Despite a problematic op-ed recently published in the NYT, election subversion and #JimCrow era voter suppression wielded today are inextricably and problematically linked. We need the #FreedomToVoteAct and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act to mitigate this harm. 🧵
Election subversion and voter suppression were used together during the #JimCrow era of the 1870s-1950s to prevent Black voters from utilizing their full electoral power in the South: (2/9)
Georgia: 33 Black lawmakers who helped write a new state constitution guaranteeing voting rights for formerly enslaved Georgians were expelled from the state legislature after white legislators argued they had no right to hold office. (3/9)
motherjones.com/politics/2021/…
motherjones.com/politics/2021/…
North Carolina: In the only successful coup d'état in US history, a group of white vigilantes joined forces with area militias to overthrow the newly elected biracial local government due to fear of rising Black political and economic power. (4/9) history.com/news/wilmingto…
Louisiana: Following a campaign of election subversion and voter suppression, PBS Pinchback, the former African American Governor of LA, was denied a seat in the US Senate. Within 20 years Black Louisianans lost all voting rights. (5/9) pbs.org/wnet/african-a…
Mississippi: In one of the most successful reconstruction states, election subversion and voter suppression were used to roll back Black political power and install an authoritarian government in what was a majority Black state at the time. (6/9) motherjones.com/politics/2021/…
Like today, many of these election subversion and voter suppression tactics were legal or legalized.
Like today, the severity and methods differed drastically by state.
And like today, intimidation and violence undergirded the campaign to subvert American democracy. (7/9)
Like today, the severity and methods differed drastically by state.
And like today, intimidation and violence undergirded the campaign to subvert American democracy. (7/9)
As history has shown, fixing the score doesn’t matter if the game itself is undermined. The Electoral Count Act alone would not stop the anti-democratic efforts we're seeing across the country. The multi-faceted attack on the freedom to vote must be fully addressed. (8/9)
We need both the #FreedomToVoteAct and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act to establish minimum standards for voting—regardless of race or zip code—and help stop suppression, subversion, and intimidation efforts in states across the US. #RestoreTheVRA (9/9)
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
