Black Leaders Unite to Voice Support for Voter ID Laws

(USA Features) Several current and former black leaders joined in an op-ed to voice their support for strengthening voter ID laws following the chaotic 2020 election which was viewed as problematic by tens of millions of voters.

“America is a country of over 300 million people. We are comprised of every shape, size, nationality, and opinion. This diversity has proven to be one of our greatest strengths,” the coalition of black leaders including U.S. Rep. Burgess Owens, former Florida Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll, former Texas state Rep. James Earl Wright, and former mayor of Cincinnati and U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Commission on Human Rights Ken Blackwell, at RealClearPolitics.

“However, if you listened to largely white liberal media personalities and elite CEOs, you wouldn’t know this. According to liberal orthodoxy, all Blacks think alike, and all Blacks support Black Lives Matter, and all Blacks oppose the recently enacted Georgia Election Integrity Act,” they added.

In particular, the coalition cited a Rasmussen Reports survey that recently found 69% of blacks and 82% of nonwhite minorities are in favor of voter ID. Also, the group cited a separate poll by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper that found two-thirds of blacks in the state of Georgia support voter ID even after the passage of a controversial law that Democrats say discriminates against minorities after it strengthened voter identification laws, among other things.

“This shouldn’t be surprising. Blacks know the value of the right to vote. We struggled to win that right in a country that for too long treated us as second-class citizens. We shed our blood so we could partake in American elections just like every other American citizen,” the coalition wrote.

“We want to make sure that sacred right to vote, and the integrity of those elections, are protected. It’s clear that most Blacks support voter ID, and it’s obvious why we do so,” the group added.

“Why then do opportunistic activists like Stacey Abrams pretend the entire Black community stands behind them and the radical Democrat Party? Why do they pretend that Black people are either opposed to voter ID or, even more offensively, that Blacks are incapable of obtaining IDs?” they noted further.

“The answer is in part because the elites, most of whom are white, have enabled them, taking it upon themselves to determine who the “leaders” of the Black community are and ignoring anyone else who suggests differently,” the coalition wrote.

The coalition went on to advise corporations to stop relying solely on the voices of Abrams, “and Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton before her” because they don’t represent anyone in the black community other than their members.

“You can’t board a plane without an ID. You can’t pick up a package from a UPS distribution center without an ID. You can’t buy alcohol without an ID. And you definitely can’t visit President Biden in the White House without an ID. Is that racist? Of course it isn’t,” the coalition added.