It is hard to find the words to describe how we feel about the defeat of the voting rights bills this week. It is at a minimum shocking! Voting is the basis of a democracy and a democratic government cannot run freely without it. How would we have known that this was coming? Should we have known that this was coming? Shame on Manchin and Sinema and the Republican Senate.
We guess we should have seen this coming when we witnessed Republican led states passing laws making it more difficult for minorities to vote. The execution of a Republican master plan has resulted in polling locations shrinking for many. Included in the plan is a change in the requirement for specific ID’s, removal of drive-through voting boxes, and making it difficult or impossible for those without cars or public transportation to get to a polling station. Roadblocks to voting for minorities, who are mostly Democrats, is the name of the game.
With this taking place before our very eyes, it takes us back to the 1860’s following the 13th Amendment which, on paper, ended slavery. As one door closed, those who opposed the freeing of the slaves opened another. In a clever move and working within the law, they became the police and judges allowing the segregation and the discrimination to continue. Jim Crow replaced legalized slavery and became state or local laws that enforced or legalized segregation. It interfered with the ability of Black people to vote, get an education, find jobs, and other opportunities. It segregated them on public transportation on trains, buses, and at movie theaters, water fountains and in public schools. Jim Crow lived on with arrests, fines, jail time, and violent acts towards Black people and also many deaths.
This marginalization of African Americans lasted one hundred years from the 1860’s to the 1960’s. It is difficult to write about this without feeling the sorrow of those who suffered at the hands of the “law” at the time.
Even the history of the name, Jim Crow, is rather revolting. As it goes, in 1828, a white entertainer darkened his face with burnt cork and dressed as a plantation slave and performed the song “Jump Jim Crow” in theaters. Something to be proud of we suppose for him! Not only did he perform this ditty but he had apparently taken the song from an elderly African American man found singing the song. The white, blackened face entertainer went on to win national fame for his performance. This may well be the origin of the term Jim Crow that was used to oppress African American people in the south and legitimized racial segregation for one hundred years.
This is the type of history that is infrequently taught in schools and is based on the current trend of removing Black history, such as critical race theory. It is the history that shows that slaves were property not persons. It is the history of slaves having to show total obedience to their owners. If Black history were taught, it would explore such laws as those passed in the 17th century that prohibited slaves from performing their native dances because whites believed the slaves’ way of performing, by forming a cross with their feet, was blasphemous. As it goes, it is said that slaves developed a shuffle dance, where their feet did not cross, to evade the law calling the dance Jim Crow. Since we are not historians, we cannot assure that this is 100% true but the circumstances do seem to fit the time. As the Black people struggled to adapt to the “laws,” a roving minstrel, with a blackened face in the 1830’s who mocked and mimicked a slave, performed his stolen Jim Crow and won awards for it. Life is indeed not fair. It still isn’t.
The struggle continues which we saw this week in the Republican defeat of the voting rights bills. The Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act would have extended voting access, made Election Day a national holiday, ensured access to early voting and mail-in ballots, and more. To reinforce this hypocrisy, this week Mitch McConnell “inadvertently” made a statement that “African Americans” cast ballots at similar rates to “Americans.” Does that infer that African Americans are not Americans? Is it no surprise that this Kentucky Senator led the way to blocking the voting bills? This is far too transparent, Mitch! It may be no accident that the blackened face white roving minstrel, Thomas Rice, performed his “Jump Jim Crow” between acts of a play called “The Kentucky Rifle.”
Joe Biden recently stated in his second year in office that he is going to take to the streets and talk to the people and consult with experts for future guidance. We say it is also time to put on your mental boxing gloves, Joe! With a GOP led Senate bent on a fascist agenda, we have much work to do. We need Joe and the Democrats to lead the way so we do not make our history our future.
“When we are kicked down, we rise up. We rise up for each other.
For freedom, we will always rise up.” – M. Shaw
