Decryption | Specter of Jim Crowe in Georgia

(New York) Last July, Barack Obama mentioned his name at the funeral of civil rights activist John Lewis to condemn the practice of the United States Senate, which Democrats considered racist.

Richard Hatu
Special contribution

Joe Biden repeated the name more than once last week in condemnation of “anti-American” measures proposed in several US states, including Georgia, to limit the right to vote.

Jim Crow.

In the XIX^E Century, the name originally belonged to the black-clad characters of a white actor, where slaves and their descendants were subjected to sarcasm and humiliation. It was used from 1870 to 1965 to qualify for laws that institutionalized racial segregation in the southern states.

Is it right for Democrats to entertain Jim Crowe’s specter in XXI?^E Century? Americans will have to ask this question after Georgia Republican Governor Brian Kemp announces an election bill. They will have to answer a similar question in the context of the debate that Barack Obama mentioned last summer.

Brian Kemp, it should be noted from the outset, condemned the return to the separatist past in his state. “With Senate Bill 202, Georgia will take another step forward in ensuring the security, accessibility and fairness of our election,” he told reporters last Thursday.

He then appeared before six white parliamentarians – all men – and more than 100 slaves under a painting depicting the main residence of a gardener in Georgia.

Meanwhile, Georgia’s black-elected Park Cannon was arrested by white police for knocking on Governor Kemp’s room door.

From the beginning, the Republicans of Georgia seemed to have lost the movie war.

Lies and fear

But what about the bottom line? Why does Georgia need a new election law? Brian Kemp defended this by saying that holding the 2020 presidential election in his state had raised “very serious questions” and led to a “confidence crisis”.

This view contradicts the results of the Republican responsible for overseeing elections in Peach State. “Georgia’s electoral system is no longer secure and credible,” said Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger after auditing the results of the presidential election last November.

The “crisis of faith” Governor Kemp spoke of was nothing more than a euphemism for talking about Donald Trump’s lies about the 2020 election and their impact on the majority of Republican voters.

But this faith crisis seems to have fueled the real fear experienced by many Republicans in Georgia. Fear of facing 2022 and 2024 allowed Joe Biden to defeat Donald Trump on November 3, and two Democratic candidates attempted to steal two valuable seats in the Senate from Republicans last January.

Gwyneth County Republican Party President Alice O’Leary expressed her dismay when she spoke to Republicans last January: “I’m like a dog with bones. I will not allow [les parlementaires républicains] End this session without changing some of these laws. They don’t have to change them all, but they do need to change the main parts so that we have at least a chance of winning. ”

Courts and Senate

Alice O’Leary’s wish was granted at the time of the record. In the opinion of many experts, the changes that Republican lawmakers have pursued are primarily to reduce black voter turnout, with Joe Biden and Senatorial candidates Rafael Warnock and Joan Ossoff playing a key role in the victories.

One of the changes strengthens the identification requirements for voters who vote by mail. Another limits the number of ballot boxes set up on the street and their opening hours to deposit ballots in advance. The other allows current Republican lawmakers to strongly interfere in the vote count in Democratic constituencies.

Donald Trump, who welcomed the implementation of Georgia’s new law, may dictate this latest change. Lester Maddox, the last separatist governor of Georgia, was able to write another provision of the law. It forbade giving food or drink to voters standing in queue in front of the polling station.

“XXI’s called Jim Crow^E Century ”by Joe Biden, the law will be challenged in court. It could also be neutralized by a draft version of the electoral system introduced last week by Democrats in the U.S. Senate.

The parliamentary rule – “filibuster” – gives Republicans the power to block this reform project, the reform of which has already been approved by the House of Representatives.

The rule allows a minority of 41 senators to block a simple majority vote on most bills in the Senate. In the XIX^E And XX^E For centuries, separatists have often used it to prevent the recognition of black rights. Hence the “racist” label added last week by Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts (accusing South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of “exploiting the racial factor” in denouncing Joe Biden as doing Republican programs on Sunday).

During John Louis’ funeral, Barack Obama chose his camp in this debate, suggesting that “Philibuster” should be abolished to embrace electoral reform.

“And if all of this requires the removal of another remnant of Jim Crow’s Philibuster, to get the God-given rights of every American, this is what we need to do,” Martin Luther King, Jr. said in the Atlanta Church, waging his own struggle against Jim Crow.