The Atwater Way

You can’t say that you want to kick the brown people off the voter rolls; you have to talk about voter integrity, protecting the ballot box, safeguarding our elections. All these things you’re talking about are totally election things, and a byproduct of them is that Hispanics get hurt worse than whites.… “We want to safeguard our elections” is much more abstract than even the immigration thing, uh, and a hell of a lot more abstract than saying “non-human” Latino “animals.”

The rule of law is that voter rolls can not be changed 90 days before the election, yet the Supreme Court just ruled that Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin can purge the voter roles just six days before the election. The claim is that this is to keep suspected illegal immigrants from voting. The key word there is suspected because they don’t have time to check, and those disenfranchised by this ruling don’t have time to appeal their removal from the voting rolls.

Oh, but they can prove their citizenship at the polling place, you say. Why would they think of bringing that proof? They don’t know they were suspected of being undocumented and kicked off the voter rolls. Instead of standing in line once to vote, they will have to stand in line once, be turned away, retrieve proof of their citizenship, stand in line again, hope they have the right documentation, and then maybe get to vote. Why not just bring back the poll tax and written tests for voting and be upfront with what they’re trying to do?

I don’t even know why I am teaching a unit on Civil Rights when I can just say, “Watch the news. It was pretty much like that. That’s how the South disenfranchised minority voters.”

Youngkin was sworn into office 1,019 days ago. Still, he waited until less than three months before an election to initiate this process. The Iowa caucus, the first nominating contest of this election, was 289 days ago. Yet, he waited. It’s not like he didn’t know there could be a problem. Most of the 6,303 “noncitizens” he has attempted to kick off the rolls over the last two years have been citizens who made a paperwork mistake, usually as simple as checking or not checking a single box on a form. Since 2022, there have been only three cases of illegal voting in Virginia, and none of them were prosecuted on citizenship grounds.

So either this is a political stunt, voter suppression, or our governor, like a lazy student coming into finals week, is trying to cram an agenda together at the last minute to score points with the base. If this were a top priority for the administration, they would have found some time on the agenda to handle it in the previous THREE YEARS and not in the last SIX DAYS before a Presidential election. American citizens will be disenfranchised by this process because there is no time for due diligence. There is also no time for citizens to protest their removal. They will show up on election day and be told they can not vote.

In 1981, Lee Atwater said the quiet part out loud and on tape:

“You start out in 1954 by saying, “N*****, n*****, n*****.” By 1968 you can’t say “n*****r” — that hurts you, backfires. So you say stuff like, uh, forced busing, states’ rights, and all that stuff, and you’re getting so abstract. Now, you’re talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you’re talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is, blacks get hurt worse than whites.… “We want to cut this,” is much more abstract than even the busing thing, uh, and a hell of a lot more abstract than “N*****, n*****.”

In 2008, you can’t say that you weren’t voting for a Black man because of his race; that would hurt you. So you say stuff like, he’s Kenyan. Now you’re talking about birth certificates, and it’s not about race. It’s about fairness, the rule of law, and an abundance of caution.

In 2016, you can’t keep going after Black people; we’ve had a Black president for eight years. So you say that Mexican rapists are invading our country. You use individual examples to paint all Latino immigrants as violent hoards coming to defile your daughters, especially the white daughters, but it’s not about race. It’s about the rule of law, border security, and immigration.

In 2024, you stop thinking about what you can and cannot say. You accuse your opponent of turning Black, talk about Black jobs, and play off the trope of the Welfare Queen by calling your opponent a Tax Queen. You fabricate an overblown immigrant crime wave and scream that Haitians are eating cats and dogs. Salvadoran women and children are herded onto planes and busses, dehumanized, and used as props, as they are dropped in cities with no warning and no supplies. There is talk of detention camps, suspending the 14th Amendment, and mass deportation of Hispanic immigrants. You still claim this isn’t about race. This is about making sure, to quote Stephen Miller, “America is for Americans and Americans only” (except for Puerto Ricans).

It’s 2024; there’s no need to pretend that good people are on both sides. Your side is the only good side. If pressed, you can still say it’s not about race; it’s about immigration, crime, drugs, and the rule of law, but with only 6 days left until the election, there’s not much time for that obfuscation. This is Virginia, home of the capital of the Confederacy, Jim Crow, Massive Resistance, protest against bussing, the Unite the Right Rally, and now modern-day voter suppression.

Atwater would be so proud.

Background:

-CNN: Supreme Court allows Virginia to purge suspected noncitizens from voter registration rolls

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