CONYERS: The 2016 Presidential Campaign Was Marked By Deep, And Often Painful, Racial Undertones That Divided Our Eectorate

Dean of the U.S. House
of Representatives
John Conyers, Jr.

I delivered the following remarks at the National Action Network Legislative and Policy Conference.

 Given all the challenges facing our nation, the National Action Networks’ legislative conference is right on time. The 2016 presidential campaign was marked by deep, and often painful, racial undertones that divided our electorate. Unfortunately, we have only gone down hill from there.

Our country is now divided in way that no one could have imagined for the 21st century.

We have white supremacist marching in the streets; immigration official stalking undocumented immigrants in hospitals, court houses and schools; Americans in the Caribbean languishing without power or clean water; and the continuing threat of random gun violence.

The response from the Republican majority has been virtual silence or to shift blame.

With the rise in hate violence, police shootings and legislative backlash at the state and local level, minority communities have been justifiably concerned about the continuing role of the Federal government in protecting their civil rights.

Though the Trump presidential campaign promised meaningful changes that would benefit minorities in the area of crime, equal justice and economic equality, his political allies and surrogates have sent a different message that has served to heighten national divisions and anxiety.

Particularly, the actions in the Department of Justice, send a chill through minority communities. Attorney General Sessions has attacked “pattern & practice” enforcement against police misconduct by attempting to abandon consent decrees negotiated und the Holder-Lynch DOJ and removed the COPS program from its efforts encourage voluntary policing reform. In the area of voting rights protection, the Justice Department has literally changed sides in every case.

The practice of voter suppression is now the policy objective of this administration.

As I observed in an Op-Ed piece published in the Hill this morning, numerous false narratives have been advanced to sow division in the American electorate, with few more pernicious than the myth of voter fraud.

Created as a tactic to justify discriminatory voter suppression practices, this myth threatens our most fundamental constitutional right and undermines the core democratic values of republican government.

The myth that voter fraud is rampant and our elections are infiltrated by undocumented immigrants continues be used as a pretext for state legislatures across our nation to make it harder for minorities to vote. The real objective is to achieve a cynical, partisan political outcome.

Researchers have found that the laws have a dramatic and discouraging effect on minority turnout. In primaries in states with strict voter ID laws, Latino turnout decreased by nine points, African-American turnout by 8.6 points and Asian-Americans by 12.5 points.

A nation that hails itself as a beacon of democracy should not tolerate tactics that suppress voter turnout.

As a core American value, we must be committed to expanding the right to vote and eliminating structural barriers to participation.

A series of basic reform policies can and should be enacted at the federal level to apply equality and fairness across our elections: eliminate strict voter ID laws that discriminate against the working class and minorities; make election-day a national holiday; extend voting hours and increase the number of early voting days; and automatically register all eligible voters. I, along with my Democratic colleagues, have championed these measures.

 Every eligible American deserves to exercise their constitutional right to vote, have their voices heard, and strengthen the political market place of ideas.

Polling has shown that a bipartisan majority of Americans support practices to make voting more convenient. The battle of ideas, not cheap political tactics, will protect and strengthen our democracy.

Both sides of the aisle should feel confident enough that their ideas can appeal to the majority without having to disenfranchise those who might vote against them. It is not an exaggeration to say that we are in a battle for the soul of this nation.

Every day in Congress and the courts, issues are raised to determine what it means to be an American.

As you have heard from the list of speakers earlier today, we face a challenge on all fronts.

But your presence here shows that the National Action Network is ready to engage.

Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©