Frank Rich: WHITEWASH

[Iwillnevergiveup]

http://nymag.com/news/frank-rich/republicans-civil-rights-2013-5/

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"The only fact that can’t be easily batted away by defensive Republicans is that actual black Americans almost never vote for Republicans in a national election. What’s up with that? Why have they been so ungrateful for the good works of Warren and Ike, year after year? Today the answer to that question matters more than ever. In the Obama era, the spike in GOP efforts to pursue policies punitive to minorities is unmistakable. State and local governments in every region have been in a race to enact restrictive new voting laws. Congressional Republicans are adamant in preserving the sequestration cuts for Head Start, Job Corps, and unemployment insurance, even as they carve out a self-serving exception for air-traffic control. Next month, a conservative-dominated Supreme Court is poised to eviscerate a crown jewel of civil-rights law, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, at a time when, if anything, it should be expanded to address the growing obstacles to voting in ever more jurisdictions: long lines, the mischievous purging of voting rolls, and new registration requirements redolent of the Jim Crow South."

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[Doctor_J]

1. This is another thing I wish the president would lead the way on, vocally and forcefully

In the Obama era, the spike in GOP efforts to pursue policies punitive to minorities is unmistakable. State and local governments in every region have been in a race to enact restrictive new voting laws. Congressional Republicans are adamant in preserving the sequestration cuts for Head Start, Job Corps, and unemployment insurance, even as they carve out a self-serving exception for air-traffic control. Next month, a conservative-dominated Supreme Court is poised to eviscerate a crown jewel of civil-rights law, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, at a time when, if anything, it should be expanded to address the growing obstacles to voting in ever more jurisdictions: long lines, the mischievous purging of voting rolls, and new registration requirements redolent of the Jim Crow South.

He's been practically silent. Why?

[byeya]

2. I wish I could answer your question, but I cannot. The rate of Black unemployment, I've read, is

a little higher now than when 0bama took office.
The Constitution very clearly states that the right to vote and have one's vote counted is a paramount requirement for the country but I've not seen 0bama take action on creating an auditable trail for vote counting.

[Iwillnevergiveup]

3. Have long admired Frank Rich

He's a rare professional journalist who always lays out his pieces carefully and thoughtfully. But I feel he's really outdone himself with this one. The chronology he documents should be inserted into all U.S. History textbooks immediately.