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No Photo ID = No Democracy
By Black Youth Project on 01/03/2012 @ 11:50 AM
In the 2008 Presidential election the black youth (age 18-24) voter turnout rate was 55%; an 8% increase from the 2004 Presidential elections and the highest increase among any demographic. While these numbers are heartening, the political voices of young black people across the United States are being imminently threatened. The new photo-identification laws passed in the state legislatures of Kansas, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Wisconsin will without a doubt significantly reduce the voter turn-out rate for young African-Americans in the 2012 Presidential election as well as dilute their overall voice. Although we are allegedly living in a “post-racial” society, the institutionalized political marginalization of communities of color continues to persist unabated. Although overt racism may not be as conspicuous as it was when Lyndon Johnson signed the 1965 Voting Rights Act which aimed to finally protect the unfulfilled promises of the 15th amendment of the U.S. Constitution which states, “ The 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”; the statement still rings hallow. What’s even more concerning, is that with the lack of substantive policies coming from the right as real alternatives to President Obama’s initiatives, it seems that the fuss about photo-identification is mere a ploy to demobilize a crucial voting bloc to win back the keys to the Oval Office.