Why the 2010 election was disastrous for black America

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In Michigan, Governor Rick Snyder implemented an Emergency Manager Law, which has allowed the state to take over financially distressed cities and school districts and nullify the will of the voters.  Most of the municipalities facing emergency takeover, including Detroit, are predominantly black.   This is the new plantation.

Tom Corbett, Republican governor of Pennsylvania, came to power under the Tea Party radar because he was the state attorney general and appeared like a reasonable person.  Yet, he and the GOP-controlled State Assembly have attempted to ram through one of the most draconian voter ID laws in the country.  A Pennsylvania judge blocked implementation of the law for the 2012 elections.

Further, Corbett and Pennsylvania’s Tea-Party-controlled legislature have enacted cold-blooded cuts to public education, hitting disproportionately black and brown school districts such as Philadelphia.  Philly was forced to make extreme cuts to education by closing 23 schools, laying off thousands of school staff, eliminating secretaries and all assistant principals, and gutting art, music and sports programs.  Meanwhile, Republican lawmakers approved $400 million on two new prisons, and $600-800 million in annual corporate tax breaks.

A war on black voters

Finally, Texas Republicans redrew the state electoral map by ignoring demographic changes and without seeking input from minority groups, and implemented one of the nation’s most stringent voter ID laws following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decimation of the Voting Rights Act.  Now, Republican Texas legislators have passed a restrictive abortion law banning the procedure after 20 weeks of pregnancy.  During debate in the state senate, state troopers confiscated tampons and other feminine hygiene products belonging to women who came to watch the debate, while others were allowed to carry concealed firearms.  No wonder these lawmakers are called the Texas Taliban.

In the U.S. Congress and Tea-Party-owned state houses, they want to erase the legacy of the civil rights movement, the New Deal, liberalism, the labor movement and other perceived Democratic hallmarks.  For political gain, they are bringing down the government as a force for good because they say it is broken, and they prove it to you by proceeding to break down the government.

Conservative Republicans have won many elections by opposing government programs on the grounds that black people are benefiting more from them.  It was known as the Southern Strategy.  As the Tea Party has worked overtime since 2010 to dismantle the social welfare safety net and scale back highly coveted and hard-fought rights, poor people and people of color will disproportionately feel the impact. After all, black people have benefited from efforts to expand opportunity and inclusion.  And for the GOP, the Obama administration represents the most visible sign of progress for black people, and so they must stop it.  But everyone, regardless of race, is cut out of the game this time.

Follow David A. Love on Twitter at @davidalove