The New State Voter Photo ID Suppression Laws

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Black Buzz News Service

Selma, Alabama

October 10, 2011

    The new State Voter Photo ID Laws passed in various States are a major civil rights issue that should receive top priority from the United States Justice Department, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and other public interest legal organizations who are sensitive to the legal issues raised in this overt abuse of State power.

    All of these GOP Voter Photo ID Laws are designed to limit, curtail, stop a certain demographics from exercising their right to vote in the 2012 presidential election.

    Even though we presently live in a plutocracy, we do have some democratic elements that have been in place since the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, one of which is a citizen's fundamental right to vote.  For any State within the jurisdiction of the United States to suppress in any manner the most fundamental right of a citizen in exercising their right to vote is nothing but unadulterated tyranny, which must be defeated at all cost.

  The Brennan Center for Justice, at the NYU School of Law announced the following States have passed New Voter ID Laws in their 2011 legislative sessions:

1. Alabama

2. Kansas

3. Rhode Island

4. South Carolina

5. Tennessee

6. Texas

7. Wisconsin

  Further, the Brennan Center for Justice states that studies show that as many as 12% of eligible voters do not have government issued photo ID, that the percentage is even higher for seniors, people of color, people with disabilities, low-income voters and students. The studies also show that many citizens find it hard to obtain a government photo ID because the underlying documentation such as a birth certificate needed for a photo ID is very difficult and expensive to come by for many of voters.

  It also appears that the new State voter photo ID laws will have an adverse effect and disparate impact on African American voters.

 On September 8, 2011, the United States Senate Judiciary Sub-Committee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights held a hearing on the suppressive effects of the photo ID laws. Was this U.S. Senate hearing all about show and pizzazz or will these U.S. Senators finally show some courage and determination to address this new camouflaged James Crow voter photo ID Laws?

  The hypocritical US propaganda apparatus has the gall and audacity to go around the world lecturing other countries about the benefits of democracy when they can't stand on the right side of justice and practice what they preach in their own backyard. 

  According to Solomon Commissiong, activist, educator at the University of Maryland, College Park (and I concur): "the same US propaganda machine has fooled many more into thinking that America stands as a beacon of freedom, justice and equality."  Solomon further states that one of the most reprehensible myths propagated by the US government is that it is a nation that delivers "democracy to nations allegedly under autocratic rule."

  The GOP has declared war against at least a million voters who will be disenfranchised if these biased new voter ID laws remain on the books.

  The way you win a war is to have the right game plan, right strategy and a zillion foot soldiers who are committed to victory at all cost. One's game plan must be clear, concise and coherent. Either we are part of the solution or part of the problem. This is really the time to put on our marching shoes and use other items that are germane in our arsenal of weapons in beating these new voter photo ID laws. 

 One should always remember the biggest weapon we have is our mind and NO one can take that away.

 Although the issues raised in the Occupy Wall Street Movement are vitally important to many Americans, interfering and obstructing an American citizen's right to vote should take priority over any other matter at the present time.

  It is very unfortunate that we do not have any credible or accountable national Civil Rights leaders who can galvanize, organize or develop a comprehensive game plan in concert with the Occupy Wall Street Movement in order to defeat these new James Crow III State Voter Photo ID Suppression Laws.

  This is not the time for Black people, young people or other people of color to remain on the sidelines when there is plenty of hard work to do in defeating James Crow III.

   I do remember at the height of the Civil Rights Movement in the late 1960's and early 1970's that most Black folks sat on the sidelines while important history was being made. What will we do this time? This is the time for citizens to be engaged not outraged.

 The cowards within the ranks of the Grand Ole Party and Tea Party may say that these new laws have nothing to do with the 2012 presidential election, but in essence they have everything to do with the 2012 election.  One must ask the question why didn't the GOP in the subject States enact these restrictive voter suppression laws when William Jefferson Clinton was seeking a second term in the White House in 1996?  If these new Voter Photo ID Laws are not about race and class, then what must one conclude?

    What is the intent of these Voter Photo ID Law? What is the motivation of these new Voter Photo ID Laws?  Is defeating Barack Obama at all costs coupled with a big dose of old fashioned 21st century racism masked as State's Rights the motivation of these new Voter Photo ID Laws?  The new Voter Photo ID Laws are nothing but a modern day poll tax designed to limit young voters, the elderly, poor Blacks and other poor people of color who as we know came out in droves in the 2008 election.

  The United States of America is indeed ripe for an Arab Spring, and the voters must wake up and seize the time or we may be relegated to a position of secondary consideration in a country that has the one percent  elites owning/controlling 42-44 percent of the actual financial wealth in the United States and whose sole mission is maintenance of the status quo.

  Power To The People Who Know How To Use It