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!
Tag: white guilt
Leftist Lexicon Word of the Week
I know this is going to come as a shock to many of you, but I have a confession. I…am a white man.
And I’ll bet a number of you reading this may also be white. With that skin color comes a lot of baggage according to the Left. We have privilege (although I’m still waiting for some of that privilege to kick in because I want a Dodge Charger), but we’re also pretty protective of that privilege and our egos. The Left has a general term for the various aspects of being white: whiteness.
Better grab a lunch, folks, because this one is going to take a while to unpack…
whiteness
What the Left thinks it means – the condition white people have that makes them hypersensitive to legitimate criticisms about their socioeconomic status
What it really means – the oversimplification of white culture to justify racism against whites
The Left accuses America of being a racist country, and there is merit to that position. The problem is the racism isn’t solely going in the direction the Left wants us to think. When you really look at this country objectively, there seems to be one group of people who can always be seen as racist, but never be seen as the victim of racism. That group is whites, or as I prefer to be called Honkey-Americans.
Look at the application of hate crime laws, for example. In case after case, there is reluctance to apply these laws when whites are the victims, even when Stevie Wonder could see the crimes were racially-motivated. But when the criminal is white, law enforcement immediately looks for racial motivations.
Of course, Leftists will brush this criticism off as “white fragility” or justified by pointing out white criminals who have gotten more lenient punishments than others, but it’s deeper than that. The same Leftists who decry the lack of “all people are created equal” when it pertains to justice for people of color want to make some people more equal than others. In a related story, the George Orwell estate is suing the Left for copyright infringement.
It should be pointed out, however, the Left has its own issues with whiteness, but in a different way. Instead of being overly sensitive of their privilege, they exercise it to the point of absurdity. The Wall of Moms in Portland (or as I call it San Francisco North) has found itself in the center of controversy, not because they’re grown women trying to defend spoiled brats throwing the worst temper tantrum in history, but because they’re a) primarily white, and b) taking over a movement started by Black Lives Matter. And this isn’t some white male outsider’s position; the blacks on the ground in Portland are saying it.
To borrow a phrase from that great philosopher Tom Jones, it’s not unusual for Leftists to do this. They see themselves as virtuous souls taking up for the causes of people of color, all while saying they want to get more people of color into positions of leadership. (I wonder how many of these Leftists supported Mia Love or Tim Scott because it would be really inconvenient if they chose not to support people of color for leadership positions on the basis of partisanship. But we know that never happens, right?) These folks see themselves as literal and figurative white knights, but the problem is they’re not helping anyone but themselves. Ditto with those on the other side of the equation who are prostrating themselves to blacks to show how “woke” they are and to apologize for being white. Nothing is gained by either speaking for blacks or bowing down to blacks except making white Leftists feel better. They see their skin color as a curse, but not so much of a curse as to prevent them from taking their self-righteous place as heroes and spokespeople for blacks.
Which, not surprisingly, is racist as fuck on multiple levels.
Which, also not surprisingly, makes them not that different from white supremacists, who are also racist as fuck on multiple levels.
Maybe it’s me, but I don’t see why a person’s skin color is a reason for pride or shame. You can be any color under the cultural rainbow and still be an asshole (See: Rev. Al Sharpton and the late Fred Phelps). Contrary to what Rachel Dolezal, Michael Jackson, and Shaun King tell you, you can’t choose the color of your skin. What makes someone worthy of praise or contempt is what he or she does. White Leftists are at cross purposes with their race, which makes their contempt of whiteness all the more humorous to me and frustrating for blacks in particular.
The Left wants everyone to be ashamed to be white because most of them feel ashamed and they feel anyone who is proud to be white is racist. (Of course, they already believe anyone who doesn’t think the way they do is racist, so it’s not much of a stretch for them.) The way to counter this is to focus on personal elements that have nothing to do with skin color. Be the best person you can be and you’ll never have to bother with the Left’s attempts to make you feel inferior. Remember, the Left wants to make everyone as miserable as they are, so if you take their comments with a grain of salt the size of, oh, the Great Salt Lake, you can rebuff their advances.
Better yet, you’ll confuse and annoy Leftists, which is fun in and of itself.