The late 1960s must have felt like the end of the world for the racist republican party. Their Jim Crow laws that skewed the vote to keep them in power were repealed. Their political thugs, the KKK were forced into hiding. What was the Party of Racism to do?
Well, they came up with an insidious plan: to force minorities to show an identification card to vote. Knowing this to be beyond their means, the republicans ensured that the vote would be "racially pure" and tend toward their fanatical racist ideology. What makes this plan particularly insidious is how it hides behind the veil of "fraud prevention". The mouth-breathing, tobacco chewing, faux news watching knuckle-draggers can pretend they're not racist. But those among us educated in Social Justice at our universities understand what is happening.
There's been a lot of good discussion here about the voting issue with identification. But the Party of Racism's plan goes much further. Not only are minorities excluded from our Democracy, but from our society in general. This diary makes an important case that I haven't seen made yet- identification policies are being used by the racist right to enforce white superiority in every corner of the country. I hope you'll continue reading and discover the horrible facts.
Health Insurance
A well known right-wing sector, health insurance companies have long robbed the public of their Right to healthcare, refusing service to millions and responsible for countless deaths. According to Reuters, 45,000 people die every year (one every 12 minutes) because of these heartless bastards. They were secretly behind the opposition to our first African American president's healthcare legislation, aimed to keep them in check.
Would it surprise you to learn that health insurance companies require identification to issue a policy? Now, ask yourself, why would they need that? The answer is obvious: health insurance is for the white race only. Beyond satisfying their racist glee in seeing Brown people die on the streets, it's also good for their greedy capitalist bottom line: An African American man, on average, has a life span 10 years shorter than whites. The cancer rate among African Americans is 10% higher than whites. In fact, African Americans have a higher mortality rate than whites for 8 out of 10 of the leading causes of death.
Obviously, requiring ID that minorities cannot produce is profitable.
BANKS
It probably goes without saying that the very institution of capitalist white greed would filter out undesirable races with the "we need an ID" trick. In 1992, a study by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston found that 17% of African Americans were denied loans, compared to just 11% of whites. Shocking proof of racism, but only half the story- how many weren't even allowed to apply because of a lack of ID?
This is why ID has become the favorite tool of discrimination- it can all be kept secret, off the books, and quiet. The whites get their money, votes, and insurance, while everyone else suffers. This is life in white ameriKKKa.
LANDLORDS
Obviously, a landlord is prohibited by law from selecting the race of his tenants. But a clever white landlord will employ the same tactic used by racists everywhere else- ID required. Problem solved, and his property remains "racially pure".
I don't have any links in this section, because I can't find any studies about how many minorities are homeless because they lack ID. But knowing the difficult path for a minority to get the proper paperwork, I am estimating it at somewhere around 3,000,000 people, cold, on the streets, due to the racism of greedy capitalist land owners.
Voting Rights is an important subject, and one that deserves our attention, but is it as important as the basic needs of survival? It seems we ought to tackle this subject first, people are suffering. People are dying.
CONCLUSION
This is a call to action. At the Daily Kos we deal in the realm of politics, hence the focus on discriminatory voting laws. But there is so much discrimination in our racist society, we need a broader scope. We need to point out how this dirty ID trick is hurting, killing so many.
We need to act locally and think globally. If everyone was aware of the ID trick, would the Party of Racism even dare such a law? No. Let us begin at our local banks, our landlords, and health insurance greed corporations. NO! I will not show you an ID! I know your tricks, racist!