The Impact of Voter Suppression on Communities of Color
The year is 1870, and the 15th Amendment was just ratified. You are elated as a Black man in Mississippi trying to vote for your family’s future. This alteration builds the hope within your soul that you may become “as human” as your white oppressors, now backed by the United States government and their word not to let anything interfere with this right to vote. November rolls around and you walk 8 miles to the town hall to cast your vote for the next candidate that you believe will value your personhood more than the last. The ballot worker sticks their hand out to you in a gesture for money, and you are perplexed. You have no money to your name and yet they are telling you that it will be $2 to vote. You look to your left and to your right, where white people are passing the same ballot attendant with a smile plastered on their faces. This poll tax, enabled in southern states as an arm of Jim Crow laws, is only one of the systemic voter suppression problems handed down generations to POC and other minorities.
Nearly a century ago the battle for Black women’s voting rights finally came to an end. That means that some of our mothers, our friends’ mothers, our aunts, and grandmothers hold that memory in their minds today in the 21st century. Although Black people are no longer being charged to vote or being forced to take literacy and or constitutional knowledge tests, many other barriers have plagued these communities since the 1800s. One of the most detrimental cases in the 21st century was Shelby County v. Holder, where the Supreme Court voted in favor of throwing out a clearance check on formerly discriminatory states before a voting rule is to be modified, absurdly allowing a lack of checks and balances. According to the Brennan Center for Justice, the result of this decision is that “last year alone, at least 14 states passed 17 restrictive voting laws”(Waldman, 2024). The reversal of the Voting Rights Act is ensuring that we are aging backward as a nation and that the racial voting turnout gap is following that same pattern. Allegations of the 2020 election containing fraudulent votes were blamed on majority Black cities like Atlanta, Philadelphia, Detroit, and more. Numerous debunked claims also asserted that undocumented immigrants voted illegally, a xenophobic argument that served to sow doubt and fear in many voters’ minds and ultimately decreased voter turnout.
Voter suppression is not a big sign with bold letters declaring that ballot stations are to be segregated, it is the lack of polling buildings in highly concentrated minority communities with hours of wait time, it is voter laws stating those on probation cannot vote, and it is political figures pushing baseless claims of voting fraud against POC. With the end of this election season rapidly approaching, I encourage you to continue to vote for local and national figures that will uphold the good fight in eliminating voter suppression, and ensure all of our community has voting equity for generations to come. Certain candidates support the freedom to vote, while others actively work to undermine and suppress America’s ability to vote. If voting, and having a say in who rules your country/state/county is important to you, ensure that you vote for the candidates who will protect every American’s freedom to vote.
Sources:
Smith, T. (2020, August 20). Timeline of voter suppression in the U.S. from the Civil War to today. ABC News. https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/timeline-voter-suppression-us-civil-war-today/story?id=72248473
Tensley, B. (2021, May 5). A timeline of Black voting rights suppression in the U.S. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2021/05/politics/black-voting-rights-suppression-timeline/
Waldman, M. (2024, March 6). People of color are being deterred from voting. Brennan Center for Justice. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/people-color-are-being-deterred-voting
