voters of color, distinctly Black Americans, from voter suppression. As Shelby County v. Holder (2013) no longer required states to seek approval over voting requirements, including redistricting, per the Voting Rights Act (1965), states were given free rein to gerrymander districts in a discriminatory manner. Gerrymandering is defined as, “when political or electoral districts are drawn with the purpose of giving one political group an advantage over another.”33 As the lines between political parties and racial power have been blurred and continue to blur, gerrymandering allows for the races ruling political parties to come into power. Alabama has recently become a state to racially gerrymander their political boundaries. Alabama has redistricted a multitude of congressional districts, leaving one district where Black voters can elect desired candidates; however, over twenty-seven percent of Alabama’s population is Black.34 Black voters are limited to districts that were racially gerrymandered, causing there to be a lack of power in their votes. No matter if the primarily Black district votes for a Black congressperson, their votes retain little power as they make up one out of seven districts.35 Reflecting the discrimination that Black voters faced nearly sixty years ago prior to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Black voters today are being silenced. With the majority of districts in states highly populated by Black residents, these voters are outcasted in their opinions and voting rights. 35 Davin Rosborough, “Alabama’s New Electoral Lines are Racially Gerrymandered — Here’s Why,” ACLU, November 16, 2021, https://www.aclu.org/news/voting-rights/alabamas-new-electoral-lines-are-racially-gerrymandered-heres-why. 34 Davin Rosborough, “Alabama’s New Electoral Lines are Racially Gerrymandered — Here’s Why,” ACLU, November 16, 2021, https://www.aclu.org/news/voting-rights/alabamas-new-electoral-lines-are-racially-gerrymandered-heres-why. 33 Cornell Law, “Gerrymander,” Legal Information Institute, accessed November 26, 2022, https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/gerrymander.
Voter Suppression and Incarceration Rates President Ronald Reagan enacted The War on Drugs in an attempt to purify the neighborhoods of the United States.36 Although there was a public claim that this war was intended to address the crack cocaine epidemic, this was not the case. Crack cocaine was not widely used for another three years after the war was announced.37 The war gave police departments military grade weapons. Although white Americans use and sell drugs at higher rates than Black Americans, Black Americans are five times more likely to be arrested for drugs.38 Nevertheless, this war on drugs did nothing but increase incarceration rates of Black Americans and further the racial stereotype that Black people are drug addicts and dealers. The Black population in the United States maintains the highest rate of incarceration, specifically for drug charges and petty crimes.39With a large number of states preventing felons from voting, this unjustifiably prevents Black Americans from voting. The incarceration rate for Black Americans is five times higher than that of white Americans, with Black Americans in 2014 making up thirty-four percent of the incarcerated population, although the Black population in the United States makes up roughly 13.6 percent40 compared to white Americans who make up nearly seventy-six percent.41This difference in overall population illustrates the disproportionate number of Black Americans who are arrested, depicting the negative ramifications of preventing felons from voting. The states that revoked voting rights from felons are red states. Black voters 41 United States Census Bureau, “QuickFacts United States,” United States Census Bureau, accessed November 28, 2022, https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/PST045221. 40 NAACP, “Criminal Justice Fact Sheet,” NAACP, accessed November 27, 2022, https://naacp.org/resources/criminal-justice-fact-sheet. 39 Sandra Levitsky, "Social Differences in the Mobilization of the Law (Part II)," SOC 354: Law and Society (Class Lecture, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI November 03, 2022). 38 Sandra Levitsky, "Social Differences in the Mobilization of the Law (Part II)," SOC 354: Law and Society (Class Lecture, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI November 03, 2022). 37 Sandra Levitsky, "Social Differences in the Mobilization of the Law (Part II)," SOC 354: Law and Society (Class Lecture, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI November 03, 2022). 36 Sandra Levitsky, "Social Differences in the Mobilization of the Law (Part II)," SOC 354: Law and Society (Class Lecture, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI November 03, 2022).
tend to vote at higher rates for the Democratic Party, compared to white voters who vote at higher rates for the Republican Party. 42 More red states nullifying voting rights from felons leaves greater votes for the Republican Party, which tends to be ruled by white party members, a direct result of white Americans attempting to regain control of the nation. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was not able to address this issue, leaving room for loopholes for states to use in order to maintain white supremacy within states and the federal government, leaving Black residents unsupported and unprotected from said loopholes. Incarceration Case Study: Florida Florida maintains one of the highest levels of incarceration, holding a higher incarceration rate than that of the thirteen founding nations of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.43 Sustaining seventeen percent Black population and a seventy-seven percent white population, Florida’s population mimics a similar pattern to that of the nation overall.44 Florida’s jail population is thirty-nine percent Black, and the prison population is forty-seven percent Black.45 Growing numbers of Black inmates continue to prevent Black voters from voting and having representation in government. Florida saw a massive change in voting rights in order to protect felons, with exceptions of convicted murders or those convicted of sex crimes, allowing for voter restoration.46 Felons, typically Black Americans, in spite of their newly restored voting 46 Tachana Marc, "Reentering Society: The Florida Narrative," Harvard Journal of African American Public Policy (2019): 66-69, https://proxy.lib.umich.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/reentering-society-florida-narrati ve/docview/2316971985/se-2. 45 Vera Institute of Justice, “Incarceration Trends in Florida,” Vera Institute of Justice, December 2019, https://www.vera.org/downloads/pdfdownloads/state-incarceration-trends-florida.pdf. 44 United States Census Bureau, “QuickFacts Florida,” United States Census Bureau, accessed November 28, 2022, https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/FL. 43 Tachana Marc, "Reentering Society: The Florida Narrative," Harvard Journal of African American Public Policy (2019): 66-69, https://proxy.lib.umich.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/reentering-society-florida-narrati ve/docview/2316971985/se-2. 42 Pew Research Center, “Party Affiliation Among Voters: 1992-2016,” Pew Research Center, September 13, 2016, https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2016/09/13/2-party-affiliation-among-voters-1992-2016/.
rights, were directly targeted to ensure voting rights were taken away. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was able to outlaw outward discrimination towards people of color, but the War on Drugs and other initiatives to incarcerate Black Americans have worked against the act to ensure that their vote would not result in their voices and opinions within government entities being heard. Correspondingly, Florida may choose to suspend the driver's licenses of offenders who cannot pay their legal financial obligations (LFOs), which are commonly fines, court and supervision fees, appointed attorney reimbursement, and victim restitution.47 Florida is one of the many states that require in-person voters to show government identification. If those who were and are not able to pay off fines have their identification revoked, they will not be able to vote. Additionally, voters without driver’s licenses may have a more difficult time getting to the polls to vote. This could discourage residents from voting, again applying disproportionately to the Black community. Given that Black voters tend to vote more for Democrats than Republicans, this limits the presence of politicians and policies they support in congress. Conclusion: Recognition of Ignorance and Call to Action Recognition of ignorance and arrogance of these issues must happen. As systemic racism continues to linger in the United States, affecting nearly every sphere of life, continuing to blatantly disregard the issues is a problem within itself, as this will not allow for such issues to be properly addressed. However, merely acknowledging the continuation of racism will not get rid of it nor be anywhere near enough to dismantle it. Rather, the government once again must get involved. This intervention cannot take place without public acknowledgement of the systemic racism that remains. Governmental action should not take place in the form of policies 47 Tachana Marc, "Reentering Society: The Florida Narrative," Harvard Journal of African American Public Policy (2019): 66-69, https://proxy.lib.umich.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/reentering-society-florida-narrati ve/docview/2316971985/se-2.
and laws that will simply be laws rather than impactful. As previously discussed, loopholes have found their way into society, ignoring the aims of the Civil Rights Act. Instead, governmental action must take place in the form of revolution. This does not mean a war nor violence but going back in time. There must be reparations for those whose ancestors were once enslaved. In order to address the economic issues pertaining to poverty and class disparities, reparations must be given for the trauma and work that was done without compensation. Additionally, each city and suburb needs to be redistributed. While the government cannot ask for families and individuals to get up and move to another area, it can redistrict in order to make sure there are no areas that are highly segregated, just as gerrymandering benefits political parties. Moreover, access to voting is a must. In recent years, there has been fear of voter fraud yet there is little to no evidence of wide-scale voter fraud. And, due to this fear, there has been widespread voter suppression. Voting should be made easy, especially for those who have lower rates of voting or issues in voting (i.e. the elderly, people of color, disabled peoples, impoverished peoples, etc.). Furthermore, education is an essential institution in aiding these efforts. Education, intertwined with housing and class, should be given greater importance, meaning more funding, greater opportunities for minorities, along with housing redistricting to ensure purposeful integration. While the government was not able to get rid of systemic issues with the Civil Rights Act of 1964, this is not to say it cannot happen. It is not that the Act did not hold power, rather there was poor execution. Instead of merely writing a law, federal and state governments must consider how this law can be put into action. Without these corrections to the broken democratic American system, Black Americans will remain unsupported and unprotected by legislation.
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