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So, following unwritten protocol and with a nod to
their sordid racial history, The Jim Crow crowd called an
emergency meeting and announced to the whole world that
unless they bring this out of hand Black and Brown voting
under control, they were in dire danger of losing future
elections.
The Jim Crow boys know that the power of the ballot box
can make you or break you and by golly, they were not about
to be broken by hordes of Black and Brown people flipping
presidential chairs and US Senate seats.
If there is one thing Jim Crow learned when he was
flying free in the wind since post slavery, it is that you
cannot afford to have “others” who do not look like you,
vote and vote as a block.
Jim Crow knows that if you have had to reluctantly give
up the whip and the lynching tree (Ahhh…those were the good
‘ol days when black folks knew their place!) to intimidate
the black vote, then you gotta update your stratagems … and
what better place than the voting booth!
If you craft your argument and language exactly right,
you can circumvent those pesky voting rights laws and so
bedevil the black voter, that he or she will throw in the
towel and trust good governance to the goodwill of white
people.
Jim Crow knows how to put on a show. Why, Jim Crow would
argue with a straight face that what he is doing is for the
good of the state and that his proposals will ensure the
integrity of the ballot box.
And you know what? Jim Crow and his best buds are
winging it in over 40 other states that are also sponsoring
hundreds of bills that affect voting rights.
All of these Jim Crow highflyers looked around the
nation and saw that they were facing the same problem with
their “colored” voters: uppity and willing to upset the
political apple cart.
No matter that there were no findings of any
significant voter fraud in the recent elections. No matter
that over 60 court cases have been filed in the federal and
state courts alleging voter irregularities and that all the
judges in those courts ruled that the presented evidence had
no merit.
No matter that in certain states, recounts were done
and redone and with the same finding…no voter fraud!
So, what does a principled Jim Crow person do in those
situations? Simple!: You lie and lie again and repeat the
same lie over and over and when you are called upon to prove
it, you say, “Why, everybody knows it!”
Jim Crow’s America is making no pretense of their
intentions to thwart the power of the Black and Brown voter.
I am surprised that Jim Crow has not simply come out
and stated to the world that people of color in America are
still second-class citizens when it comes to full-fledged
citizenship.
Jim Crow’s best bud, former president Donald Trump,
worked up a fever pitch lying to America about voter fraud
and his political hacks and goons reiterated the same slimy
lies, and it worked!
White America is in a tizzy about garroting the black
vote but they must do it in very circumspect terms or they
run the risk of engaging in racist behavior (Yes, it is
racist behavior!) and stand to lose some white liberals and
moderates as their allies.
Instead of accepting the recent election results as the
will of the people (remember: in the US Constitution, Blacks
were regarded as three-fifths of a person!), the Jim Crow
element wants a return to an America where they do not have
to always worry about Black and Brown people out voting
them; and thus getting access to what they have exclusively
enjoyed for hundreds of years – privilege, power and the
perks of full citizenship.
So, if you forgot everything about America’s sordid
racial history and its pathetic protection of the voting
rights of its fellow citizens, remember this: Jim Crow is
alive and well and will be soon visiting a polling booth
near you.
Contact Lafe Tolliver at tolliver@juno.com
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