Bills named for Black men died in the us Senate
4th October 2021 · 0 Comments
What are we to think about the fact that both the John R. Lewis Voter Advancement Act and the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act died in the U.S. Senate? Both bills passed in the House; both put federal standards to prevent injustice, whether at the ballot box or during encounters with law enforcement.
What are we to think about the death of legislation named for the late Congressman John R. Lewis, a civil rights icon, who spilled blood for the right to vote without being terrorized, targeted, or murdered?
What are we to think of senators who refused to allow a vote on federal voting regulations that ensure every citizen full access to the ballot and sanctions unjust voter suppression laws?
What else can we think but Republicans know that they can’t win elections fair and square. They don’t have an agenda for the majority of Americans. They rob the poor and give to the one percenter.
American voters see through their agenda to create a White Minority Ruling Party. In this fascist state, only the rich benefit, and white commoners are satisfied with a diet of white power, white supremacy, and white privilege.
What do we think of U.S. Senator Tim Scott, a Black Republican, who wasted an entire year negotiating with Democratic Senator Cory Booker and U. S. Representative Karen Bass, also Black officials, over the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act? Scott vowed before negotiations began that eliminating qualified immunity was a red line he wouldn’t cross.
The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act bans chokeholds and no-knock warrants, creates a database of police engaged in misconduct, and ends qualified immunity.
The police reform act is named in honor of the late George Floyd, who was killed by Derek Chauvin, a former Minneapolis police and convicted murderer who knelt on Floyd’s neck until he was dead.
The world rose to protest the killing of Floyd and several other unarmed Black Americans. The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act offers much-needed federal guidelines for keeping citizens and law enforcement safe.
Clearly, Scott doesn’t want individual police officers to be held accountable for egregious acts like, say, killing unarmed Black people. He’s against holding police departments accountable too. Scott couldn’t care less about what happens to Black people in America. He, like the majority of Republicans, and a few Democrats, put profit over people. Their decisions are devoid of justice, equality, and morality. They’re all about the Benjamins.
But back to Scott? How is it that the predominately White U.S. Senate chose a Black man to defend their opposition to voting rights and police reform? It’s the old Dixiecrat playbook. Stick a Blackout front, so no one can accuse them of being racist.
Only three of the 100 Senators are Black: Tim Scott, Cory Booker, and Raphael Warnock. But Blacks comprise 13.4 percent of the American population. Whites are 60.1 percent of the U.S. population but hold 97 percent of the seats in the U.S. Senate. Something about taxation without representation is going on here or voodoo math.
Democrats in Congress wrote the John R. Lewis Voter Advancement Act to ensure that no party gets the unfair advantage partisan and racial gerrymandering provides. They penned a law that permanently protects voting rights.
Some people ask why this voting rights law is necessary. Doesn’t the 15th Amendment of the Constitution guarantee every American the right to vote? Yep. Except there are White Republican officeholders with long histories of devising racist laws, procedures, and policies to keep Black and Brown people from voting.
Then there’s this: Who thought of the absurdity of renewing the Voting Rights Act of 1965 every 25 years?
The 15th Amendment is permanent, so how do states get away with purging voters off rolls for not voting in two consecutive federal elections or eliminating voters for not responding to a postcard asking if the voter still lives near the designated voting poll.
Don’t bother looking at demographics for who is most affected by voter suppression tactics. It’s people of color, of course.
What are we to think about Louisiana’s voting purges (increased to two this year)? What about the law that allows a voter to be purged from the rolls if that person fails to vote in two consecutive elections or doesn’t respond to a postcard verifying that the person still lives and votes at the designated poll.
They say all politics is local. The majority of Louisiana’s state senators and state representatives are White Republicans. Whites comprise 57.1 percent of the state’s population but hold 69.2 percent of the state senate seats, 72.4 percent of statehouse seats. While Republicans have 83.3 percent of Louisiana’s U.S. House seats and 100 percent of U.S. Senate seats.
Unfortunately, the biggest blockers and obstructionists to Biden’s agenda for everyday Americans are within the Democratic Party. Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va) and Krysten Sinema (D-Ariz.) refuse to get rid of the Senate filibuster (which is only a rule, not a law), which will allow Biden’s agenda to become law.
Both Manchin and Sinema are self-serving megalomaniacs interested in flexing power but even more interested in campaign contributions and donations, no matter what the source.
Republicans threw a fundraiser for Manchin in Texas. Sinema is reportedly meeting with donors opposed to Biden’s For The People Act. Left up to them, all of Biden’s proposals will die in the Senate.
So, what are ‘We the People’ going to do about the never-ending cycle of injustice that goes unpunished, uncorrected, and aided and abetted by self-serving politicians? Supporters of voting rights, fair elections, police reform, and the human infrastructure in the For the People Act, gotta make a lot of noise. Silence is not an option.
Being silent means accepting and tolerating injustices. To remain quiet is to allow elected officials to stomp our Constitutional rights into oblivion. To be closed mouth is to say nothing about the $2 Trillion permanent tax cut Trump gave the one percent.
Enough. It’s time to have the moral courage to reject injustice and call out by name those who sanction wrongdoing and block Biden’s progressive agenda.
We can call the senators’ offices, blog about them, write Facebook posts, and use every social media platform available to express our opposition to their refusal to vote for the safety net Biden wants to implement to help Americans. Who in their right mind can be against family leave, dental services for senior citizens, childcare tax credits, universal kindergarten for three and four-year-olds, free community college, and 21st-century climate change remedies? How is it that politicians continue to ignore the will of the people?
Take to Twitter and tweet at these politicians and let the media know how you really feel. Maybe we can join with others and start recall petitions for politicians that fail to do the people’s will.
But, above all, vote.
We have elections coming up.2 We must be savvy with our votes. Research the candidates: What public services have the candidates provided? What have they done in the districts they want to represent? Who are their campaign contributors? What are their goals? Do they possess the attributes for being a public servant, or are they self-serving?
To shift the political landscape toward justice, we must elect people committed to fairness and those who have moral compasses. Change won’t happen overnight; this is a marathon, not a sprint. But if we vote wisely, we can save democracy and improve the quality of life for all Americans at the same time.
This article originally published in the October 4, 2021 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
