New Video Says Strict Voter ID Laws Are ‘The New Jim Crow’

By Kenrya Rankin Nov 03, 2016

A new video from progressive nonprofit Media Matters for America explains why strict voter ID laws—which the Brennan Center for Justice says target people of color—are the latest iteration of Jim Crow laws, which employed literacy tests and poll taxes to keep Black people away from the polls.

From the video:

While states can no longer force people to take literacy tests, they can still pass voter ID laws.

And just like Jim Crow laws, strict voter ID laws intentionally and unfairly target communities of color, because, more often than other groups, they lack the resources to get proper IDs.

Today, 34 states have voter identification laws requirements on the books. Lawmakers in states with additional identification requirements claim they are preventing voter fraud, but many have openly admitted that these laws are just meant to prevent people from showing up—as a way to sway an election.

“The law is going to kick the Democrats in the butt. If it hurts a bunch of college kids that’s too lazy to get up off their bohunkus and go get a photo ID, so be it. If it hurts the Whites, so be it. If it hurts a bunch of lazy Blacks that wants the government to give them everything, so be it.”

The video comes days before the general election, and on the heels of a new lawsuit against the North Carolina State Board of Elections for allegedly suppressing the votes of African Americans.

Watch it above.