Democracy can’t be long sustained on a quicksand of lies, but that’s what conservatives across the country are attempting. And if their efforts mean the end of our current form of democratic government, that’s something they’re willing to live with as long as they can stay in control and power. At the same instant they’re enacting legislation to outlaw the teaching of critical race theory in schools they are also enacting onerous voting laws against minorities that prove the validity of critical race theory.
In its essence, critical race theory, which was first written about by black Harvard Law Professor Derrick Bell in the ’70s, holds that since the Founding Fathers were, for the most part, slaveholders, they enacted laws that reinforced white supremacy, and further, throughout the history of our nation, those principles were codified into laws that serve as the basis for the body of rules we now are governed by. In legalese, critical race theory “holds that the law is a codified form of society’s biases against marginalized groups.” It’s hard for any fair person to argue against that premise, but who said conservatives are playing fair?
In the conservative worldview, bondage for blacks wasn’t wrong since at the time it was being practiced it was legal. This is the same fiction they will use today to justify the suppressing of the black and brown vote: It was legal. Why? Because state legislatures across the country are now passing laws to make the taking away of the franchise from persons of color “legal.”
Under the guise of “protecting the integrity of the vote” — in spite of the fact no credible evidence of voter fraud has surfaced — initiatives such as early voting, ballot box drop-off sites, and other mechanisms that serve to expand the franchise are being rolled back in state after state. Since the right no longer has the numbers to win nationally fair and square they now want to change the rules of the game — move the goalposts.
While federal legislation to protect the voting rights of minorities is pending in Congress, the chances of passage of the two current bills under consideration are slim to virtually none. The game is rigged, which is exactly the point critical race theory makes.
Conservatives want to stack the deck in favor of maintaining white supremacy. They started on this effort decades ago when they realized that by the year 2035 or so they would be outnumbered at the ballot box. Now progressives are left attempting to play catch-up to their diabolical efforts.
Recently, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland gave a major speech in which he detailed new efforts the federal government is preparing to take to ensure the voting rights of minorities are protected going forward. He said that the Department of Justice would “double the number” of attorneys assigned to this task. But as more than one news commentator pointed out, he never gave a specific number. Does “doubling the number” mean that instead of one lawyer focusing on the issue of voting rights there will now be two?
Also, as one TV legal analysis stated, federal lawsuits take years (and in some cases decades) to work their way through the courts, and by the time the cases are heard, democracy will have already been hijacked and perverted beyond recognition.
The only clear-cut way for blacks (and other minorities) to prevent this is by us protecting our votes and making sure they are counted. And to do this we have to have the fortitude of our ancestors, those brave men and women who stood in long lines and braved whatever challenges were thrown at them to assure their ballots counted. We simply have to work around whatever roadblocks are being constructed to steal our votes.
Critical race theory is an accurate backwards look at our nation’s history; we have to learn from it to assure the same tactics used against us back then are not going to be used against us in the future, under the lie that “it was all legal.”
One Response to “MANSFIELD: Ancestral Fortitude”
Thomas Frazier
Will share this to everyone I know, bro.