Battling the New Jim Crow

North Dakota joined the walk of shame. It became the latest state to have its 2013 voter I. D. law overturned. Native Americans successfully pressed the case that North Dakota did not have a voter fraud problem that needed fixing. Its mandatory I.D. law was intended to put a damper on Native American suffrage.

In rural Georgia, police deputies were dispatched with orders to challenge African-American voters randomly on the bona fides of their registration addresses. The arbitrary process confused and scared the people targeted. Under color of law, then, public officials acted to deter voting by its black citizens.

The Supreme Court's invalidation of pre-clearance Justice Department approval of state voting practices spawned new voter suppression laws along racial lines. Federal Courts have begun striking down these laws as disingenuous. See North Carolina Forecast for November: Higher Voter Turnout (The Revolted Colonies, July 30, 2016). New laws and old Jim Crow practices are being challenged successfully.

Critics of the Voting Rights Act reject federal monitoring of state election laws. Clearly, most of the the 2013 state amendments and enforcement policies violate the Constitutional right of equal protection. Until Justice Department oversight is reinstated, these battles against the new Jim Crow will continue. Citizens of other nations may think with justification that our version of  "western democracy" is not so different from theirs after all.