no surprise: In building support for initiatives raising the minimum wage and kindred ballot measures, ACORN has registered, in partnership with Project Vote, 1.6 million largely Democratic-leaning voters since 2004. All told, non-profit groups registered over three million new voters in 2004, about the same time that Republican and Justice Department efforts to publicize ?voter fraud? and limit voting access became more widespread. And attacking ACORN has been a central element of a systematic GOP disenfranchisement agenda to undermine Democratic prospects before each Election Day.
Revelations that U.S. attorneys were fired for their failure to successfully prosecute voter fraud have revealed how fictitious the allegations of widespread fraud actually were -- but the allegations haven't gone away. They live on in all the vote-suppressing laws and regulations that will likely affect this year's election, in GOP rhetoric and, most recently, in the arguments presented by champions of Indiana's restrictive voter-identification law in a case currently before the U.S. Supreme Court.Unfortunately, progressives have tended to pay more attention to Election Day dirty tricks and to electronic voting machines than to a more systemic threat: the Republican campaign to suppress the votes of low-income, young, and minority voters through restrictive legislation and rulings, all based on the mythic specter of voter fraud. Those relatively transient voters, drawn to the polls this year by the Obama and Clinton campaigns, could find themselves thwarted in November and thereafter by the GOP-driven regime of voting restrictions -- particularly if, as many observers believe, the Court upholds Indiana's restrictive law before it adjourns this June.
Voter fraud is actually less likely to occur than lightning striking a person, according to data compiled by New York University's Brennan Center for Justice. As Lorraine Minnite, a Columbia University professor, observed in the Project Vote report, The Politics of Voter Fraud, "The claim that voter fraud threatens the integrity of American elections is itself a fraud."
While we remember Dr. King, there's still a long way to go to achieve the voting rights he fought so hard to achieve.
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Listen to this great and timely speech by King:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=b80Bsw0UG-U
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/04/02/campaign-adwatch-mike-gr_n_94623.html
Mike Gravel speaks for me.
dear reverend jeffery wright
if you are reading this post...please do not say anything.
if you do you will probably be accused of hating america
we all know...that every time anyone brings up this type of evil...
2 things happen.blacks are accused of victimhood...and playing the race card...
and whoever brought it up...as in reverend wrights case...is accused of being anti american,
so until the election is over...mums the word.remember...the american gubbamint is not
caging our votes. they did not murder the native americans and steal their land. they did not
enslave us and use our free labor to build this nation and its wealth. the tuskeege syphillis incident never happened...and they had nothing to do with crack and 4000 dollar machineguns suddenly appearing in american ghettos and the poorest black countries in the world. those negros made those state of the art weapons in ghetto workshops...the same way they manufactured crack cocaine in ghetto research laboratorys. they did not steal most of
mexico...from the mexicans....the mexicans willingly gave them texas...new mexico,,,california...utah...nevado...etc., for pnchos and sombreros. they did not nuke the japanese...the tonkin gulf attack did happen.never forget...the white people in america are angels sent by god and would never do the dreadful things mentioned above.and above all...please shut up about them damned chickens.
The Republicans wanted a "permanent Republican majority." That means the Democrats would have to lose, over and over again, as long as the U.S. existed. That means America's democratic processes would be rendered null and void. It would be a dictatorship. But it's kind of like a dictatorship already.
Don't the Dems want a permanent majority? Do Democratic politicians get together and say, "We need to loose this one for democracy?"
Come now.
Do you really think that the requirement to have a photo ID keeps people from voting?
Do you really view blacks so lowly that you think they're all too poor to have a driver's license or other ID?
Do you really think ACORN is so innocent?
The more people see this demeaning view of blacks the more they will, hopefully, reject the real prejudice of low expectations that the Left uses so effectively to maintain the plantation attitude.
Or ... is it like we're seeing in several locations ...
The Left/Dems want to put in place a way to get the illegal alien vote! What a bunch of Marxists!
Collin
http://evangelicalperspective.blogspot.com
Couching your voter suppression arguments by patronizing black people is really poor form. You should decide another way to argue your case instead of saying blacks benefit from Republican voter suppression efforts. You are patronizing and demagoguing race, and thus you are the one with the "plantation attitude."
i don't think it is any suprise that not much really has changed with regard to the propensity of white men to stand in the way of any less than white person's quest for a way to make a living. the real story is why it has been so difficult to eradicate these people from positions of federal political power when the minority voting block is large enough to effect that changes. these things can't happen without the intended and unintended aid of both political parties but most notably the democrats for allowing these sorts of things to go unchallenged while pandering for votes claiming their vigilance on racial matters.
What you people don't realize is that black people vote Democratic largely because they hate America, and want Islam-fascist abortion doctors to to take over our country and make gay marriage mandatory. Don't you see that what our brilliant Department of Justice is doing is protecting our hallowed country from these swarthy foreigners, and that George W. Bush is truly our savior?
no. we do not vote democrat because we hate america.we don't hate america. we hate the rotten things america has done to us. we vote democrat because in the 60s in their rage and bitterness over the passage of civil and voting rights acts...the KKK...white citizenship councils...dixiecrats...white supremicists...and the bulk of the slaving...burning ...lynching...bombing ...racist confederate south migrated enmasse to the republican party. why would any black american...unless he is a skinning grinning uncle tom..be in the same party as trent lott and haily barber and the rest of the southern racists? president james earl carter went on meet the press and said the following:"the only reason...white southerners vote republican..is because they know the african americans are in the other party".
Wow! And Jeremiah Wright had the nerve to call this country "the Unites States of KKK A".
i think byrdland is pulling your [our] pud
There is an influential wing of the GOP that believes if you are not educated and a tax payer your ought not to have a vote.
The voter ID is one way to test education and I suppose if one is not a tax payer one would not be likely to jump through hoops to vote.
Who are you people going to blame when Bush is out of office? What are you going to do when you realize that when these things will continue to happen even after Bush is gone?
When are you going to realize that although you probably voted for Bush, Calirighty, thinking he was leading the racist revolution, the man was and is as dumb as a stone, and was the face of the operation, not the brains.
Putting a dry-drunk, AWOL, felon in the white house was an absolute political and moral coup.
However, his time is just about done. And thankfully, he came along and won when he did. Right-wing traitors to liberity, the constitution, and human decency secretly gaining influence for the last eight years might have been impossible to stop, had they come into power now. At least now that you've shown who you are, there may still be time to fix some of the damage you've done.
Face, not the brains!!
I always said the best luck we ever had was that the Republican who overthrew the 2000 election was W.
Except, I no longer think it was lucky enough. The Pentagon is announcing 2009 plans.
The Pentagon and empire are not going to lose any more elections.
They might happen if the president after 2008 is the sort of president that condones or actively supports such behavior.
If there is a president who, unlike Bushie, charges the DOJ with enforcing laws, who actually does not spend their time caging voters to disenfranchise citizens who have the legal right to vote it won't happen. Ever since 2000 when Bushie's little brother sent the Florida State police to intimidate voters and hired a GOP firm to eliminate the voters in black communities it has been obvious that they are cooking the books. Firing professionals because they declined to play along with Bushies efforts to cook the books in an illegal manner is not something that has happened in the past and there is no reason to expect it in the future. UNLESS somehow a supporter of Bushies policies gets in office. Just another reason to not support any candidate with a (R) behind their name.
start writing to your public officials, let them know that you know the system is corrupt and you expect something to be done
It is not so much Bush, rather the RNC and Karl Rove. Did you even read the article?
Respectfully I believe Americans of all backgrounds can do much better when they don't have a president like George Bush. I think that may answer the question to way Blacks vote predominently
democratic. The Democrats "appear" to be a better option. I am not willing to give democrats that credit until I see them live up to the promises they make............deal?
Here's another example to add to the long list of voter suppression tactics:
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/04/appeals_court_reverses_ruling.php
“the trial court must now consider whether disenfranchising thousands of eligible citizens because of typos, is consistent with the U.S. Constitution.”
As the author says, claims of widespread voter fraud are themselves fradulent and another Republican media creation. The Department of Justice has turned from its altruistic mandate of stopping minority voter suppression to combating reverse discrimination, which mainly exists in the mind's of ideologues. The extremely partisan Secretaries of State usually help to disenfranchise voters at the state level. Dismissing such activities is easy, but considering the closeness of our recent national elections, dismissing such policies could prove fatal. Republican efforts to disenfranchise voters have become as cynical as their efforts to marginalize Congress and our constitution protections. Do we get the constitution we deserve or the one Bush ascribes us?. They may be one in the same unless responsible officials act.
You need to look up the word disenfranchise because you don't know what it means. If someone is denied voting because they didn't provide an I.D. then they disenfranchised THEMSELVES. If someone registers with false information and they are denied the opportunity to vote then they disenfranchised THEMSELVES. If someone goes to the wrong polling place because because they can't read a voter registration card, and they are denied an opportunity to vote, then they have disenfranchised THEMSELVES. If someone can't punch a hole into a card without screwing it up then they have disenfranchised THEMSELVES. People need to start taking responsibility for themselves. The easy solution is to blame the government and to blame Bush.
Voter ID was not the law , It was an effort by righties to keep people from voting. In California GOP operatives dressed in rent-a-cop uniforms attempted to frighten hispanic voters in Orange county saying to American Citizens who looked hispanic that they would be arrested because they were voting illegally. It wasn't true, it wasn't till the courts ruled that it was a felony that they stopped. Removing people from rolls because they have the same last name as a felon (which happened in Florida and Ohio under the GOP is what disenfranchised thousands of voters. Funny thing , despite all the efforts of Bushies they havent found much voting fraud. There was the GOP activist in Seattle who attempted to register her dog, got in trouble. If a voter goes to the wrong polling place, they should be sent to the correct one. Happened to me in California when they changed the polling place 5 days before the election, the original polling place had a fire. Who needs to be taking responsibility, people who remove people from the votong registers illegally, People who put lots of voting machines in GOP areas so that voting is fast, while putting almost no voting machines in areas perceived to be DEM. Ohio people stood in lines in neighborhoods for over 10 hours to vote. However the GOP is the party of it is someone elses fault. Never take responsibility for their actions. Just another reason to not elect them.
Don't waste you time replying to people like calrighty. They will come up with every excuse in the book not to accept responsibility for what their racist party has done. They are the NEW racists. They will NEVER see the truth because they don't want to. Instead they come up with the old time honored talking points like people have to take responsibilty for their actions. That somehow excuses all the injustices that have been done in their name.
Giving them EVIDENCE does nothing to sway them. It is VERY sad!
Calirghty, did you bother to read the article or fly right down to state your opinions? Attorney general's were fired for failing to bring voter fraud cases in elections where Democrat's prevailed when their investigations revealed there was no voter fraud. Thousands of minority voters in Ohio were denied ballots or denied the right to vote by machine shortages or problems. In Florida, rumors were circulated that people with outstanding records would be arrested when voting. In Florida, some 50,000 felons were purged from voter roles including many who were eligible to vote. And, of course, ACORN was targeted because their registration efforts were too successful.
Respectfully sir, disenfranchisement could also include the Denial of meaningful employment and or business ownership to the majority of blacks in the inner cities and elsewhere, and then flooding their communities with crack cocain. It is well known sir that under ronald reagan that this happened. If you starve a man long enough you can feed him just about anything. Though that man himself may not like the taste of what he is eating. He would rather eat bad food and live than eat no food and die. After flooding these communities with dope you then send in the slave catchers ( police vice squads) to catch these "slaves" thus placing a felony on their record stripping them of their voting rights.....................SEE NICARAGUAN ARMS DEAL COURTESY OF RONALD REAGAN, GEORGE BUSH'S CIA, AND THE TAKE ONE FOR THE GIPPER GUY OLLIE NORTH
I was thinking today that Obama should just tell the truth and not pander to those Florida constituencies of transplanted criminals. That state is thoroughly corrupt and riddled with the Republican machine. Find another way to get elected and let them rant their warped, anti-American self interested international agendas.
As an African American from Florida I could not agree more. There needs to be an investigation of the governmental policies of that state from top to bottom.
"Have Justice Department officials and GOP loyalists become essentially an upscale, white-collar version of the Klan, armed with voting lists on their Palm Pilots rather than burning crosses and guns to keep blacks from voting?"
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From what I've read, the answer would be a resounding YES.
“The Huffington Post has learned, President Bush's Justice Department hasn't brought a single prosecution or lawsuit in more than seven years on behalf of any African-American voters who faced direct voter intimidation threats and challenges -- despite receiving, by some estimates, roughly 12,000 criminal civil rights complaints of all kinds annually.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/art-levine/house-panel-launches-prob_b_94263.html
It's sad when the memory of Dr King is dragged through the mud of racism.
Excellent point!
It is also sad when the potential Greatness of a Nation is dragged into the mud because you have racist in power that refuse to understand the stupidity of their actions.
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