Black People : Voting Right Act In Danger

VRA actually needs to go. It has been almost 50 years. Black president twice elected.. it can no longer be justified. And.. we don't need it....

I disagree. Yes, it is still necessary.

Even though gone are the days of "literacy tests" and "grandfather clauses" and other "Jim Crow" anti-voting tactics, "THEY" still try to get around the VRA.>>>>

...Shelby County, a well-to-do, mostly white bedroom community near Birmingham, adopted Roberts' arguments in its effort to have the voting rights provision declared unconstitutional.

Yet just a few years earlier, a town of nearly 12,000 people in Shelby County defied the voting rights law and prompted the intervention of the Bush Justice Department.


Ernest Montgomery won election as the only black member of the five-person Calera City Council in 2004 in a district that was almost 71 percent black. The city redrew its district lines in 2006 after new subdivisions and retail developments sprang up in the area Montgomery represented, and the change left his district with a population that was only 23 percent black.

Running against a white opponent in the now mostly white district, Montgomery narrowly lost a re-election bid in 2008. The Justice Department invalidated the election result because the city had failed to obtain advance approval of the new districts.
The case is Shelby County v. Holder, 12-96.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/09/supreme-court-new-look-voting-rights-act_n_2103642.html

Shelby County, AL and other states under the VRA wanna use the same "argument" YOU ARE as JUSTIFICATION. But, what they REALLY want is to be able to do whatever they want, UN-CHECKED.

"Why we still gotta be under this "Voting Rights Bill?....Yall gotta Black President, TWICE!.....Geez! What else do yall want?!"
 
I disagree. Yes, it is still necessary.

Even though gone are the days of "literacy tests" and "grandfather clauses" and other "Jim Crow" anti-voting tactics, "THEY" still try to get around the VRA.>>>>



Shelby County, AL and other states under the VRA wanna use the same "argument" YOU ARE as JUSTIFICATION. But, what they REALLY want is to be able to do whatever they want, UN-CHECKED.

"Why we still gotta be under this "Voting Rights Bill?....Yall gotta Black President, TWICE!.....Geez! What else do yall want?!"


I'm familiar with the Shelby case.. and I'm aware that other's want to see the VRA go, but I assure you our reasons and intentions are not the same.

that said..

The point here is not that racism still exists, for racism will always exist.. the point here is that non-whites are not disenfranchised at a level sufficient to justify the continued the unequal treatment of States. It's really a States rights issue.

Whether you agree with that or not, at some point, these per-state per-county restrictions are going to have to come off and each State will have to be treated equally. If we learned anything from the Hayes-Tilden compromise, it's that we cannot rely on the Federal Government to keep us. And just like other well-intentioned social programs that stunt our growth and development as a community by short-circuiting our need to come together, I believe this kind of outdated and piece-meal legislation holds back our political growth and development as a community in 2012. At some point, we are going to have to rise to meet the challenges of our predicaments even in those places where the Federal referees are not looking. We need to be just as galvanized and energized and excited and organized about Local and State Government as we are about the Federal Government.

The VRA was about the climate in '65 when black folks were completely helpless, isolated, disenfranchised and unprotected by State law.. it was a time where folks were being murdered and whole communities were being intimidated to keep them from expressing their political power..
The VRA was about transitioning from that condition. And that condition has truly passed. And that does not mean that racism is dead or that folks won't try to suppress voters and divide power-bases, of course they will.. that is the nature of Politics in America.

There will always be racists, and there are States where racists operate and try all kinds of things.. and none of those states are on the VRA list. What is it that keeps the black vote from being disenfranchised in those, as you say, "unchecked" States? Or a better question, what happens when the Attorney General is a red state Republican? How many lawsuits of this kind were brought by the Federal Government during the 20 combined years of the Reagan-Bush-Bush era?

Under the VRA, all they would have to do is change the districts while they have a sympathetic Administration in power.. and once those lines are set, that same VRA holds those lines in place by requiring Federal approval before being moved again without catching a case. And in that way, the VRA becomes a tool for exactly what it is supposed to prevent. Redistricting is an issue all over the union.. not just in red States. Politics is a dirty, competitive business and the only protection from being maneuvered into a disadvantaged position is an active, alert and engaged electorate. We have to organize ourselves politically and stop allowing the government to hold us up. We will never develop the Political legs to hold the full weight or our body politic if we keep allowing the Federal government to prop us up. It has been almost half a Century.. 50 years.. we have made political progress in this country.. and yes.. a twice elected black president.. black attorney general.. black surgeon General.. black director of NASA.. does matter. Those gains are an indication of both social and political progress. It's time for us to stand up and walk on our own two feet.

It would be a shame to spend this 8 years of Obama's presidency still huddled together and cowering beneath the wing of the Federal government. This next 4 years represents an opportunity for Black people to raise-up and organize ourselves into the alert, active, engaged electorate that we need to be in order to to survive long-term in this Country.

That's why I say, the VRA should die.. and so should section 8.. and every other program that encourages and facilitates black people living in such a way and developing attitudes and behaviors that run contrary to what we need, as a people, to take hold of our own destiny and realize our true power in this country.


- That's how I see it, and I think that's how the court will see it.. We will soon see.

- Peace.


------------------Other related discussions----------------
http://www.destee.com/index.php?thr...voting-rights-law-in-court.72561/#post-750950
http://www.destee.com/index.php?entries/tangled-webs-and-weaves-and-texas.64/
 
skuderjaymes

Brother SJ, I'm aware of the on-going "battle/feud" between you and Bro. Kemetstry on the issue of "white supremacy/racism-v-Black accomplishment, etc...

Often, I have read you telling others to "update their rhetoric."

But, perhaps, you, too, should reflect on your "rhetoric," tempering/tweaking it a bit.

No offense meant....I'm jus' sayn.

I've agreed with Kemestry on some areas and with you on some others....Perhaps, there no one, blanket "rhetoric" to be claimed on either side.

Sure, As a People, we've made great strides; and because of those strides and leaps, THEY want us to believe that we have "over-come" so we'll "lower our guard," become a little more "complacent" while they continue to plot behind our backs.

I think of the Voting Rights Bill and ACT like our "defense" in a football game, a military formation, or the "bastion" of a fort....Once any area of that "defense" is compromised, then we are left open to ATTACK.

...If any part of the VRA is taken away, THAT will be JUST the "weakest link" THEY have been waiting for.

White supremacy/racism is still very alive and well striving to hinder/be a "stumbling block" in our way, by any means necessary....just like in Shelby County, AL.
 
....Ooops...I didn't see your post at first.

But, any-who (lol), I can agree with some of your statements; but I would have to see a VERY convincing, DO-ABLE "proposal/model" of such "change" for me to support abolishing the VRA.

Until then, I'm standing on it cuz them white folks is just waitin' to be able to POUNCE!

Now, I'm not literally callin' 'em "devils" but, figuratively, their track record is the same for me.>>>

1 Peter 5:
[8] Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
 
skuderjaymes

Brother SJ, I'm aware of the on-going "battle/feud" between you and Bro. Kemetstry on the issue of "white supremacy/racism-v-Black accomplishment, etc...

Often, I have read you telling others to "update their rhetoric."

But, perhaps, you, too, should reflect on your "rhetoric," tempering/tweaking it a bit.

No offense meant....I'm jus' sayn.

I've agreed with Kemestry on some areas and with you on some others....Perhaps, there no one, blanket "rhetoric" to be claimed on either side.

Sure, As a People, we've made great strides; and because of those strides and leaps, THEY want us to believe that we have "over-come" so we'll "lower our guard," become a little more "complacent" while they continue to plot behind our backs.

I think of the Voting Rights Bill and ACT like our "defense" in a football game, a military formation, or the "bastion" of a fort....Once any area of that "defense" is compromised, then we are left open to ATTACK.

...If any part of the VRA is taken away, THAT will be JUST the "weakest link" THEY have been waiting for.

White supremacy/racism is still very alive and well striving to hinder/be a "stumbling block" in our way, by any means necessary....just like in Shelby County, AL.



It is quite obvious that there is a large group oh white people thats going to do something real stupid, in the name of freedom or whatever. As time goes on and they see themselves becoming less viable, thry will react in a reactionary fashion





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