Take the Impossible “Literacy” Test Louisiana Gave Black Voters in the 1960s

Slate ^ | June 28, 2013

[the OlLine Rebel]

Tests should always be given. It’s outrageous how we allow so many ignorant and stupid people to vote, especially when they’re on welfare instead of paying taxes.

[Nervous Tick]

I’m worried for you if you couldn’t get a passing score on that test in 5 minutes, let alone 10.

[IllumiNaughtyByNature]

The writer does know that by 1964 the Louisiana Governor and state senate were all controlled by RATS for over 20+ years up to, and beyond that point?

[Nervous Tick]

>> Not much different from what a gun purchaser has to go through to exercise his second amendment rights

PROFOUND STATEMENT.

[andyk]

So, what’re your thoughts on this?

[Nervous Tick]

>> How do you draw a line around a letter?

You draw a curved line.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

one hundred years ago a literacy question for blacks was...”How many bubbles are there in a bar of soap?”

[PghBaldy]

then they shouldn’t have to register for the draft, either.

[cripplecreek]

Easy answers to screwy questions.

[Nervous Tick]

>> I suspect it had just as much to do with who was grading the tests.

Yeah, that’s the real issue. There are enough places where a grader with a mind to mess with the test-taker could do so, easily.

[mrsmith]

Ah, the ‘non sequitur uber alles’ technique...

Liberal propgandists love it.

[re_nortex]

I wonder what we gain by having illiterate people vote.

The result of fools being allowed to vote is clearly evident: Obama.

Tom Tancredo was right when he spoke at the 2010 Tea Party Convention in Nashville about the need for a literacy test. Personally, I'm more hard line than Tancredo, favoring voting only for military members and property owners. A careful reading of the intent of the Founding Fathers reveals that the voting free-for-all that we have now is just plain wrong.

[andyk]

If the original poster chimes in, I’ll agree with you.

[Puppage]

It’s the south so...it’s powerful bad.

[OldNewYork]

The test says that anyone with a 5th grade education is excused from taking the test. I can see how this test would be impossible for someone who lacked the equivalent reading comprehension. Maybe that’s why we don’t let 5th graders vote.

[Greetings_Puny_Humans]

“I wonder what we gain by having illiterate people vote.”

---

Communism.

[SoothingDave]

Ok. So. Write forwards, backwards.

What is your answer?

[yarddog]

I once worked as a claims rep for the Social Security Adm.

I was trying to establish the age of an old Black guy who was filing. He said he had attended grammar school in Mississippi.

This would have been around the 1910-15 era. I checked and saw that school records for Mississippi Black schools were available so ordered several. I was frankly amazed at the quality of the records. They were excellent.

[sakic]

I would bet a lot of money (if only there was a way to prove it) that less than half of America could take the test and get none of it wrong.

[yarddog]

I only looked at the first 10 or so questions. They struck me as not very hard but really strange.