Cal Thomas aims his latest column at the U.S. Justice Department’s perplexing decision to oppose South Carolina’s new voter identification law:
Justice says the law discriminates against minorities. The Obama administration said, “South Carolina’s law didn’t meet the burden under the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which outlawed discriminatory practices preventing blacks from voting.”
Why South Carolina? Because, the Justice Department contends, it’s tasked with approving voting changes in states that have failed in the past to protect the rights of blacks.
Are they serious?
There are two African-Americans representing South Carolina in the U.S. House of Representatives, One is Tim Scott, a freshman Republican. The other is 10-term Rep. James Clyburn, the current assistant Democratic leader.
There are numerous minority members of the S.C. state legislature, and Gov. Nikki Haley is Indian-American. This is not your grandfather’s South Carolina. This is not the South Carolina of the then-segregationist and Dixiecrat presidential candidate Strom Thurmond.
Yesterday’s South Carolina had segregated schools, lunch counters, restrooms and buses, and a dominant Democratic Party. Today’s South Carolina is a modern, integrated, forward-looking, dual-party state.
If Justice thinks proving who one is by showing valid photo ID discriminates against minorities, how does it explain the election of so many minority legislators? Are only whites voting for them?
