Tuesday, July 04, 2006
Can racists become representatives?
The following is an article that just ran in the University of Northern Iowa's student newspaper. Thank God for smart students like Tristan Abbott. Article follows:
Can racists become representatives?
Tristan Abbott
NI Opinion Columnist
The Voting Rights Act, implemented in 1965 and continued under the Reagan administration, has helped hundreds of thousands of minority voters have their voices heard.
Sure, it’s been danced around an awful lot, particularly with the GOP’s shameful efforts during past two presidential elections, but at least it’s prevented some of the very worst practices, including poll taxes and selective literacy tests, both of which were designed to disenfranchise Black voters.
The VRA came up for extension late last week. You’d think congress’ renewal would be a no-brainer, right?
I mean, who in their right mind could take a stand against an act that makes it easier for people to vote?
Even if a few congress people were such bigoted morons, surely they wouldn’t be so stupid as to expose their racism to the entire nation, right?
Right?
Erm… no.
On Wednesday, May 21, 2006, a small group of Republican congressmen overrode huge, bipartisan committee support and prevented the extension of the VAR from being voted upon.
Most of these congressmen were from the south, but lucky for us, one was from Iowa: the fifth district’s Steve King.
King’s reasoning for his work in killing the Act was – and I’m not exaggerating this in any way – that he was against the fact that the VRA might have allowed bilingual voting. Seriously. Go to his website: it offers a whole section about how bilingual voting is the greatest scourge our nation currently faces (aside from Arabs), and he has even introduced legislation aimed towards banning it outright.
King supports his position by saying: “If we want to demolish modern-day obstacles and bring all backgrounds into our voting process to communicate with each other, we must unify the country instead of driving a wedge between cultures.”
His logic, then, seems to suggest that the best way to help non-English speaking immigrants to vote is to effectively prevent them from voting. It’s neat, really: it’s rare that you get to see such flawed and moronic logic on full public display.
There is no other term for King’s actions aside from racism. I don’t care what kind of BS he has to say about “culture wedges,” I don’t care how, according to his Orwellian double-speak logic, he has come to the conclusion that preventing people from voting will help their voices be more clearly heard. He is actively working to politically disenfranchise an ethic subpopulation. That is racism. If you support this, you are a racist.
I don’t know what else to say. I can’t see how anyone could possibly defend this without delving into “Mexicans took my daddy’s job if they want to live in America they should speak American” territory. All I hope is that the VRA is brought back to the floor before next June, when it will expire, and is granted precisely the kind of up-and-down vote that I thought the GOP were fans of.
As for you, if you’re as ashamed as me to hail from the same state as Steve King, give him a call and tell him so. He can be reached in Washington at 202-225-4426. If you’re a true patriot, check out his website at HYPERLINK “http://www.house.gov/steveking/” http://www.house.gov/steveking/ .
Can racists become representatives?
Tristan Abbott
NI Opinion Columnist
The Voting Rights Act, implemented in 1965 and continued under the Reagan administration, has helped hundreds of thousands of minority voters have their voices heard.
Sure, it’s been danced around an awful lot, particularly with the GOP’s shameful efforts during past two presidential elections, but at least it’s prevented some of the very worst practices, including poll taxes and selective literacy tests, both of which were designed to disenfranchise Black voters.
The VRA came up for extension late last week. You’d think congress’ renewal would be a no-brainer, right?
I mean, who in their right mind could take a stand against an act that makes it easier for people to vote?
Even if a few congress people were such bigoted morons, surely they wouldn’t be so stupid as to expose their racism to the entire nation, right?
Right?
Erm… no.
On Wednesday, May 21, 2006, a small group of Republican congressmen overrode huge, bipartisan committee support and prevented the extension of the VAR from being voted upon.
Most of these congressmen were from the south, but lucky for us, one was from Iowa: the fifth district’s Steve King.
King’s reasoning for his work in killing the Act was – and I’m not exaggerating this in any way – that he was against the fact that the VRA might have allowed bilingual voting. Seriously. Go to his website: it offers a whole section about how bilingual voting is the greatest scourge our nation currently faces (aside from Arabs), and he has even introduced legislation aimed towards banning it outright.
King supports his position by saying: “If we want to demolish modern-day obstacles and bring all backgrounds into our voting process to communicate with each other, we must unify the country instead of driving a wedge between cultures.”
His logic, then, seems to suggest that the best way to help non-English speaking immigrants to vote is to effectively prevent them from voting. It’s neat, really: it’s rare that you get to see such flawed and moronic logic on full public display.
There is no other term for King’s actions aside from racism. I don’t care what kind of BS he has to say about “culture wedges,” I don’t care how, according to his Orwellian double-speak logic, he has come to the conclusion that preventing people from voting will help their voices be more clearly heard. He is actively working to politically disenfranchise an ethic subpopulation. That is racism. If you support this, you are a racist.
I don’t know what else to say. I can’t see how anyone could possibly defend this without delving into “Mexicans took my daddy’s job if they want to live in America they should speak American” territory. All I hope is that the VRA is brought back to the floor before next June, when it will expire, and is granted precisely the kind of up-and-down vote that I thought the GOP were fans of.
As for you, if you’re as ashamed as me to hail from the same state as Steve King, give him a call and tell him so. He can be reached in Washington at 202-225-4426. If you’re a true patriot, check out his website at HYPERLINK “http://www.house.gov/steveking/” http://www.house.gov/steveking/ .
