West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin
When I think about West Virginia Senator, Joe Manchin, and how the voting rights
of people of color are under attack by various conservative-leaning state
legislatures, I’m reminded of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s hallowed
epistle, Letter from a Birmingham Jail. “I must confess that over the past few years
I have been gravely disappointed with the White moderate, he wrote in the 1963
note. “I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great
stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Council-er
or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the White moderate, who is more devoted to ‘order’
than to justice, who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a
positive peace which is the presence of justice.” Manchin is one of those moderates
who refuses to vote for the “For the People Act” to expand voting rights and he is
also a tenacious supporter of the Senate filibuster which is often used by
Republicans to block progressive legislation.
In an op-ed published in the Charleston Gazette-Mail newspaper, Manchin argued
that abolishing the filibuster in order to pass the “For the People Act” would
weaken democracy because the vote would not be bipartisan. Manchin went on to
argue that when Republicans are in power, they will use this same tactic to pass
legislation with no Democratic votes. He references how the voting rights act has
been reauthorized several times with bipartisan support. However, he fails to
mention how the Supreme Court, in the 2013 Shelby County v. Holder decision,
ruled that the jurisdiction identified by the coverage formula in Section 4(b) no
longer needed to seek preclearance for the new voting changes, unless they are
covered by a separate court order entered under Section 3(c) of the Voting Rights
Act. In effect, the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act.
These are tools that must be used to protect the rights of people of color to vote. In
almost every state in the union, republican state legislators are putting forth laws
that make it more difficult to vote. What’s equally as disturbing as the voter
suppression laws being enacted by Republicans is the fact that these laws are built
on a LIE. Former President, Donald Trump, claimed that the election of 2020 was
stolen. Trump claims he won the election and that due to rapid voter fraud, he and
his supporters have been denied their true claim to victory.
Trump’s claim has been litigated in courts and investigated incessantly. There have
even been multiple recounts in multiple states and every time the recounts have
been completed, they reaffirm that Joe Biden is the winner. Reasonable, fair-
minded, and objective observers of facts, if they are honest, cannot deny the
legitimate election of Joe Biden by most of the American voters and the electoral
college. What’s more, many Republicans have gone on record conceding this fact.
The danger in telling a lie, perpetuating a lie, and then crafting policy in response
to a lie, is that it legitimizes the disinformation that’s been fed to Trump’s
followers.
All of this should be enough for every politician who cares about democracy and
the fairness of US elections to be taken seriously, to support legislation that would
protect the voting process. Manchin claims he will only move forward to protect
voting rights if he can do it with bipartisan agreement. He suggests that democracy
is fragile and that the country is divided. What’s astounding is that most people in
this country believe that protection from voter suppression is necessary now.
However, the Republicans have shown no interest in bipartisanship to protect
voting rights. More to the point, they are the ones creating policy to disenfranchise
the voters that they can’t count on at the ballot box – people of color - and to
reduce them to the foolish days of brown paper bag and passing literacy tests to
vote.
The notion that Manchin believes - the same people who refuse to approve a
commission for the January 6 insurrection, the same people who support Donald
Trump by any means necessary - the same people who support unhinged, fringe,
so-called politicians like Marjorie Taylor Green, are going to suddenly see the
light, and vote with righteousness, is absurd.
Is Joe Manchin, the kind of white moderate that Dr. King warned us about nearly
60 years ago? Is he the munchkin of a man that Trump once teased that he was in a
Tweet? Or can he stand tall as a white moderate who believes in equality for all?
Manchin is as a Democrat in a ruby red state, so I know he has to do what a
moderate’s got to do to hold on to his office in a conservative state. But, damn,
c’mon. As it relates to not voting for the “For the People Act” unless it has
bipartisan support is quite small-minded since he claims he’s representing the
interests of his constituents. But, according to recent polls conducted by Global
Strategy Group and ALG Research, 79% percent of West Virginians support the
“For the People Act. So, what gives here?
Manchin has also refused to change the rules of the filibuster or get rid of the
filibuster all together in order to pass voting rights protection. History teaches us
that the filibuster was not the intent of the framers of the Constitution. The
filibuster was actually stumbled upon mistakenly and has been weaponized to
block civil rights legislation. The filibuster is a relic of the Jim Crow era, and it
should vanish just like voting opportunities are. However, white moderates, like
Joe Manchin, tend to romanticize institutional processes even when it’s clear that
those processes are being used to harm marginalized folks.
As we think about what is at stake, let’s be clear, Republican state legislatures
across the country have passed or are working to pass laws that will restrict access
to voting. The majority of those impacted by these laws will be black, brown, and
poor people. By not doing what’s in his power to do, Manchin is being the
munchkin Trump called him. He’s the swing vote in the Senate. He’s holding at
least half the deck of cards and now it’s time for him to deal the dark and
downtrodden in by pushing this voting rights through.
In 2021, The white supremacists who want to harm minorities are clear about it.
We know who those domestic terrorists are. They march with tiki torches, they ram
protestors with cars, and they call the January 6 th raid on the US capital patriotism.
But as Dr. King suggested, those are not the people that we really must worry
about because they’re honest about who they are. The ones who are most
dangerous, are the ones who will march in a Black Lives Matter rally, the ones
who will say I’m a Democrat, the ones who will say I support minorities; but won’t
do what is in their power to do to protect those people. Is this who Joe Manchin
might be?