Some parts of the United States are “backsliding” into enforced racial segregation, says President Joe Biden, ramping up his attacks on election laws in several states he claims infringe on voter access.
“Parts of our country are backsliding into the days of Jim Crow, passing laws that harken back to the era of poll taxes, when black people were made to guess how many jelly beans in a jar or count the number of bubbles in a bar of soap before they could cast their ballot,” Biden told Al Sharpton’s National Action Network.
BIDEN AND CEOS ARE ODD BEDFELLOWS IN VOTING DISPUTE WITH STATES
Biden’s comments at the activist convention Wednesday morning signal the White House is not backing down from the voting law fight, as Republicans in almost every state push voting changes the president and Democrats call discriminatory.
The remarks also reflect an escalation in rhetoric. Biden has previously described reforms such as those being rolled out in Georgia as “new Jim Crow laws” while trying to distance himself from corporate boycotts that could hurt his supporters. He also categorized the Senate’s filibuster rules as “a relic” of the Jim Crow era during his first stand-alone press conference.
Georgia, this month, gave state officials authority over county elections boards, introduced absentee voter identification requirements, authorized the use of ballot drop boxes, and made it a crime for political groups to offer food and water to voters in line within 150 feet of a polling place.
Georgia’s law prompted public criticism from Atlanta-based businesses, such as Delta Air Lines and Coca-Cola, as well as boycotts from the likes of Major League Baseball. MLB, for example, moved its 2021 All-Star Game to Denver in protest over the legislation.
With data from the nonpartisan Brennan Center for Justice finding more than 350 similar bills have been written across the country, corporate leaders from Amazon, BlackRock, Google, and billionaire investor and philanthropist Warren Buffett released a joint statement Wednesday condemning lawmakers behind the separate efforts.
“It is reassuring to see that for-profit operations and businesses are speaking up about how these new Jim Crow laws are just antithetical to who we are,” Biden said last week.
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He added, regarding whether The Masters Tournament should be relocated: “The other side to it too is when they, in fact, move out of Georgia, the people who need the help the most, people who are making hourly wages, sometimes get hurt the most.”
