630 Comments

So there you have it; a very abbreviated history of voting rights in America. But I applaud Dr. Richardson for distilling it in this fashion. Exhaustive and detailed historical essays always lose me in the details. Our current crisis in the national political Zeitgeist isn't unique. The nation has had peak moments surrounding assualts of voting rights before. We're not voting on amendments to the constitution this November. Nor are we voting to return the senior leadership of the Republican half of the Senate for the most part. But we do have the opportunity to vote against the Big Lie in any race where a candidate has endorsed it, or has been endorsed by the author of the Big Lie. Given my location, I may not get the opportunity to cast an influential vote, but many, many of my proud Independent peers will have that opportunity and I implore them to pay attention and vote to send the Big Lie back under the rock from which it crawled out almost 6 years ago. One thing that trash novel author can't tolerate is being associated with "Losers", nor can he risk being branded a Loser himself. The strongest message, short of an indictment, we can send him is convincing evidence that he and his ideas are now considered Losers by the majority of America.

Expand full comment

An excellent recitation on the history of civil and voting rights under the US Constitution.

I would like to add that this very week, CPAC, a significant arm and master of the Republican agenda met in Texas to restore the white supremacy that white southerners created over a period of 100 or more years before the Civil War. As HCR's history lesson states, it returned in full vengeance after the War for another 100 years. And it continues today. We might add that the recent US Supreme Court overturning of ROE v WADE and the response of many Republican controlled states is challenging the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote. All of the decisions rolling back women's healthcare rights are gender discrimination against women by significant representative majorities of white men. Kansas demonstrates that when all citizens are included, we have a much better chance for preserving our civil and Constitutional rights.

White male supremacy is still here being openly talked about and planned for by CPAC members and their speakers. Viktor Orban, Donald Trump, FOX personalities, Republican governors, representatives in Congress and in state legislatures. These men are all equivalent to Afghanistan's Taliban. Don't ever dismiss or forget this. Not one of these people is Christian anymore than the Taliban are Muslim. They are all male authoritarians.

Expand full comment

I had not considered how quotable Garfield was, so many thanks for shining a light on him.

Growing up where I did, in North Dakota, in the 80’s, the concept of racism was an abstraction. We learned black people were ‘freed’ and that was about it. Civil rights struggles were not taught in civics class and thus I regarded ‘black people’ as… well… just people. I had no reason to think otherwise.

It took going to college and meeting (my first) black people to understand that despite the fact that they are, ‘just people,’ they actually suffered from this ‘concept’ of racism… as weird as this sounds, now, I had no idea this concept existed. It was an awakening, for me, because I could not even begin to understand the concept.

I joined the Black Student Union immediately and actually ran underneath (for VP) a black woman who ran for student body president. We did well, but well enough to win in North Dakota in the 90’s, but we made a statement.

I hope Annie Littlefield kept her voice and is kicking ass someplace even now (I expect she is) but I thank her and all her friends who were so gobsmacked at the time with my naivety.

A big part of me… probably all of my being, is still in disbelief that we even have to face this continued assault on BLACK people. As much as I want to change minds and opinions, I’ve resigned myself to my vote and to give my money to folks like Stacy Adams. It was very gratifying to ‘cash’ my Trump check and write the same out to her, for her campaign.

Sadly there is no part of this Country that isn’t stained by ghosts of slavery. No other country is, by my estimation, as bad, actually. And that is a stain on us.

I am confident that this will end. The handful of white men who cling so desperately to a Country that doesn’t exist anymore will pass. Tick tock (not tik tok) the time is coming… I trust I will be alive long enough to see that happen. In the mean time I vote and I support people who are working for the concepts and acceptance that I thought we already had. You should too.

Someone said something like: the easiest way to take power from someone is to convince them they don’t have any. We do have the power and I am 100% convinced that it is in us to make change happen. Red is Dead.

Expand full comment

"Gentlemen" It took another 40 years for the 19th amendment to be added to the Constitution from Garfield's idealistic speech. Now a hundred years later women are being forced back into second class citizenship. Government MANdated forced pregnancy. Every morning I wake up muttering "Those bastards!" referring to the Extreme Court and all those in the Republican Party who put them in power over all of us. November 8 is a day of accountability, a day to not only restore all our rights but to make sure they become explicitly enumerated by the People in the Constitution. Re-elect No One!

Ad Astra Per Aspera - To the Stars through Difficulties! ❤️🤍💙KANSAS❤️🤍💙

True peace is not merely the absence of war, it is the presence of justice. – Jane Addams

We the People, All of Us including Women this time!

¡Nosotros la gente, todos nosotros incluyendo mujeres esta vez!

¡El pueblo unido jamás será vencido!

The people united shall never be defeated!

Expand full comment

This so touched my heart, Heather, as I read this from France and read the results of the Arizona primary. Kansas gave us hope until Indiana pulled the rug out from under us. Please, everyone, get out the vote! We must stamp out this progressively advancing disease, systematically taking away our rights, continually whipping up lies and inspiring more and more conspiracies. I only hope it's not too late. This senior will be out there as soon as I'm back in the States.

Expand full comment

As this letter demonstrates, history is a loop. Sometimes progress is ascending, sometimes descending. The loop, obviously, is in a descending mode today. Or maybe the right word is reversal.

But what strikes me most is the language used by LBJ regarding the Voting Rights Act. The sheer intellectual nature of his words cast us today as occupying a severely devolved era. It's striking and depressing.

Expand full comment

Good Trouble 🗽

Expand full comment
Aug 7, 2022·edited Aug 7, 2022

Thank you Heather.

Voter suppression has never been resolved in this Country. It has always been an issue or talking point. Revolving door politics. Amendments have been brought forth in attempts to corral this insidious problem.

Yet it is still here and I feel that will be the deciding factor in the upcoming election.

How can this still be a problem?

Be safe. Be well.

Expand full comment

Though we commonly associate the 1965 Voting Right Act with the Selma March, it was actually set in motion during freedom summer. That previous summer, right after signing the civil rights bill, LBJ turned to his attorney general and said, “I want you to write me the toughest goddamn voting rights act you can.” It took a year to get it signed but it made America a democracy, until 2013 when the Supreme Court overturned it and now the same types of voter suppression is on the rise again.

https://www.theattic.space/home-page-blogs/2017/10/20/fannie-lou-hamer-is-this-america

Expand full comment

As an American history teacher, I know how challenging it can be to contextualize the flip in the historical Dem / Rep positions on race. HCR, well done here.

Expand full comment

With Kamala's tie breaking vote needed, the Dems passed the "Inflation Reduction Act" after enduring a hellish Saturday Senate session. The Act has many positive planks that had to pass the Parliamentarian's scrutiny & a deluge of purposeful delay tactics by Lindsay & the Seditionists. But, the Dens got it mostly done for many millions of citizens. R's were able to strip the cap on the Cost of Imsulin 57-43 (60 needed). Per a Yale study 14 percent of Insulin Users spend 40 percent of their income after food & lodging on Insulin. Further details to go but near a done deal.

Expand full comment

Thank you Heather.

Dang, as far as we’ve come, so far we’ve again fallen.

Clarence Thomas, what the hell is wrong with you?

Expand full comment
Aug 7, 2022·edited Aug 7, 2022

Two Peas in a Pod: ALEX JONES & TRUMP

President Biden, his administration and the Democratic Party have taken giant steps to bring Democracy and decency back to the United States of America. ‘United’, and 'fair and free elections', along with much else are the work in progress. The following excerpted article from the Washington Post is about two people who have committed crimes against humanity as they have sown hatred and mistrust among the American people. They must be appropriately dealt with along with their enablers.

‘In roughly 10 years since he declared the deadliest elementary school shooting in U.S. history to be a “giant hoax,” Infowars founder Alex Jones has been denounced and de-platformed by tech giants such as Facebook, YouTube and Spotify, and faced significant financial blows. The latest came Thursday when a jury ruled that Jones had to pay $4.1 million in compensatory damages to the parents of a 6-year-old boy killed in the Sandy Hook mass shooting after he created a “living hell” for the family.’

‘But as Jones’s false claims and rants launched him into the national political dialogue, his ascent has arguably been solidified, thanks to Donald Trump and Joe Rogan embracing Jones and endorsing his ideas to online audiences of millions of people in recent years.’

‘Jones’s 2015 interview with Trump offered a window into some of the future president’s talking points at his rallies.’

“Your reputation is amazing,” Trump told Jones at the time.’

‘Jones going on “The Joe Rogan Experience” in 2020 allowed him to push false claims about coronavirus vaccination on Spotify, where he had been banned. A clip shared widely on Twitter this week shows how Rogan, whose show has an estimated audience of 11 million per episode, has previously defended Jones as “hilarious” and having entertainment value.’

“What is he doing that’s so awful?” Rogan asked. “It’s entertaining!”

‘Representatives for Trump and Rogan did not immediately respond to requests for comment early Friday.’

‘Alex Jones must pay $4.1 million to Sandy Hook parents, jury rules

‘The decision from an Austin jury on Thursday means that Jones could pay significantly less than the $150 million sought by Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, the parents of 6-year-old Jesse Lewis, for remarks after the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., that left 26 people, 20 of them young children, dead. It remains to be seen how much Jones, 48, might be ordered to pay in punitive damages. The jury is expected to return Friday to weigh that amount — a sum that could be considerably higher.’

‘Shortly after the Sandy Hook shooting, Jones, who has previously promoted conspiracy theories about the Oklahoma City bombing and 9/11 attacks, falsely claimed that “no one died” at the school and that the attack was “staged” and “manufactured” by gun-control advocates. The remarks not only outraged grieving parents but also led to death threats and abuse from strangers. After Heslin told the jury this week that the false claims had made his life a “living hell,” Jones conceded in court to the family that the shooting was “100 percent real.”

“Neil and Scarlett are thrilled with the result and look forward to putting Mr. Jones’s money to good use,” Mark Bankston, a lawyer for the parents, told The Washington Post on Thursday. “With punitive damages still to be decided and multiple additional defamation lawsuits pending, it is clear that Mr. Jones’s time on the American stage is finally coming to an end.”

‘His presence on the national stage was elevated when Trump, who became the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016, agreed to be interviewed on Infowars. Trump and Jones said the December 2015 interview was arranged by Trump confidant Roger Stone — years later Jones and Stone would be subpoenaed by the House committee investigating the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.’

“I will not let you down,” Trump said to the Infowars founder.

Jones has acknowledged the impression he seemed to have on Trump, taking credit for introducing the then-candidate to the idea that media members were his “enemy.”

“It is surreal to talk about issues here on-air, and then, word-for-word, hear Trump say it two days later,” Jones told his audience at the time.’

‘The connection between Trump and Jones was documented in “United States of Conspiracy,” a 2020 special from PBS’s “Frontline.” One of the lies Jones spread on his show was that former secretary of state Hillary Clinton and former president Barack Obama founded the Islamic State. Trump repeated Jones’s false claim about Clinton and Obama at one of the Republican candidate’s rallies before the 2016 presidential election, according to PBS. Trump repeated, during an interview with Fox News, another of Jones’s lies: that the father of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) was associated with the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.’

‘Former Infowars staffers told “Frontline” how Trump seemingly using Jones’s false claims as his own was “a super power trip for Alex that was irresistible.”

“Someone in the mainstream — Trump — using the words that Jones had been using for decades, I think that emboldened Jones, and it changed him as a personality,” said Josh Owens, a former video editor at Infowars.’

‘The support from Trump elevated Jones in the national conversation, as when Fox News host Tucker Carlson hailed Jones as “one of the most popular journalists on the right.” Joe Walsh, the former GOP congressman from Illinois who has since become a vocal critic of Trump and his allies in the Republican Party, noted on Twitter this week how “there’s really no difference between Alex Jones and Donald Trump. None.”

But the raised profile also cost Jones. In 2018, Facebook, Apple, YouTube and Spotify were among the platforms to ban all content from Jones and Infowars for violating their hate-speech guidelines. After Roku dropped Infowars in 2019, Jones shared a cryptic post to his Instagram account of a tweet from Infowars reporter Owen Shroyer, which featured an artistic banner of Jones’s face looking enraged.’

“Strike me down now and I only become more powerful,” Shroyer wrote.

Roku gave Infowars a platform reaching millions. After hours of outrage, it backed down.’

‘In the podcasting world, Rogan is one of its premier personalities. Rogan, a lightning rod for controversy who has a huge following, came to an agreement with Spotify in 2020 for a reported $100 million for his podcast library.’

‘So when Rogan welcomed Jones on his show in October 2020, the Infowars host listed a series of falsehoods surrounding coronavirus safety measures such as vaccination and masking, climate science and the polio vaccine. During the course of the three-hour appearance, Rogan also referenced Jones’s lies surrounding the Sandy Hook shooting.’ (WAPO) See gifted link below.

https://wapo.st/3vLhtSy

‘Mr. Jones, the supplement-slinging conspiracy theorist, was ordered to pay more than $45 million in damages to Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, the parents of a 6-year-old who was murdered in the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. The jury’s verdict came after Mr. Jones was found liable for defaming Mr. Heslin and Ms. Lewis, whom for years he falsely accused of being crisis actors in a “false flag” operation plotted by the government.’ (NYTimes)

Expand full comment
Aug 7, 2022·edited Aug 7, 2022

Good morning Dr. Richardson,

What a perfectly constructed essay this LFAA is today. Like our best writers, what you didn’t say is the point of your essay. The old editorial guidance directing authors to show and not tell is presented in your essay. It is a great piece of prose. Congratulations and thank you. What a treat it is to wake up and begin the day with your work.

JPD

Expand full comment

This country owes sooo much to Black people. Despite the horrors visited upon them and continuing, as group they express far less grievance and complaints than Southern whites who perpetrated the injustices. WONDERFUL to read how Garfield said as much! Look at those things for which the former Confederate States are proud, foods, music genres, instruments, cuisines, devices, etc., they were created by Black people who had less. It is unfair to ask, but no group do I trust as much as Black people, to vote responsibly for the good of the country. As a group Black people vote at higher rates than others except non-hispanic whites, but if their voting percentages increased as they did on the two Obama elections, they could save our democracy. I had this conversation with a BLM founder who in essence said 'we are tired, someone else do it'. I do not see another reliable group to save our democracy. If we are waiting for GOP to save itself and democracy, I'm not liking our odds. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/large-racial-turnout-gap-persisted-2020-election

Expand full comment

This column is so resonant with our times. Such a powerful reminder that America is based on a core set of values that have always been present, if not always acted upon.

Expand full comment