Modern Vectors of Economic Oppression - Voting Rights

Modern Vectors of Economic Oppression Voting Rights

White Economic Advantage + Black Economic Suppression = Modern Vectors of Economic Racism

"For the (racial wealth) gap to be closed, America must undergo a vast social transformation produced by the adoption of bold national policies, policies that will forge a way forward by addressing, finally, the long-standing consequences of slavery, the Jim Crow years that followed, and ongoing racism and discrimination that exist in our society today."

W. Darity, D. Hamilton, M. Paul, A Aja, A. Price, A. Moore, and C. Chiopris

Learn about each modern vector of economic racism below:

Reckoning with an Unjust Past: a Spoken Word Series by Veronica Wylie

Summary

Early Voter Suppression

"Our nation’s “founding fathers” wrote about a fair and just democracy for all, but this ideal was not realized in the early stages of the American experiment. Only land-owning white men were able to vote. As time passed, laws were modified to allow states to make their own election rules, allowing less privileged people like farmers and commoners the ability to vote, but it did not extend voting rights to all. In 1776, New Jersey gave voting rights to all who lived in the state, but then quickly passed a law to disenfranchise all women and Black men. Native Americans, African Americans, women, and immigrants were barred from voting, and places like Maryland also banned Jewish people from voting.

The 15th amendment ensured that people could not be denied the right to vote because of their race, color or previous condition of servitude, but it also enabled states to oversee elections as they saw fit. Shortly after the Civil War, Mississippi’s Democrats were appalled when two Black men became members of the Senate. They then initiated a campaign of intimidation at the polls that succeeded in restoring white Democrats to power in Mississippi by 1881. Mississippi became one of the first states to put forth a “grandfather clause” that permitted registering anyone whose grandfather was qualified to vote before the Civil War.” This voter-suppression tactic cut the percentage of Black men eligible to vote from over 90% to less than 6% in 1892. Women still could not vote.

Many other states implemented such tactics as poll taxes, literacy tests, and English-language requirements to deliberately reduce voting among African Americans, immigrants, and low-income populations. These tactics became known as Jim Crow Laws. Efforts like the one in Mississippi and other southern states lasted for almost a century."

A History of Voter Suppression | National Low Income Housing Coalition

Personal Narratives

"On Election Day in 1960, four unanswerable questions awaited Clarence Gaskins, a Black voter in Georgia looking to cast his ballot for president. Upon arrival at his designated polling place, he was ushered into a room that held a jar of corn, a cucumber, a watermelon, and a bar of soap. He was informed that in order to vote, he first had to answer the following correctly:

“How many kernels of corn are in the jar? How many bumps on the cucumber? How many seeds in the watermelon? And how many bubbles in the bar of soap?”

Clarence didn’t bother guessing once the polling official admitted there were no right answers. His vote was neither cast nor counted."

Theodore R. Johnson

The New Voter Suppression | Brennan Center for Justice

Methods of Discrimination

1.Voter ID Laws

2.Voter Registration Restrictions (Case Study)

3.Voter Purges

4.Felony Disenfranchisement

Gerrymandering ( Video Case Study)

Threats of violence from white supremacist groups

Leafletting of Black neighborhoods with misinformation about voting

Literacy Tests

Underrepresentation in census-taking

Fraud

Poll taxes

Shutting down polling places in Black communities

Contesting the vote in Black communities

Interfering with census activities to limit count in communities of color

Techniques of Direct Disenfranchisement, 1880-1965

Questions for Research and Reflection:

Which myths based on white supremacy culture did you grow up hearing?

Should people without a good education be allowed to vote? Shouldn't there be a test?
Voter suppression doesn't happen; voter fraud is a much bigger problem
Everyone has equal access to polling locations - voting is easy!

Self-reflection questions:

How do you find out what is on the ballot at the next election? Is the information easy to access?
Does your local precinct offer voting by paper ballot, electronic voting, or both? Why or why not?
Does your precinct offer mail in ballots? Why or why not?
How easy was it for you to register to vote?
Should incarcerated persons (who are counted in the population for representation) be allowed to vote? Why or why not?
What percentage of the time do you vote in elections?
Is voting easy in your area? How close by is your polling place?
Have you ever been turned away from a polling place for lack of the correct ID?
Have you ever been told that your name was not on current voter registration rolls?
If you had to wait in line 8+ hours, how would that affect your ability to vote?
If weekend or evening voting options were not available, how would that affect your ability to vote?