Wisconsin still the 'Selma of the north'

[Scuba]

Opinion by Congresswoman Gwen Moore, D-WI.

http://www.jsonline.com/news/opinion/wisconsin-still-the-selma-of-the-north-b99454452z1-294741341.html

On Saturday, my fellow members of the Congressional Black Caucus and I will travel to Selma, Ala., to commemorate the anniversary of Bloody Sunday. On that day 50 years ago, about 600 men, women and children attempted to march from Selma to Alabama's capital, Montgomery, in a peaceful protest of the flagrant disenfranchisement of African-American voters. The march ended abruptly on the Edmund Pettus Bridge, where police brutally attacked the demonstrators, beating them with nightsticks, choking them with tear gas and trampling them with horses. A few months later, repulsed by the images

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The battle over the state's restrictive voter ID law illustrates why our great state continues to bear this harrowing distinction. Reminiscent of laws from the Jim Crow era that placed burdens on the right to vote, the measure makes it harder for Wisconsin's voters of color to cast their ballot. It's why the civil rights organizations Advancement Project, ACLU and the law firm of Arnold & Porter are challenging this restrictive requirement under the Voting Rights Act, recently petitioning the U.S. Supreme Court to take up the case, and why the caucus stands beside them in this call.

Regardless of what politicians, bent on manipulating the rules for partisan gain, may say, Wisconsin's restrictive voting law remains discriminatory. If our elections are to be free, fair and accessible for all voters, the Supreme Court must hear this case and overturn the law without delay.

Based on the state's own data, about 300,000 registered Wisconsin voters do not have the most common forms of ID required for voting: an unexpired driver's license or state-issued photo ID. Among those hundreds of thousands of registered voters, African-Americans and Latinos are significantly less likely to have these limited forms of identification. In most instances, obtaining the required photo ID involves presenting a certified birth certificate, which many voters also lack or cannot afford to pay for or track down.

[riversedge]

1. Glad to see Gwen is speaking up about Walker's draconian Voting law...