Racism is alive and well in the United States. Yesterday, it was effectively sanctioned by the United States Supreme Court. By a 5-4 vote, the court gutted the seminal piece of voting rights legislation in our nation's history. It did so knowing that states would actively work to deprive citizens of their voting rights. It didn't matter.
Congress could fix this problem. If it wasn't so sad, I'd burst out laughing from writing that sentence. "Could" is the key, which is akin to writing "will not."
When looking for the definition of an activist court ruling, look no further than this ruling. Congress -- including a majority of Republicans -- overwhelmingly voted to reauthorize the Voting Rights Act in 2006. This is not a law passed 50 years ago and left to grow stale. This was a law that was believed necessary seven years ago and still current on the books. The court ignored its own precedent to reach the outcome it wanted. Our country regressed decades with a few words on the page.
If you wonder at my feelings, you have only to see what happened within mere hours of the ruling. Racism is alive and well folks and it doesn't even need to hide any longer.
Shelby County, Alabama v. Holder, Attorney General, et al has joined Plessy v. Ferguson and a host of Jim Crow laws as a stain on the soul of our nation. We must all work to remove this cancer within our land. Certainly, we cannot trust this court or our Congress to do it for us.
26 June 2013
15 July 2013 Addition: An interesting piece at TPM today regarding Texas' recent history of racial discrimination and how it could legally hamper the state's efforts to change its voting laws even after the recent ruling in the Supreme Court. Let's hope so.
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