Free Republic

HOUSTON (AP) — The head of the NAACP says the group's fight against conservative-backed voter ID laws that have been passed in several states is akin to the great civil rights battles of the 1960s. Benjamin Todd Jealous, the CEO and president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, told delegates at the group's annual convention on Monday in Houston that these are Selma and Montgomery times.

I understand that the NAACP opposes voter-ID laws. Given the long history of fighting against uses of state law to deny blacks and other minorities the franchise until the Civil Rights Movement prevailed, their deep skepticism over proposed stricter enforcement of eligibility laws can’t help but recall echoes of voter suppression in their communities, even if the new laws are innocent of any racial animus. We still have plenty of mistrust that will take generations to undo, especially given that we still have those with living memories of having been denied the right to vote. Still, if the NAACP wants...