Jacked

By Dr. E. Faye Williams
TriceEdneyWire.com Columnist

As long as I remember, generosity has been a personal value that I’ve embraced and practiced. I assume that my large number of siblings influenced that part of my character. I received great pleasure from seeing joy in the eyes of a loved one or friend when I gifted or shared. On the other hand, I staunchly and vehemently opposed anyone arbitrarily attempting to take something from me. If you wanted to see my emotional temperature rapidly rise from cool to boiling, you only had to observe someone attempting to take something from me without my permission or agreement.

Analyzing the Republican response to 2020 election results, I’ve become as incensed as if someone had broken into my home and stolen my prized possessions. For Republicans, losing the presidential election – a result that 30 percent of Trump supporters refuse to acknowledge – was only compounded by the loss of Senate elections in Georgia which flipped the Senate and gave legislative control to the Democratic Party.

In response, Trump and many of his supporters attempted to “steal” the election. That theft was predicated on surreptitiously reversing the vote count in urban communities of color – Milwaukee, Detroit, Philadelphia, and Atlanta. The consequence of that effort stripped any need for pretense and removed the need for subtlety.

The abjectly STUPID response of Republicans to these election results demonstrates a longstanding and ongoing pattern of racially and culturally inspired disrespect for millions of Americans. We must remember that racist Dixiecrats migrated to the welcoming embrace of the Republican Party after President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act. Arrogantly ranting about being the party of Lincoln, they imposed every political dirty trick to violate Lincoln Republicanism and restrict non-white or Democratic leaning voters from exercising their right to vote.

They demonstrate themselves to be as violent in their theft as the criminal who, using armed threat, steals a vehicle from its rightful owner in broad, open daylight. They no longer attempt to disguise their purpose with ridiculous or dishonest claims. Through “Insurrection,” they displayed the arrogance of those in complete disregard for their victims or the potential damage done to our threatened democracy.

As egregious as the Insurrection of January 6 was, it is not the only concern of those committed to democratic principles. Since November, over 250 laws have been introduced in Republican-controlled state legislatures, which by design, directly and negatively impact voters of color.

In their fear inspired quest to maintain political, socio-economic, and racial superiority, the modern Republican Party has pulled down all of the covers masking their racism and thrown out all of the stops to their power grab. Their fear of the ‘Browning’ of America has produced actions from the ridiculous to the egregious. Lying has become the foundation of their public outreach with specific emphasis on persuading you that you do not hear what your ears hear or see what your eyes see.

The tools of the “Robber Republicans” may be different in appearance, but are not unfamiliar in impact. Attacking our communities with ‘surgical accuracy,’ proposed legislation eliminates Sunday “souls to the polls,” reduces the number of early voting days, and imposes restrictive voter identification requirements. The far too common challenge of disproportionately lengthy voting times/lines in communities of color is made worse where the number of polling places have been reduced and, in Georgia, where state legislators propose making the gift of a bottle of water to a line-standing voter a criminal act.

The ‘old-folks’ used to say, “If you’ll lie, you’ll cheat. If you cheat, you’ll steal. And, if you steal, you’ll kill.” They’ve done it all! Our physical and emotional well-being requires us to remain perpetually vigilant to threats that would render us powerless.

Dr. E. Faye Williams is President of the National Congress of Black Women.

This article originally published in the April 5, 2021 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.