We’ve had no shortage of baffling, head scratching and nauseating moments in the last six months. Republicans are determined to take us back in time with regard to every indicator in terms of social progress and equality—and they aren’t stopping anytime soon. In Missouri, Gov. Eric Greitens recently signed a bill that could only be described as a throwback. In fact, the local NAACP is calling it the “Jim Crow Bill.” And they are warning travelers about visiting the state now that the bill has been signed into law.
Americans used to getting warnings about the potential dangers of traveling overseas, but this summer, the NAACP put out an extraordinary warning about travel here at home -- in Missouri.
The warning advises "extreme caution," saying travelers could be subject to "discrimination and harassment."
The bill has to do with the ability to file discrimination claims on the basis of race, religion and gender. Currently, it is possible to file a claim stating that those are “contributing” factors in discrimination. And in 2010, Pat Rowe Kerr sued the state for sex and age discrimination in a suit in which she was awarded $3 million.
But later this month, alleged victims of discrimination would have to prove it is the "motivating" factor -- and [Nimrod Chapel, president of Missouri’s NAACP] says that's extremely hard to do.
"You would think that the best evidence would be, like, a memo. 'We discriminated against so-and-so because of who they are.' Nobody writes memos, or when they do it so rare, and then getting that kind of evidence can be very, very difficult," he says.
This bill is bad enough on its own. After all, it completely ignores all the systemic and covert ways that racism, sexism, and religious inequality are perpetuated. It pretty much gives folks a pass to discriminate since it will make it so difficult to prove legally. However, the “Jim Crow bill” is not the only reason the NAACP issued its travel advisory to the state.
But the Missouri NAACP crafted its warning in part because of recent incidents that included racist statements to University of Missouri students, a hot glue gun attack on black teens in St. Louis and the May death of Tory Sanders. [...]
“You have violations of civil rights that are happening to people. They’re being pulled over because of their skin color, they’re being beaten up or killed,” Chapel told the Kansas City Star. “We are hearing complaints at a rate we haven’t heard before.”
And there you have it. Republicans taking us back in time to the Jim Crow era. Maybe we need to start another version of the Negro Traveler’s Green Book so that blacks and other vulnerable people can know which places are safe for them to pass through.