The very racist United States of America

Let there be no mistake.

We can't pat ourselves on our collective backs any longer.

First, there was Douglas Blackmon's book, "Slavery by Another Name," out last year, that received a Pulitzer Prize last week, about the United States true and until now, ignored and really, unknown history of a second kind of slavery for African-Americans after the Civil War.

There was untold cruelty, punishment, unfounded incarceration, what could easily be described as torture, rampant, sanctioned discrimination and even murders, all passing under the eye of local and Federal government. And it lasted from after the Civil War until deep into the middle of the 1900s.

Now, the country's Supreme Court is considering throwing out the Voting Rights Act of 1964 because parts of it only apply to what we understood was always known as the more racist "Deep South."

What a travesty.

And in Missouri?

Our Republican representatives are trying to push through a constitutional amendment that would require a government-supplied photo identification in order to vote.

Gee whiz, to use a phrase.

Could we get more "Jim Crow" about voting and disenfranchisement?

Clearly, this is an attempt to make it more difficult for the poor, minorities and the elderly (read: Democrats) to vote, let there be no doubt.

So on both the national and local/regional level, the conservative, clearly Republican groups are trying there hardest to make discrimination and disenfranchisement the law of the land.

It's pitiful.

It's pathetic.

It's sad.

It's tragic.

It's brutally unfair and should be made clear this is what's going on.

Ask yourself--why don't we vote on Saturdays?

Wouldn't that make sense? Wouldn't it be a great deal easier to get large groups of people in polling booths than how we do it now?

And the answer is, unequivocally, resoundingly, yes.

We don't vote on Saturday because the powers that be don't want us all voting.

These national and state attempts to change these laws are at least partially, if not completely, for one of them, racist in their attempt, let there be no doubt.

We are the racist United States of America and we should be far better than this.

Links to stories:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103610184
http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/kbia/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=1499514§ionID=1
http://www.slaverybyanothername.com/