Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Naomi Murakawa

Quote by Naomi Murakawa

Work

The First Civil Right: How Liberals Built Prison America

Browse quotes and source details for this work. more

Author

Naomi Murakawa

Browse famous quotes and profile details for Naomi Murakawa. more

You May Also Like

“Many thought of the election of Barack Obama, not as the end of racism, but certainly as a turning point. And it was. But for many, President Obama's election was a turning point in a different direction. It spurred a backlash among white supremacists invested in maintaining the status quo. It can be no coincidence that the carnage of the Voting Rights Act so central to the Shelby decision occurred during the presidency of our first-ever Black president. It is no coincidence that in the decade since Obama's election, voter suppression has gained more momentum, velocity, and animosity than it had in the previous three elections combined. Since Shelby County v. Holder, voter suppression has taken on more pervasive and pernicious forms than ever before.”

VotingAfrican AmericansBlacksElectionsPresidentsBarack ObamaVoter Suppression
Book:Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019
Create image

“Those who rage against and work against expanding the electorate know what's at stake. The goal is to block access to the ballot and to policy making because letting the agitators inside might yield new laws to remedy inequality or injustice. The fear of these elected officials is a loss of power, grounded in an assortment of causes like racism, sexism, homophobia, religious intolerance, or an inchoate desire to keep the world as it was when they sat at the peak of influence. They forget that the bygone days of political tranquility never truly existed—the agitators simply hadn't amassed sufficient power to be heard. But they are getting closer to it every day.”

HistoryConservatismVoter Suppression
Book:Our Time Is Now: Power, Purpose, and the Fight for a Fair America
Create image

“Another powerful tool to stop African Americans from having any political voice was the white primary. Key to the white primary effectiveness was the fact that from Reconstruction until 1968 the South was a one-party system⁠—only Democrats needed apply, so despised was the party of Lincoln. Several of the states, therefore, began to discern that one way to skirt around the Fifteenth Amendment was to tinker with the primary election, during which the Democratic candidate was chosen.”

RacismSuffrageVoter SuppressionWhite Primary
Book:One Person, No Vote: How Voter Suppression Is Destroying Our Democracy
Create image

“The goal of all the GOP voter ID laws is to reduce significantly the demographic and political impact of a growing share of the American electorate. To diminish the ability of black, Latinos, and Asians, as well as the poor and students to choose government representatives and the types of policies they support. Unfortunately, it's working.”

RacismAgeismClassismVoter SuppressionVoter Id Laws
Book:One Person, No Vote: How Voter Suppression Is Destroying Our Democracy
Create image