Archives for May 2024

Blocking voters you don’t like is a shameful American tradition

After the ratification of the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments to the U.S. Constitution — abolishing enslavement, awarding citizenship to Black Americans and guaranteeing their right to vote (Black men, anyway) — it was a time of progress and celebration.

African Americans were elevated to positions in cities, states and at the federal level, including American heroes such as Robert Smalls of South Carolina, first elected in 1874, who served in the U.S. House of Representatives. He was well known by then, though. His sailing skills were crucial in a dramatic escape from enslavement that saw him hijack a Confederate ship he would turn over to the U.S. Navy.

But not everyone viewed the success of Smalls and so many like him as triumphs, proof of the “all men are created equal” doctrine in the Declaration of Independence. For some whites, steeped in the tangled myth of white supremacy and superiority and shocked by the rise of those they considered beneath them, the only answer was repression and violence, often meted out at polling places and the ballot box.

It didn’t matter that these newly elected legislators, when given power, promoted policies that benefited everyone, such as universal public schooling.

In incidents throughout the South, the White League and the Klan killed Black men who had the audacity to exercise their right to vote, intimidating and silencing those who considered doing the same. In the Colfax Massacre in April 1873, an armed group set fire to the Colfax, La., courthouse, where Republicans and freed people had gathered; between 70 and 150 African Americans were killed by gunfire or in the flames. In Wilmington, N.C., white vigilantes intimidated Black voters at the polls, and in 1898, in a bloody coup, overthrew the duly elected, biracial “Fusion” government.

Reconstruction gave way to “Redemption,” couching a return to white domination in the pious language of religion, not the first or last time God was used so shamelessly as cover.

The perpetrators then were Democrats, allied against Lincoln’s Republican Party.

Today, it’s most often Republicans — afraid they can’t convince a majority with ideas alone — who engage in tactics to shrink the electorate to one more amenable to a “Make America Great Again” promise, one that harks back to a time that was not so great for everyone.

A federal trial will determine the fate of North Carolina’s voter ID law. We take a closer look as the proceedings begin

On the next Charlotte Talks we take a closer look at the federal trial that could determine the fate of North Carolina’s photo voter ID law. That trial is scheduled to start Monday. Beginning last fall, North Carolina voters had to produce a photo ID, but a federal lawsuit alleges that law violates the Voting Rights Act by discriminating disproportionately against Black and Latino voters. Republican lawmakers disagree.

The trial which will be held in Winston-Salem, is a long time coming. Previous trial dates set in 2021 and 2022 were postponed. We take a closer look at the implications of this trial and what it could mean for North Carolina voters in the future.

GUESTS:

Michael Bitzer, Ph.D., professor of politics & history at Catawba College
Mary C. Curtis, columnist for Rollcall.com, host of the Rollcall podcast “Equal Time”
Steve Harrison, political reporter for WFAE
Susan Roberts, professor of political science at Davidson College

Local News Roundup: 4 officers die in shooting; college protests over the war in Gaza; CMS budget; a win for transgender health care in NC

This week saw one of the worst shootings of law enforcement in U.S. history and the worst ever in Charlotte. Four officers and the perpetrator died and other law enforcement officials were injured. We look at what happened, learn more about those killed, and discuss what comes next.

UNC-Chapel Hill is one of the schools across the country where people are being arrested and academics are being disrupted due to protests over the war in Gaza and the relationship these institutions have with Israel.

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg School Board voted unanimously to approve a slightly revised budget proposal. It includes pay raises for teachers and staff, technology upgrades for students, and building maintenance. Now the budget heads to the county commission. We break down what we can expect.

And a federal appeals court ruled that gender-affirming care must be covered by state health insurance in North Carolina. This comes as restrictions on transgender health continue to pass in state legislatures across the country.

All that and more on the Charlotte Talks Local News Roundup.

GUESTS:

Mary C. Curtis, columnist for Rollcall.com, host of the Rollcall podcast “Equal Time”
Nick de la Canal, WFAE host and reporter
Ann Doss Helms, WFAE education reporter
Erik Spanberg, managing editor at the Charlotte Business Journal

Playing by the rules? What a concept

“It’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how you play the game.” All right, maybe people who said this or taught the saying to their kids as a sign of noble character never truly meant it. But they at least pretended to.

Are those times long gone? Well, a lot of folks who know better have been charged with trying to rig, not a game, but democracy. And, in some cases, their defiance of norms and laws is being rewarded and celebrated.

That certainly seems to have happened in Arizona.

Being indicted for involvement in a “fake electors” scheme to keep Donald Trump in the White House after he lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden did not hurt state Sen. Jake Hoffman at the Arizona GOP Convention over the weekend. Indeed, he was chosen as a Republican National Committee member.

“I’m humbled and honored to have been elected as the next RNC National Committeeman for Arizona!” Hoffman wrote on social media. “For the next 4 years I will work tirelessly to ensure that the RNC makes Arizona its #1 priority not only in 2024, but every year.”

When you consider what he is charged with doing in the 2020 election, Hoffman’s pledge, along with the fact that the term “fake electors” doesn’t need an explanation, presents a scary vision of the future. Being unhappy with the results of an election is understandable; subverting the will of your state’s voters to change the final score is not.

Hoffman will have his day in court, but he doesn’t seem one bit admonished by the charge as he carries that partisan energy into November. He was in good — or bad — company with others indicted not only in Arizona but also in Georgia for similar shenanigans, including former Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and attorney Rudy Giuliani.

Another defendant in the Arizona case, lawyer Christina Bobb, has found strong support in her party in her role as senior counsel to the Republican National Committee’s election integrity team.

That is not a joke.