Phil the Nuka-Cola Dude said:
Yup. It's the white man keeping them down and forcing them to ravage their own communities with crime. It's the white man forcing them to form gangs and kill each other in the streets, shooting up homes and murdering their own children. It's the white man responsible for not employing them based on address, and not the disgusting way they present themselves. It's the white man that won't let them get a good education, not the fact that they just aren't interested in learning or bettering themselves, and actively bully/harass the tiny percent of blacks that do.
No. But historical racism has created negative socio-economic conditions for large portions of black society. That's not some kind of profound statement. You should be able to drive to a random black neighborhood in a major US city to just see that. Schools located in black districts are worse, receive less funding (because they're locally funded), students have fewer opportunities to go to college, people are poorer (further limiting them in a relatively immobile society). And yes, gangs (and to a much smaller extent a culture) are certainly a problem -- but they are a symptom of historical realities.
Add to that very real prejudices that are still in place (affecting hiring policies and police action most) and you have real problems created by racism. I don't get why you want to pretend that everything's hunky-dory and that the effects of 200 years of oppression disappeared in the past 50 years, or that all racist attitudes or subconscious prejudices disappeared.
Phil the Nuka-Cola Dude said:
You're 100% correct. Voter fraud and ID laws are specifically created NOT to stem the tide of fraudulent votes, but to stop black people from voting because the white man won't let them obtain a valid form of ID.
There is no evidence that voter fraud is a problem, or that there is a "tide of fraudulent votes". There is also no evidence that these voter ID laws would actually help stop voter fraud even if it were a problem. And several of those voter ID laws have been struck down in federal courts for disproportionately affecting minorities.
Looking at the facts, it's actually pretty hard to see any way in which they would be designed to legitimately stop a problem when that problem doesn't even exist.
Voter ID laws are universally introduced and only supported by Republicans. There's a simple reason for that: they disproportionately affect Democratic voter bases, effectively preventing part of that voter base from voting. And given the fact that the ID laws place demands on time and money (as well as education), poor people are affected the most. And, of course, blacks are one of the poorest groups in the country.
Note, those Voter ID laws aren't necessarily aimed specifically at blacks -- they're aimed at certain groups that overwhelmingly vote Democratic. Just so happens that they're black.
When your legislation in practice stops a group of people from voting, you had better show that your legislation is necessary. This has not been done with any of the Voter ID laws.
But don't just look at voter ID laws. Look at gerrymandering, or the messing around with early voting hours -- especially in poor districts (Florida was especially bad there). Hell, between 1982 and 2006 the preclearance process of the Voting Rights Act was used to block a massive 2,400 voting changes between 1982 and 2006,
according to the LA Times. Plenty of election-related shenanigans going on, most of them disproportionately affecting blacks.
