SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
North Carolina State University students wait in line to vote in the primaries at Pullen Community Center on March 15, 2016 in Raleigh, North Carolina. (Photo: Sara D. Davis/Getty Images )
Reading About Nation's Racist History Has Made This Republican Realize Ditching Voter ID Laws 'Simply the Right Thing to Do'
Former state Supreme Court justice Bob Orr has had a change of heart thanks to Ron Chernow's biography Grant
Jun 13, 2018
Amid ongoing efforts to restrict access to the polls, Republican Bob Orr, a former North Carolina Supreme Court justice, has announced his change of heart on voter ID laws.
Once a supporter of the voter-suppressing measure, he says he now believes they should be shelved--a recent reversal he says is thanks to reading Grant, Ron Chernow's biography of Ulysses S. Grant.
His op-ed published Wednesday at The Charlotte Observer comes as North Carolina Republicans propose putting a voter ID requirement into the state constitution.
Orr writes that in contrast to the view of Reconstruction that he and other southerners were taught in history books, "Chernow points out that while ex-Confederates were resentful over losing the war and their 'property' in the form of slaves, the real stick in their craw was that blacks now had the right to vote."
The biography, he adds, "traces the horror and violence that descended upon blacks in the South attempting to participate in the most basic of democratic institutions--the right to vote." He references the "burning, lynching, and terror" white supremacists subjected blacks to--atrocities replaced by "a new wave of repression...Jim Crow laws."
"Is it any wonder that they are genuinely concerned that a voter ID requirement is just one more in a long line of measures to limit their right to vote?" he asks.
He concludes by suggesting a voter ID law "isn't all that bad, but I'm willing to say today after reading Chernow's Grant: Let's put this proposal on the shelf as simply the right thing to do."
According to Ari Berman, senior writer at Mother Jones and a reporting fellow at The Nation Institute, voter ID laws are among the "many voter suppression tactics we're seeing."
In his interview Wednesday with Democracy Now! in which he discussed the U.S. Supreme Court's decision this week to uphold Ohio's process for purging voters from the rolls, Berman said he feared "that history is repeating itself."
Fifty-five years after the assassination of civil rights leader Medgar Evers, Berman said "we have a Supreme Court, we have a Republican Party, that is undermining that most fundamental right, that is finding new ways to try to disenfranchise people, whether it's voter ID laws or voter purging or cutting back on the amount of time that people have to vote."
Watch the full segment with Berman:
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, The U.S. is on a fast track to authoritarianism like nothing I've ever seen. Meanwhile, corporate news outlets are utterly capitulating to Trump, twisting their coverage to avoid drawing his ire while lining up to stuff cash in his pockets. That's why I believe that Common Dreams is doing the best and most consequential reporting that we've ever done. Our small but mighty team is a progressive reporting powerhouse, covering the news every day that the corporate media never will. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. And to ignite change for the common good. Now here's the key piece that I want all our readers to understand: None of this would be possible without your financial support. That's not just some fundraising cliche. It's the absolute and literal truth. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. Will you donate now to help power the nonprofit, independent reporting of Common Dreams? Thank you for being a vital member of our community. Together, we can keep independent journalism alive when it’s needed most. - Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Amid ongoing efforts to restrict access to the polls, Republican Bob Orr, a former North Carolina Supreme Court justice, has announced his change of heart on voter ID laws.
Once a supporter of the voter-suppressing measure, he says he now believes they should be shelved--a recent reversal he says is thanks to reading Grant, Ron Chernow's biography of Ulysses S. Grant.
His op-ed published Wednesday at The Charlotte Observer comes as North Carolina Republicans propose putting a voter ID requirement into the state constitution.
Orr writes that in contrast to the view of Reconstruction that he and other southerners were taught in history books, "Chernow points out that while ex-Confederates were resentful over losing the war and their 'property' in the form of slaves, the real stick in their craw was that blacks now had the right to vote."
The biography, he adds, "traces the horror and violence that descended upon blacks in the South attempting to participate in the most basic of democratic institutions--the right to vote." He references the "burning, lynching, and terror" white supremacists subjected blacks to--atrocities replaced by "a new wave of repression...Jim Crow laws."
"Is it any wonder that they are genuinely concerned that a voter ID requirement is just one more in a long line of measures to limit their right to vote?" he asks.
He concludes by suggesting a voter ID law "isn't all that bad, but I'm willing to say today after reading Chernow's Grant: Let's put this proposal on the shelf as simply the right thing to do."
According to Ari Berman, senior writer at Mother Jones and a reporting fellow at The Nation Institute, voter ID laws are among the "many voter suppression tactics we're seeing."
In his interview Wednesday with Democracy Now! in which he discussed the U.S. Supreme Court's decision this week to uphold Ohio's process for purging voters from the rolls, Berman said he feared "that history is repeating itself."
Fifty-five years after the assassination of civil rights leader Medgar Evers, Berman said "we have a Supreme Court, we have a Republican Party, that is undermining that most fundamental right, that is finding new ways to try to disenfranchise people, whether it's voter ID laws or voter purging or cutting back on the amount of time that people have to vote."
Watch the full segment with Berman:
Amid ongoing efforts to restrict access to the polls, Republican Bob Orr, a former North Carolina Supreme Court justice, has announced his change of heart on voter ID laws.
Once a supporter of the voter-suppressing measure, he says he now believes they should be shelved--a recent reversal he says is thanks to reading Grant, Ron Chernow's biography of Ulysses S. Grant.
His op-ed published Wednesday at The Charlotte Observer comes as North Carolina Republicans propose putting a voter ID requirement into the state constitution.
Orr writes that in contrast to the view of Reconstruction that he and other southerners were taught in history books, "Chernow points out that while ex-Confederates were resentful over losing the war and their 'property' in the form of slaves, the real stick in their craw was that blacks now had the right to vote."
The biography, he adds, "traces the horror and violence that descended upon blacks in the South attempting to participate in the most basic of democratic institutions--the right to vote." He references the "burning, lynching, and terror" white supremacists subjected blacks to--atrocities replaced by "a new wave of repression...Jim Crow laws."
"Is it any wonder that they are genuinely concerned that a voter ID requirement is just one more in a long line of measures to limit their right to vote?" he asks.
He concludes by suggesting a voter ID law "isn't all that bad, but I'm willing to say today after reading Chernow's Grant: Let's put this proposal on the shelf as simply the right thing to do."
According to Ari Berman, senior writer at Mother Jones and a reporting fellow at The Nation Institute, voter ID laws are among the "many voter suppression tactics we're seeing."
In his interview Wednesday with Democracy Now! in which he discussed the U.S. Supreme Court's decision this week to uphold Ohio's process for purging voters from the rolls, Berman said he feared "that history is repeating itself."
Fifty-five years after the assassination of civil rights leader Medgar Evers, Berman said "we have a Supreme Court, we have a Republican Party, that is undermining that most fundamental right, that is finding new ways to try to disenfranchise people, whether it's voter ID laws or voter purging or cutting back on the amount of time that people have to vote."
Watch the full segment with Berman:
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.