Stealing Black power is simple with the right strategy. Here’s how it’s been done historically.
#1: Attack ANYONE who talks about voting rights! You may have to kill a few people, but it’s worth it as it will scare others.
#2: Talk about compromise. Convince folks that you support the right to vote, and all we need to stop the violence is a law that’s “fair” to everyone!
#3: Call a special legislative session. Create a law that makes it so only those who can read can vote – proven by a complicated literacy test. That’s fair, right? Now for the best part.
#4: Include a loophole for white voters that exempts them from taking the literacy tests if their grandfather voted in a previous election!
When you’re sued, agree that while enforcement of the laws is racist, the laws themselves are not. This argument will stand until the Supreme Court overturns it decades later. Congratulations! You’ve stolen Black power! But wait – is this all in the past?
No! Black vote suppression continues today in countless insidious ways.
Our people have been a threat to the white supremacist political system since emancipation, and we remain as such. Attempts to suppress us haven’t stopped – just changed with the times. How will you fight back?