As the country continues to face an overdue reckoning with white supremacy, America is
rethinking the way it glorifies slavery. NASCAR banned the Confederate flag, HBO Max removed
Gone With the Wind, and Lady Antebellum is now just Lady A. Guys, abbreviating your band
name won't make people forget what it originally stood for! People are still fully aware that
ABBA used to stand for "All Bitches Be Actin' Crazy." The ‘C’ is silent. But while some
racist s— is going away, one thing that isn't is the way the Republican party punishes
Black and brown voters for just wanting to vote.
- On Tuesday, many waited for hours to vote during Georgia's primary elections. The wait
seemed especially long in counties with large African-American populations. Dozens of polling
stations were closed because of coronavirus concerns. Many voters sent home.
Look, I know things move at a slower pace in the South. It was just last week some southerners
found out they lost the Civil War. But no one should have to wait hours to cast their
ballot. Especially as we're approaching an election that could open the seventh seal.
This year, Georgia, in an attempt to answer for accusations of voter suppression during
its 2018 governor's race, rolled out new touch-screen voting machines statewide. The result? Georgia
managed to suppress the vote even more! Poll workers were given limited training on the
new machines, and some churches and schools declined to act as polling places due to fears
of coronavirus spread. Those problems, combined with absentee ballots that were never delivered,
resulted in a total clusterf—. The only way Georgia's primary could've gone any worse
is if the whole time a guy was standing behind you in line going, "You know it's not the
heat, it's the humidity!" This is a terrifying indicator for what it's in store for November.
Especially because, for the first time in a generation, Georgia is a battleground state
for the presidential election. The last time Georgia was in play for the Democrats, we
were all drinking Crystal Pepsi. Crystal Pepsi: the other vile tradition to come from the
South. But voter suppression isn't just limited to Georgia. The message we hear from everyone—and
the one I give on this show—is that if we want to change things, we have to go vote.
But it's not always that simple. Republicans work incredibly hard to make voting difficult,
especially for voters who are BIPOC. Republicans' key voting bloc is older, whiter people who
are one heartbeat away from the great Cracker Barrel in the sky. Meanwhile, the overall
electorate has become more diverse and more likely to reject campaign promises that sound
like they come from the most uncomfortable parts of Splash Mountain. You guys have hundreds
of movies! Choose a theme that's not racist! Even a ride based on Up would be okay. I mean
like, it would be sad, but it would be better than Song of the South. Republicans' base
is shrinking. It's in their best interests to keep young people, people with disabilities,
and people of color—who tend to vote progressively—from voting. And as seen last week in Georgia,
they are amazingly good at it. How are Republicans still getting away with this? To answer that
question, we have to look back to the bygone, anti-Antebellum era of 2013, when the Supreme
Court's landmark decision on Shelby County v. Holder gutted the Voting Rights Act of
1965. According to the opinion written by Chief Justice John Roberts, elements of the
VRA that protected Black and brown voters were no longer needed, because, he implied,
our country has successfully wiped away so much of its racist past. It was easily 2013's
most upsetting decision, which is impressive considering that same year, Michael Douglas
decided to claim he ate so much p— it almost killed him. Now that is a Disclosure I don't
need! Man, talk about The Game. Falling Down? More like going down! Michael Douglas has
a Fatal Attraction to p—. He should have had the Basic Instinct to use a dental dam.
He was in Ant-Man but he was also in your aunt, man. The Kominsky Method.