It seems the only way to protect the rights of African Americans is through the courts. The U.S. Congress is doing nothing to fight voter suppression. This is a small victory in a war that we are losing. The Republicans are engaging in full white supremacist attacks. And Democrats are unwilling to fight to defend the rights of our fellow citizens. Only a movement of the 99 percent will save the rights of voters of color:
A law to require voter identification in North Carolina discriminates against Black voters, making it unconstitutional, according to a 2-1 Superior Court ruling Friday in Wake County.
Citing a federal court ruling, the judges explained that the decision did not find “any member of the General Assembly who voted in favor of S.B. 824 harbors any racial animus or hatred towards African American voters,” but instead that the Republican majority targeted “voters who, based on race, were unlikely to vote for the majority party.” They said that constitutes racial discrimination “even if done for partisan ends.”
Only a movement can save us. Here is an example of just that:
The Poor People’s Campaign is taking on Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.). Manchin, whose support progressives finally won for a major voting rights bill, has joined Republicans in supporting restrictive voter ID measures and is a defender of the the filibuster, which could doom the very voting-rights bill he just agreed to join. Manchin is also heavily invested in coal and has been an opponent of efforts to address climate change. And he opposes the $15 minimum wage.
“Joe Manchin claimed to support the For the People Act when John Lewis was alive,” said the Poor People’s Campaign’s Rev. Liz Theoharis, a Milwaukee native, at an online news conference Monday. “But there was no chance of it passing. Now, his narcissism has demanded the photo op that he ‘supports’ the Freedom to Vote Act, which cannot pass the Senate without filibuster reform — which Manchin himself is blocking.” Calling out Manchin’s “cynical exercise of image polishing” Theoharis condemned him for standing “in the way of the For the People Act, fully restoring the 1965 Voting Rights Act, ending the filibuster, and raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour—which are widely supported by the people of West Virginia and the nation.”
“Manchin knows that his Republican friends aren’t going to support federal protection of voting rights,” added Rev. William Barber. “His cooperation on a bill that would expand the right to vote and protect against voter suppression in the states is important, but it’s a cynical performance of concern about the crisis we face if Manchin isn’t willing to vote with his fellow Democrats to override the Republicans’ interposition of any debate on voting rights through the coward’s fillibuster.”
The 99 Percenters 