Biden calls Republican voting rights laws ‘21st century Jim Crow assault’

By Hazel Trice Edney
TriceEdneyWire.com

 President Joseph Biden is pleading for help to end the continuing rhetoric that former President Donald Trump won the 2020 election. Trump has continued to repeat the lie as he speaks to Republican groups and has never conceded the election. 

“The Big Lie is just that: a big lie,” Biden told an audience last Tuesday at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. “In America, if you lose, you accept the results. You follow the Constitution.  You try again.  You don’t call facts ‘fake’ and then try to bring down the American experiment just because you’re unhappy. That’s not statesmanship. That’s not statesmanship; that’s selfishness.  That’s not democracy; it’s the denial of the right to vote.  It suppresses.  It subjugates. The denial of full and free and fair elections is the most un-American thing that any of us can imagine, the most undemocratic, the most unpatriotic, and yet, sadly, not unprecedented.”

He said of new voting laws based on the lie, “The 21st century Jim Crow assault is real. It’s unrelenting, and we’re going to challenge it vigorously.” Biden’s remarks were primarily focused on his formal topic, “Protecting the Sacred, Constitutional Right to Vote.”

He went on to compare the continued assault on democracy to the evils of slavery and Jim Crow White supremacy.

“From denying enslaved people full citizenship until the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments after the Civil War; to denying women the right to vote until the 19th Amendment 100 years ago; to poll taxes and literacy tests, and the Ku Klux Klan campaigns of violence and terror that lasted into the ‘50s and ‘60s; to the Supreme Court decision in 2013 and then again just two weeks ago – a decision that weakened the landmark Voting Rights Act; to the willful attacks – election attacks in 2020; and then to a whole other level of threat – the violence and the deadly insurrection on the Capitol on January 6th,” he said.

To illustrate the level of shame of the new attacks on voting rights, Biden outlined the election victories of the 2020 presidential election.

“A 102-year-old woman in Arkansas who voted for the first time on the very spot she once picked cotton. A 94-year-old woman in Michigan who voted early and in person in her seventy-second consecutive election.  You know what she said?  She said this election was, quote, ‘the most important vote that we ever had.’ The daughter who voted in the memory of her dad who died of COVID-19 so others wouldn’t have the experience of pain and darkness and loss that she was going through,” he said. “And the parents – the parents who voted for school their children will learn in. Sons and daughters voted for the planet they’re going to live on.”

Biden’s speech came a little more than six months after the deadly insurrection in which Trump supporters attacked the U. S. Capitol in an attempt to stop the certification of Electoral College votes for the Biden win.

Hundreds of arrests and charges have taken place since Jan. 6, 2021. And evidence is clear that Trump and others are trying to mislead the nation, Biden pointed out.  Enthusiastic applause followed his list of proof that Trump’s claim is a lie.

“With recount after recount after recount, court case after court case, the 2020 election was the most scrutinized election ever in American history.  Challenge after challenge brought to local, state, and election officials; state legislatures; state and federal courts – even to the United States Supreme Court not once, but twice.” He continued, “More than 80 judges, including those appointed by my predecessor, heard the arguments.  In every case, neither cause nor evidence was found to undermine the national achievement of administering this historic election in the face of such extraordinary challenges. Audits, recounts were conducted in Arizona, in Wisconsin. In Georgia, it was recounted three times. It’s clear.  For those who challenge the results and question the integrity of the election: No other election has ever been held under such scrutiny and such high standards.”Despite wide-spread belief that the anger has been because of the Black vote, Biden pointed out that new laws will affect people of all races across the nation.“And they’re trying – not only targeting people of color, they’re targeting voters of all races and backgrounds.  It’s with a simple target: who did not vote for them. That’s the target,” Biden said. “They want the ability to reject the final count and ignore the will of the people if their preferred candidate loses.” 

Biden pointed out, “This year alone, 17 states have enacted – not just proposed, but enacted – 28 new laws to make it harder for Americans to vote, not to mention – and catch this – nearly 400 additional bills Republican members of the state legislatures are trying to pass.”

He warned, “There is an unfolding assault taking place in America today — an attempt to suppress and subvert the right to vote in fair and free elections, an assault on democracy, an assault on liberty, an assault on who we are — who we are as Americans.  For, make no mistake, bullies and merchants of fear and peddlers of lies are threatening the very foundation of our country.”  

Biden encouraged people to become actively involved in encouraging members of Congress to vote for legislation that will protect the right to vote.

“Last month, Republicans opposed even debating, even considering For the People Act.  Senate Democrats stood united to protect our democracy and the sanctity of the vote.  We must pass the For the People Act.  It’s a national imperative,” he said. “We must also fight for the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act to restore and expand to restore and expand voting protections and prevent voter suppression.  All the congresswomen and men here – there’s a bunch of you – you knew John, many of you.” 

He also pointed to the U. S. Supreme Court as a culprit in continuing the results of the “big lie.” And he stressed that Congress can still remedy the problems. 

He reflected, “Just weeks ago, the Supreme Court yet again weakened the Voting Rights Act and upheld what Justice Kagan called, quote, ‘a significant race-based disparity in voting opportunities.’ The Court’s decision, as harmful as is, does not limit the – Congress’ ability to repair the damage done. That’s the important point.  It puts the burden back on Congress to restore the Voting Rights Act to its intended strength.” 

Biden concluded to applause, “As soon as Congress passes the For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, I will sign it and let the whole world see it. That will be an important moment. And the world is wondering – the world is wondering…You know, the world is wondering, ‘What is America going to do?’”