Melson Heo

English 110

Date 11/5/18

Shamecca Harris

Voters can not and will not Vote

Voting rights. The two words that was stated in the previous sentence is something that all American citizens do not have to this day. Today, African Americans are facing a crisis where they are put into a tight corner. In the midterm 2018 election, their voting rights have been threatened to minorities such as African Americans. During the time of election, African Americans were getting neglected to vote. In the article, “In 2018 midterms, campaign aids engaged in racist rhetoric” by Monica Rhor, an analysis for political ads states that

“Seventeen percent of Republican ads in federal races centered on immigration. ‘This is where a lot of the racially tinged advertisements were being seen,’ said Travis Ridout, co-director for the Wesleyan Media Project. ‘We were not seeing a lot of ads showing the wonderful contributions immigrants have made to the fabric of our country. They were making people scared of people coming across the border.’…”.

Although laws have supported the voting rights of African Americans such as the voting rights of 1965 and the 15th Amendment of the U.S., African Americans have been held back by many obstacles. The constant setback have lead to the decrease of votes from the African Americans. One example lies in America’s current president, Donald Trump. As Trump was running for president to represent the Republicans at 2016, the voters from the African American communities were decreased. According to statistics from “Black voter turnout fell in 2016, even as a record number of Americans cast ballots” by Ens Manuel Krogstad and Mark Hugo Lopez states that, “The black voter turnout rate declined for the first time in 20 years in a presidential election, falling to 59.6% in 2016 after reaching a record-high 66.6% in 2012. The 7-percentage-point decline from the previous presidential election is the largest on record for blacks. ”. There are many factors that could lead up to this, how history repeats itself. Although African Americans have their rights now, is it enough for their opinions to shine in the political stage? Within the political stage of U.S. history, nothing has changed between the aftermath of the American civil war and modern society. America is living in the era of reconstruction.

“Reconstruction”
According to google definition, reconstruction means “the action or process of reconstructing or being reconstructed”. However, nothing was really constructed during this period. It was only repeated based on their own bias.
This period was based on the aftermath of the civil war. After the Union declared its victory over the Confederate, slavery has been abolished and gave the African Americans the right to vote from the 15th Amendment. The 15th Amendment states that “”right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” By adding this principle to the political stage, this gave the African Americans the chance to declare their votes. This Amendment was heading to the right direction for equal voting rights. However, this glory did not last forever.

The Amendment may have presented itself of hope to the African Americans. The American government were not satisfied with the fact that these “people” could vote. As a result, they offered more obstacles. The government was giving the African Americans poll taxes, giving them test, and developed the idea of ‘grandfather clause”. In the scholarly article “The Death of Voting Rights: the Legal Disenfranchisement of Minority Voters” by Virginia E. Hencht, it states that, “…a majority of states with large populations of freedmen had adopted poll taxes that effectively eliminated many potential African-American voters from the polls. The Harman v. Forssenius Court expressly noted the use of poll taxes as a means to disenfranchise blacks,’ and barred their use as a qualification for voting in federal elections”. This was one of the ways that the American government has hindered their rights by paying taxes to vote. Paying taxes from America’s upperclassmen could paid it off easily. However, not many African Americans were financially high. As a result of this, they were either forced to pay their “taxes” or not vote because it was not possible due to finance.
Furthermore from the scholarly article by Virginia E Hencht, it states that,
“Literacy and ‘understanding’ tests that would disenfranchise the freedmen legally while appearing neutral on their face were widespread. ‘Grandfather’ and ‘old soldier’ clauses made it easier to disenfranchise blacks without similarly disenfranchising whites by exempting from the application of literacy tests and other voting restrictions anyone”.
There were already finance that played in part of voting for African Americans which made it difficult enough. However, the American government decided to release a literary test and a clause which made it increasingly more difficult for African Americans to vote. A literacy test can be passed to high educated people. However, referring back to finances, education requires money. Therefore, the African Americans were either little educated or have no background of education whatsoever. Even then, the test was not meant for the African American to pass. What takes the cake of all of this chaotic ideals was the “grandfather” clause. The “grandfather” clause was a principle that if your grandfather or father was able to vote, then it was guarantee that you could vote yourself. For some people, they were left off the hook from the literacy test. For African Americans, it was not the case. It was bias because the grandfathers of African Americans at the time were in labor, which meant that few to almost none of these people voted during the elections before January 1, 1967. Although these obstacles have hindered these group of people, they had some ideas to gain back their rightfully earned rights but it paid the price on some lives.

Violent Civil Rights
Entering the 1960s, tensions between the voting rights have been heated up. African Americans have been pushing their limits to earn their voting rights. As they were proceeding their movement, they were oftenly stopped with either violence or worse. Although violence is implanted through the minds of these people, they still wanted to vote.
One violent incident occured is shown through the movie of Selma (2014). From a history perspective, it states on one part of the incident that, “On February 18, white segregationists attacked a group of peaceful demonstrators in the town of Marion, Alabama. In the ensuing chaos, an Alabama state trooper fatally shot Jimmie Lee Jackson, a young African-American demonstrator.” The journey that these protestors did not have it simple. They were walking all the way to Montgomery to prove a point, that they wanted their rights, enforced the 15th Amendment, and wanted to only make peace. After a chaotic turn of event, it was known to be called “Bloody Sunday” because of a near massacre of the Edmund Pettus Bridge. President, Lyndon B. Johnson, has recognized their efforts and decided to change the tides of the voting rights. Furthermore on the historical perspective, “On March 17, 1965, even as the Selma-to-Montgomery marchers fought for the right to carry out their protest, President Lyndon Johnson addressed a joint session of Congress, calling for federal voting rights legislation to protect African Americans from barriers that prevented them from voting.” This was the birth of the voting rights of 1965.
The voting rights of 1965 has changed the political stage. According to the historical perspective, the rights have “…banned the use of literacy tests, provided for federal oversight of voter registration in areas where less than 50 percent of the non-white population had not registered to vote, and authorized the U.S. attorney general to investigate the use of poll taxes in state and local elections.” Basically, the voting rights repealed the past actions of the American government, Although this was settled due to violence from “Bloody Sunday”, this was a step to the right direction. However, it was not over. Even after the literacy test was lifted up and vanished during elections, not everyone was satisfied. Due to the high population of African Americans in the South, the Southerners were not satisfied. Furthermore in the historical context, it states that “Although the Voting Rights Act passed, state and local enforcement of the law was weak, and it often was ignored outright, mainly in the South and in areas where the proportion of blacks in the population was high and their vote threatened the political status quo.”. Rights have been proven to be ineffective because of one thing, racism. Racism has always hindered African Americans and other groups to vote. An example lies in African American, from slavery to modern day, nothing has changed. They suffered and endured the hardships of the American authority and the efforts that they produce will always go in and out. It was never established in the first place.

Truth About Voting Rights
Here is where the title comes in. Voting is what most people wanted for so long in American history, especially the African Americans. Today in modern society, African Americans are not involved enough as what Dr. King has envisioned. In a scholarly article called ‘Civil Right No. 1:’ Dr. King’s Unfinished Voting Rights Revolution by Richard L. Hasen who states that,

“Racially polarized voting persists, with whites tending to vote for one set of candidates, and African American voters (and other minority voters) voting for another set of candidates. In federal and state elections, this often translates into a Republican-Democratic divide. ‘In the 2014 congressional elections, the gap between white Americans, who gave 62% of their votes to Republican congressional candidates, and African Americans, who bestowed only 10% of their votes on Republican candidates, is a whopping 52 points.’”.

This has shown that African Americans, although they can vote and be more involved in the political stage, has not been in the political stage as “equally” as white Americans. Statistically (shown above) has shown their low contributions during the elections which has shown that racism still persists within the political system. Shown from the introduction, the voting numbers from the African Americans has been the lowest from the previous presidential election due to racism. This issue was historical as most historians claim, but they do not realize how it is still prevalent today. Referring to the 2018 midterm election, Trump and his supporters has been promoting vulgar and racism on political ads. In a news article “Is this the most racist US midterms campaign ever?” by Oliver Laughland, it states that, “Echoing Trump, the ad said the group was full of ‘gang members … known criminals … people from the Middle East … possibly terrorists’. It accused Bredesen of endangering national security.”. Not only that the African Americans feel threatened to vote but there are many other groups as well.
One particular group that will be mentioned is the Muslims. These people have been treated as “terrorists” since the attack of September 11, 2001. As they were notorious for “bombing”, politicians fear them for this very reason. According to a scholarly article “Islamophobia and Racism in America”by Saher Selod, it states that

“These findings are important to understanding how an American racial hierarchy persists today. Anti-blackness and the desire to move closer to whiteness explains why Muslim, Arab, and South Asian civil rights organizations have not succeeded in forming a cohesive civil rights movement for Muslims in America. Their desire to move toward whiteness is exemplified in how they refuse to make race a central issue because they do not want to acknowledge their racialized identity as Muslim or be targeted as Muslims..”

African Americans were not the only one who were judged based on their past but other groups of people have fallen under the “whitewash” history. America’s voting rights are being threatened by racism and it is slowly peeling away from each individual except for some Americans.

Conclusion
America was known for its equality. Even in the pledge of allegiance that people states each day before class in public schools have shown that we have “justice for all”. However, for all is not very specific. All around the United States, there are always conflicts that surround with racism, that other races have more something to say than the “remaining” races.
Trump has reflected what American has become and no authority is going to diverge different roads. Racism has reached its peak countless times and nothing was done to stop it. As a result of this, racism has allowed almost no voting rights for people. They do have a voice, it is just us who wants it all to ourselves.

Bibliography:
1) “Primary Documents in American History.” Planning D-Day (April 2003) – Library of Congress Information Bulletin, Victor, www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/15thamendment.html.
2) Virginia E. Hench, The Death of Voting Rights: The Legal Disenfranchisement of Minority Voters, 48 Case W. Res. L. Rev. 727 (1998) https://scholarlycommons.law.case.edu/caselrev/vol48/iss4/3
3) History.com, A&E Television Networks, www.history.com/topics/black-history/selma-montgomery-march.
4) History.com, A&E Television Networks, www.history.com/topics/black-history/voting-rights-act.
5) Hasen, and Richard L. “’Civil Right No. 1:’ Dr. King’s Unfinished Voting Rights Revolution.” By Lawrence J. Trautman :: SSRN, 29 Jan. 2018, poseidon01.ssrn.com/delivery.php?ID=348094069068098092114093124125006024022087061054024018026093011006065031028030110106002063005047108007015084098072093073127016046053082082007100072090071096007121030095085017075118114083080095111064108079096121005121095081006102094103076079005025101119&EXT=pdf.
6) Laughland, Oliver. “Is This the Most Racist US Midterms Campaign Ever?” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 4 Nov. 2018, www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/nov/04/us-midterms-2018-trump-racist-attack-ads-republicans.
7) Selod, S. (2018). Islamophobia and Racism in America. Contemporary Sociology, 47(5), 607–609. https://doi.org/10.1177/0094306118792220bb