"VOTING RIGHTS AND HUMAN RIGHTS"

 “VOTING RIGHTS AND HUMAN RIGHTS”

In June, 1890, Congressman Henry Cabot Lodge of Massachusetts introduced the “Federal Elections Bill,” which was designed to oversee elections in the South.  Many voting rights had been stripped away from Black citizens since Reconstruction had been abruptly ended in 1877 as a result of a tortured Presidential election outcome of 1876.  Rutherford B. Hayes had lost the popular vote to George Tilden, but the Electoral College count was reversed in a very close race.  President Grant and Congress appointed a special commission to determine the winner of the Presidential election.  Hayes made a deal with Southern legislators to receive their votes, in exchange for his promise to withdraw federal troops from the South, once he took office as President,  The deal was made and kept, and in 1877, federal troops withdrew from the South.  The repression of Black rights, especially Black voting rights, deepened and hardened.

Lodge’s bill in 1890 was an attempt to restore Black voting rights in the South.  White supremacists immediately dubbed the bill the “Lodge Force Bill,” echoing language of our day.  The Federal Elections bill passed by 6 votes in the House, but it languished in the Senate under the filibuster rule.  After 33 days of filibustering in the Senate, the bill was pronounced dead, and Black voting rights were effectively dead in the South for the next 75 years.  Emboldened by the defeat of the Lodge bill, the state of Mississippi in 1890 approved a new state constitution which stripped Black people of their voting rights and also denied them the right to have firearms.  This “Mississippi Plan” was adopted by many states in the South, and neo-slavery was re-established until the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965.

The events of this past week echo those of the 1890’s and remind us how captive we remain to the power of racism in our nation.  The refusal of all Republicans and two Democrats to break the filibuster on voting rights speaks to us of how important this issue is and of how deeply those of us classified as “white” are resistant to ameliorating it.   Those of us classified as “white” see the demographic numbers, and we are fearful of a future where people of color are able to vote for candidates who have the interest of all people at heart, not just the interest of “white” people.

The fact of this resistance is reinforced by the introduction of “Election Police” laws in several states, including Georgia’s own David Perdue (though I am loathe to claim him).  The Election Police would be a special group, created by state legislatures, empowered to investigate election results and to overturn those results if any fraudulent activity is found,  This is reminiscent of the patrols that formerly went to election places in the South in the 1880-90’s to intimidate Black voters.  Even if these fail, the Trumpians are already fielding candidates for offices like Secretary of State, who are pledged to the “Big Lie” and will seek to enforce it in 2024.  

With the rise of overt racism through the Trumpians, it is hard not to be discouraged and fearful of what the future holds.  One mitigating factor is to remember that our democracy is really only 57 years old.  Up until the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965, we were a nation who allowed only certain citizens to vote.  The Nineteenth Amendment of 1920 changed that to add “white” women to the rolls, but it would be 1965 before people of color were added to the voting rolls.  

    Thus, as in many other battles of the present day, we are still in a fight for the legacy of the 1960’s – civil rights, voting rights, women’s rights, right to abortion.  These are still in contention, as we as a nation seek to decide whether we want to open up the process of becoming human beings, or to seek to close the door once again.  Our democracy is young, and the forces against it are strong and deep.  Yet, we have made significant progress, and the battles over voting rights and human rights are still raging.

I’m also finding hope in the candidacy of Stacey Abrams for governor of Georgia.  As I wrote a couple of weeks ago, I am impressed by her refusal to run a campaign of doom and gloom.  She is running a campaign of possibility and hope. I’m feeling gloomy and doomy these days, but she is not.  I don’t know whether she can win the governorship or not, but I think that she has a very good chance.  And I do know that Georgia’s 2022 elections will be a key to the 2024 elections.  So, for many if us, it is back to the mundane but essential work of 2020:  register to vote and make a pledge to get 10 unregistered people to register to vote.  As goes voting rights, so goes human rights.  As the old philosophy saying goes, voting may not be sufficient to sustain all human rights, but voting is necessary to establish the possibility to of such work for human rights.  So, whether you are feeling gloomy an doomy like me, or whether you are hopeful like Stacey Abrams, get out and get people registered to vote, including yourself.