They’ve Never Wanted You to Vote

Notes from America with Kai Wright

WNYC Studios

News Commentary, Politics, History, News

4.4 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 26 October 2020

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Voting is a hallmark of our democracy, but it is not guaranteed for any American citizen. Visit WNYC/ Gothamist’s “2020 Voter Guide For New York And New Jersey” to make a plan and if you live outside of NY and NJ, visit vote.org for information about how you can safely vote this year. This week, Senior editor Christopher Werth brings us a story about the not-so-secret legal crusade against the Voting Rights Act, led by law firms representing the Republican Party and the Trump campaign. And with Election season coming to an end, Historian Dr. Carol Anderson joins us for a conversation about how American voters, particularly Black Americans, had fought and continue to fight for their right to participate in the democratic process - safely and with certainty that their votes will count. Dr. Anderson is a Charles Howard Candler Professor of African American Studies at Emory University and author of several books including “White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Nation's Divide” (2016).

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Kywright and this is the United States of anxiety, a show about the unfinished business
0:06.2	of our history and its grip on our future.
0:08.8	The purpose of this law is simple.
0:11.0	There are those who are equal before God shall now also be equal in the polling
0:16.3	news. The bill is passed. Without objection.
0:20.3	Disenfranchisement did not mean that Action.
0:23.0	Disenfranchisement did not mean that black women sat down and waited for enlightenment when it came to voting rights.
0:30.0	Socially distanced voters snaking for blocks in Georgia, Texas, South Carolina, and North Carolina.
0:36.6	They don't want you voting in person.
0:38.2	They don't want you voting early.
0:39.5	It's a matter of a violation of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendment.
0:45.0	And what I'm curious to see, do the Constitution of the United States mean anything? I voted yesterday in person. It was the first day of early voting here in New York and
1:02.0	actually our first time voting early voting here in New York and actually our first time
1:03.1	voting early in a presidential election at all. We've not had that option. It's one of the
1:08.0	changes that came out of a new progressive state legislature that swept into
1:12.0	office a couple years ago,
1:13.0	so it was kind of an event, you know, I mean, tens of thousands of people
1:17.0	lined up outside places like Madison Square Garden
1:20.0	and the
1:23.2	Brooklyn Museum drumline even turned up at the Barclays Center.
1:25.0	They of course killed it on Twitter. So there was a sweet novelty to it all.
1:39.4	But also, there was real emotion.
	...

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