With the possibility of the SAVE Act becoming law (click here for our outstanding, witty, and pretty spiffy coverage of it), the Left has gone to a tried-and-not-at-all-true method to try to get public opinion on their side: calling it Jim Crow 2.0, just like they’ve done when previous voter ID bills have been introduced in recent years. Since we’ve already talked about voter ID bills previously, I figured I’d focus on the Jim Crow 2.0 part since it’s like a boomerang or a Taco Bell meal: it keeps coming back.
Jim Crow 2.0
What the Left thinks it means – Republican efforts to stop blacks from voting
What it really means – an overreaction to voter ID laws
To fully understand the implications of Jim Crow 2.0, we have to take a look at Jim Crow 1.0. (We’re avoiding Jim Crow 1.5 because it’s a vastly inferior version. Oh, and it doesn’t exist.) Jim Crow laws were a series of laws passed in the South after the Civil War designed to segregate whites and blacks in everything from transportation to education to voting. Let’s just say the South took the loss worse than John McEnroe on PCP, so this wasn’t exactly the best look for the Land of the Free and the Home of the Bottomless Cup of Coffee.
By the time the 1950s and 1960s rolled around, such laws started looking more and more racist because, well, they were. The civil rights movement helped make Jim Crow laws a thing of the past, ensuring blacks and whites could coexist on a level playing field.
Yeah, and if you believe that, I have a Jasmine Crockett victory party ticket to sell you.
Jim Crow laws were a black eye (or an African-American eye if you prefer) on our history and society, so introducing the idea into any conversation has to be done carefully so it’s not taken out of context. Or, if you’re a Leftist, you bring it up when you want to imply something is racist. While the original Jim Crow laws imposed literacy tests and poll taxes among other means to suppress the black vote, the same can’t be said of current voter ID laws, including the SAVE Act.
Well, it can, as the Left has proven, but it’s bullshit.
There is a league of difference between a poll tax and having to pay for a birth certificate to establish your citizenship so you can vote. Take getting a copy of your birth certificate, for example. The cost of getting a replacement copy ranges from $10 to $34. Inconvenient? Maybe. Prohibitive? Also, maybe. But if you are really passionate about voting, you will make it happen.
On a related note, you know what states have some of the lowest costs to get a birth certificate? The evil, backwards, racist South. And what states have some of the highest? The good, smart, progressive blue states.
Isn’t it ironic, doncha think?
The thing about the Jim Crow 2.0 talk is it’s not designed to make you think, but rather to feel. The Left wants whites in particular to feel collective shame over our past, even though most of us (and most of them, for that matter) weren’t alive when those laws were in place. No matter how many strides we make towards racial unity, they will always view whites as fatally flawed and undeserving of forgiveness.
That sentiment isn’t just one way, though. The Left also sees blacks as inferior and without agency. They see other potentially oppressed groups the same way, but for the purpose of this sketch we’re going to limit the focus to blacks given the subject matter. White Leftists in particular feel they have to speak up for the black community because they have both a superiority complex and a savior complex.
One tiny problem, kids. This attitude makes you racist.
Blacks are perfectly capable of speaking for themselves, thank you very much. In fact, there are some I wish would shut the fuck up, but that’s not the point. Blacks don’t need white Leftists to stand up for them. They are motivated, capable, and smart enough to figure shit out for themselves. And since you can’t figure out what a woman is, maybe you should sit this one out.
You know, until 2138.
In the meantime, I have a request for the black community. Call out the Left’s bullshit with the Jim Crow 2.0 talk. It demeans your history and your present, and the more you entertain it, the more you give white Leftists the power to speak for you. Instead, I urge you to take the advise of the great philosopher James Brown, “Say it loud! I’m black and I’m proud!”
Well, either that or, “I feel good!” You know, whichever.
The funny thing about the Left’s resistance to voter ID laws is it flies in the face of what they say they want. They always say America needs to be more like Europe in governance, regulations, and the like. But guess who has voter ID laws.
Europe.
Oops. Better get on board there, Leftists! Unless of course you want to call Europeans racist…
On second thought, you’ll probably do that anyway, so scratch that.
Comparing any voter ID laws to Jim Crow laws is a non-starter for me, not just because I happen to agree with the concept of voter ID, but because the two concepts go together like oil and Joseph Hazelwood. Leftists are going to try to shame you into rejecting a good idea because they don’t have a logical basis for their arguments. Then again, these are Leftists we’re talking about there, and they have a protective order against logic.
Instead of feeling guilty about shit you didn’t even do, push back and ask them why they require photo ID for their events, but not for a democratic vote. Or better yet, ask them for their alternative. And don’t be surprised if they don’t have ready answers because, let’s face it, they haven’t thought beyond the “Jim Crow 2.0” stage.
On the plus side, it will give you an opportunity to point and laugh!