15 thoughts on “Why Is Asking For ID Discriminatory Against Blacks?”

  3. Just to play the Devil’s advocate here… I’ve been to some stores in Memphis where one can notice two things: (a) the clientele is mostly African-American, and (b) they all pay cash. I wouldn’t be surprised if quite a few had never checked into a hotel, and never bought a railroad ticket. And had never dealt with the TSA. And don’t own a car. [And for the record, I’ve never had to show ID to a security guard in order to see a doctor.] You don’t need a driver’s license to sell candy on a street corner. Or ride the bus. In short, there are a lot of people who don’t enjoy the middle class lifestyle that Taranto assumes. So I can’t really join in the Dionne-baiting with a clear conscience.

    Having said that, I think a literacy test for voting would be a fine idea. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court disagreed. I think having a government-issued ID of some sort would be the bare minimum indicator of cultural literacy, at least, and I would favor showing ID as a requirement for voting. We’ll see how this plays out.

  4. Again, the philosophical double-standard eludes me: either voting is Very Serious and Important Activity, at least as important as every other transaction with the government and one in which Confidence Must Be Maintained or it’s a joke. Pick one.

  5. I’m OK with allowing people to not show ID, so long as poll workers aren’t legally required to give a genuine ballot to someone who won’t identify himself as a genuine voter.

    This will allow us to recruit better poll workers by giving them the opportunity to amuse themselves passing out ballots with Daffy Duck or Franklin Roosevelt as the Democratic candidate for President.

  7. Even if you don’t drive and don’t own a car, I believe most states will issue you a photo ID that can be used anywhere a drivers license would be required. (Except for driving, of course!)

    The real question is one of access. If I don’t drive how easy is it to get to the DMV to apply for an ID? If I’m really poor can I afford the fee? If I am uneducated do I know how to obtain a copy of my birth certificate (which is needed to get the ID card)?

    I would be perfectly happy to see the same groups that now help people register to vote and take them to the polls start helping people get a photo ID, too. The fact that it would be more work would be interpreted by some as “disenfranchisement” but I think its just the price of having a well ordered society. Voter fraud must be stamped out. It is undermining the republic.

  8. Yes, Bill, this is a complete red herring. It’s a load of bull designed to fool gullible white folk whose primary experience with people who might be poor and/or black is largely in the abstract.

  9. Legally blind people can’t get a driver’s license and yet they still manage to fly where ID is required. There are easily available legal means of identification other than a driver’s license.

    What all of these complaints about requiring a valid ID is the racist and bigoted assumption that poor minorities are too stupid to get a legal ID, just as they’re incapable of doing anything in life without a bunch of liberals helping them. It’s the bigotry of low expectations.

    Personally, I would prefer that every state wipe clean their voter registries and require everyone to register anew with a valid form of identification. The voter registries in many districts have more people than there are citizens in the area because they have not been kept up to date with moves, deaths, felony convictions, etc.

    It never ceases to amaze me how some people who claim to be so in favor of democracy are opposed to efforts to ensure honest elections.

  10. If I don’t drive how easy is it to get to the DMV to apply for an ID?

    Roughly as difficult as it is to get to the grocery store for your food, or to the neighborhood bar for a drink. Bus? Family or friends? Bicycle? Walk?

    If I’m really poor can I afford the fee?

    In California the state ID card costs $30, and, unbelievably, you can get the fee reduced still further if you’re poor. Are you talking poor as in never seen an actual 20 dollar bill poor?

    If I am uneducated do I know how to obtain a copy of my birth certificate?

    If you’re an adult who is unaware of what a “birth certificate” is, or that you would get one from the government of the state in which you were born by filling out some form or other, are you going to be able to find the polling booth on your own and comprehend how to use the voting machine? Can you cook your own dinner? Button your shirt? Find your ass with both hands?

  12. The other things with photo IDs is that they are renewed about as often as a driver’s license and they can often be renewed by mail or via the internet.

    A better way to look at it might be $30/x years.

  13. States that tried to pass such laws even wrote in free ids for those “poor” people. I think Georgia was one such state.

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