Posted on 06/29/2013 6:30:34 PM PDT by Wellington VII
This week’s Supreme Court decision in Shelby County v. Holder overturned Section 4(b) of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which mandated federal oversight of changes in voting procedure in jurisdictions that have a history of using a “test or device” to impede enfranchisement. Here is one example of such a test, used in Louisiana in 1964.
(Excerpt) Read more at slate.com ...
I don’t know the answer to your question but I am very sure that at least by the late 50s and 60s that Blacks could vote in the area I grew up in and it was one of the most conservative areas in the South.
My Grandfather was a politician and he always carried the Black polling places. He supported segregation but so did every other politician at the time in that area.
>> are people here arguing that blacks were NOT disenfranchised when the VRA was first passed?
Not me. They definitely were disenfranchised back then.
And BOY, are we paying the price for it now. Happy?
‘I wonder what we gain by having illiterate people vote.’
That’s hard to say. But they can give expert testimony in murder cases.
A box is typically a rectangle.
A square is a rectangle.
Therefore, some boxes are square.
Interesting ‘Test’ this. Hmm.
My mother, a New York City resident born in 1907, had to take a literacy test to vote. Based on what were seeing come out of our schools it’s probably a good idea.
It means what ever the person who is grading the test wants it to mean.
“#23 “Draw a shape that is square and then divide it in half by drawing a line from the northeast corner to the southeast corner and then divide it again by drawing another line from the western to the eastern edge.” Huh? Are we talking about IMAGINARY compass points, or does your answer depend upon your actual location in a room?”
Oh, that’s easy.
The guy who is grading the test takes a compass out of his pocket, then marks magnetic north on the test sheet. From there he marks NE, SW, W and E on the test sheet and if your lines match his compass points, you get the question correct.
Really?
In Part “A” of a typical Alabama literacy test, the applicant was given a selection of the Constitution to read aloud. The registrar could assign a long complex section filled with legalese and convoluted sentences, or he could select a simple one or two sentence section. For example, a white applicant might be given:
SECTION 20: That no person shall be imprisoned for debt.
While a Black applicant might be given:
SECTION 260: The income arising from the sixteenth section trust fund, the surplus revenue fund, until it is called for by the United States government, and the funds enumerated in sections 257 and 258 of this Constitution, together with a special annual tax of thirty cents on each one hundred dollars of taxable property in this state, which the legislature shall levy, shall be applied to the support and maintenance of the public schools, and it shall be the duty of the legislature to increase the public school fund from time to time as the necessity therefor and the condition of the treasury and the resources of the state may justify; provided, that nothing herein contained shall be so construed as to authorize the legislature to levy in any one year a greater rate of state taxation for all purposes, including schools, than sixty-five cents on each one hundred dollars’ worth of taxable property; and provided further, that nothing herein contained shall prevent the legislature from first providing for the payment of the bonded indebtedness of the state and interest thereon out of all the revenue of the state.
The Registrar marked each word that in his opinion you mispronounced. In some counties, you had to orally interpret the section to the registrar’s satisfaction. You then had to either copy out by hand a section of the Constitution, or write it down from dictation as the registrar spoke (mumbled) it. White applicants usually were allowed to copy, Black applicants usually had to take dictation. The Registrar then judged whether you were “literate” or “illiterate.” His judgement was final and could not be appealed.
After that, you were given Parts “B” and “C” which were two sets of four written questions that you had to answer.
What is the answer to #28?
30. Draw five circles that one common inter-locking part.
It seems to me that the author of the test a verb.
In Part “A” of a typical Alabama literacy test, the applicant was given a selection of the Constitution to read aloud. The registrar could assign a long complex section filled with legalese and convoluted sentences, or he could select a simple one or two sentence section. For example, a white applicant might be given:
SECTION 20: That no person shall be imprisoned for debt.
While a Black applicant might be given:
SECTION 260: The income arising from the sixteenth section trust fund, the surplus revenue fund, until it is called for by the United States government, and the funds enumerated in sections 257 and 258 of this Constitution, together with a special annual tax of thirty cents on each one hundred dollars of taxable property in this state, which the legislature shall levy, shall be applied to the support and maintenance of the public schools, and it shall be the duty of the legislature to increase the public school fund from time to time as the necessity therefor and the condition of the treasury and the resources of the state may justify; provided, that nothing herein contained shall be so construed as to authorize the legislature to levy in any one year a greater rate of state taxation for all purposes, including schools, than sixty-five cents on each one hundred dollars’ worth of taxable property; and provided further, that nothing herein contained shall prevent the legislature from first providing for the payment of the bonded indebtedness of the state and interest thereon out of all the revenue of the state.
The Registrar marked each word that in his opinion you mispronounced. In some counties, you had to orally interpret the section to the registrar’s satisfaction. You then had to either copy out by hand a section of the Constitution, or write it down from dictation as the registrar spoke (mumbled) it. White applicants usually were allowed to copy, Black applicants usually had to take dictation. The Registrar then judged whether you were “literate” or “illiterate.” His judgement was final and could not be appealed.
After that, you were given Parts “B” and “C” which were two sets of four written questions that you had to answer.
I gotta love your honesty. Not much of that on this thread.
In Part “A” of a typical Alabama literacy test, the applicant was given a selection of the Constitution to read aloud. The registrar could assign a long complex section filled with legalese and convoluted sentences, or he could select a simple one or two sentence section. For example, a white applicant might be given:
SECTION 20: That no person shall be imprisoned for debt.
While a Black applicant might be given:
SECTION 260: The income arising from the sixteenth section trust fund, the surplus revenue fund, until it is called for by the United States government, and the funds enumerated in sections 257 and 258 of this Constitution, together with a special annual tax of thirty cents on each one hundred dollars of taxable property in this state, which the legislature shall levy, shall be applied to the support and maintenance of the public schools, and it shall be the duty of the legislature to increase the public school fund from time to time as the necessity therefor and the condition of the treasury and the resources of the state may justify; provided, that nothing herein contained shall be so construed as to authorize the legislature to levy in any one year a greater rate of state taxation for all purposes, including schools, than sixty-five cents on each one hundred dollars’ worth of taxable property; and provided further, that nothing herein contained shall prevent the legislature from first providing for the payment of the bonded indebtedness of the state and interest thereon out of all the revenue of the state.
The Registrar marked each word that in his opinion you mispronounced. In some counties, you had to orally interpret the section to the registrar’s satisfaction. You then had to either copy out by hand a section of the Constitution, or write it down from dictation as the registrar spoke (mumbled) it. White applicants usually were allowed to copy, Black applicants usually had to take dictation. The Registrar then judged whether you were “literate” or “illiterate.” His judgement was final and could not be appealed.
After that, you were given Parts “B” and “C” which were two sets of four written questions that you had to answer.
In Part “A” of a typical Alabama literacy test, the applicant was given a selection of the Constitution to read aloud. The registrar could assign a long complex section filled with legalese and convoluted sentences, or he could select a simple one or two sentence section. For example, a white applicant might be given:
SECTION 20: That no person shall be imprisoned for debt.
While a Black applicant might be given:
SECTION 260: The income arising from the sixteenth section trust fund, the surplus revenue fund, until it is called for by the United States government, and the funds enumerated in sections 257 and 258 of this Constitution, together with a special annual tax of thirty cents on each one hundred dollars of taxable property in this state, which the legislature shall levy, shall be applied to the support and maintenance of the public schools, and it shall be the duty of the legislature to increase the public school fund from time to time as the necessity therefor and the condition of the treasury and the resources of the state may justify; provided, that nothing herein contained shall be so construed as to authorize the legislature to levy in any one year a greater rate of state taxation for all purposes, including schools, than sixty-five cents on each one hundred dollars’ worth of taxable property; and provided further, that nothing herein contained shall prevent the legislature from first providing for the payment of the bonded indebtedness of the state and interest thereon out of all the revenue of the state.
The Registrar marked each word that in his opinion you mispronounced. In some counties, you had to orally interpret the section to the registrar’s satisfaction. You then had to either copy out by hand a section of the Constitution, or write it down from dictation as the registrar spoke (mumbled) it. White applicants usually were allowed to copy, Black applicants usually had to take dictation. The Registrar then judged whether you were “literate” or “illiterate.” His judgement was final and could not be appealed.
After that, you were given Parts “B” and “C” which were two sets of four written questions that you had to answer.
Actually the innocent are being treated retroactively as guilty, and the "punishment" actually BENEFITS the political heirs of those who committed the crimes. Alice in Wonderland "logic".
Like I said earlier, DIFFERENT tests for different groups are prima facie unfair.
What about the question of whether a literacy test of any sort is unfair, though? That’s a different matter.
Disenfranchised? An interesting concept. The voters of Communist countries were never “disenfranchised”, and the voter turnout there was (is) 99% or so, with no voter fraud as we observe here, and yes, with some choices on the ballots. So what do we gain by allowing those previously “disenfranchised” voters elect the likes of Alcee Hastings? And if he were merely an exception!
Hey, maybe we should have a FR thread literacy test! Like, for example, “how do you avoid repeating the same lengthy boiler plate verbage in four replies?”
I think an earlier poster put his finger on it when he asked if this test was given to everyone or just used in black precincts. I’m an EE and I thought several of the questions were tricky. They were either written by idiots or intentionally unclear. I was able to parse them but I could easily imagine less educated people getting tripped up. The test probably would have flunked 90% of rural blacks. For that matter it probably would have flunked 40% of average whites. Which makes me suspect it was given only to blacks.
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