Democrats in the Texas State Assembly flee the capital, Austin, in a dramatic way to resist the Republican election law reform. Similar moves have been implemented or are being implemented in at least a dozen states across the United States, and their state assemblies are all controlled by Republicans. The purpose of amending the election law is not bad, including preventing election fraud and ensuring the integrity and fairness of the electoral process. The problem is that these possible errors are based on imagination, and the actual election operations at the federal and state levels in the United States have not occurred systematically. Fraud. According to the current plans of many states, the actual result is to raise the threshold for voting, especially in the links of voter registration, identification documents, mail voting, and early voting.
All these adjustments are unlikely to have any impact on my participation in voting, but a small number of voters will be hindered because of this. They may not have flexible working hours, convenient transportation, basic competent language skills, and they may not necessarily live in race. The two coasts or metropolitan areas where the relationship is more inclusive.
The movie "Selma" (2014) provides a historical sample for understanding the struggle of American citizens to exercise their right to vote. The story took place in the early 1960s when the civil rights movement was gradually unfolding in the South. At the beginning of the film, Annie, a black nurse played by Oprah Winfrey, went to the Alabama court to complete the voter registration. The "race" column of the application form was filled in with "Negro", which is no longer used because of discrimination.
She seemed to need a deep breath to gather courage and walked to the registration window holding the form.
The white registrar set the first obstacle through psychological suggestion, "You work for Mr. Dunn in the nursing home, right?"
Annie: "Yes".
White registrar: "If I tell Mr. Dunn that his nurse is causing trouble here, I don't know what he will say."
Annie: "I don't want to cause any trouble, I just want to complete the voter registration."
Next, the registrar asked Anne to recite the preamble of the U.S. Constitution. I have a little knowledge of American politics and history, but I can only say "We The People of the United States" at the beginning of the preamble. The rest of the content can be said roughly and cannot be accurately recited. The ability to memorize routes, guidelines, policies, and plans as a student in China has been basically lost in the United States. Basically, the “paraphrase” (paraphrase) is clear here, and no standard text is needed.
Annie can, she recited the complete constitutional preamble word by word, "We the people of the United States, in order to build a more perfect alliance, establish justice, guarantee domestic tranquility, provide common defense, and promote public welfare...".
The white clerk knew that there was no problem with Annie's complete recitation, so she immediately interrupted her and set up new obstacles, "How many county-level judges are there in Alabama?"
Annie took another deep breath and replied, "67."
The white clerk immediately asked, "Their name?"
Who can remember the names of 67 county judges? Anne was therefore unable to complete the voter registration.
This kind of trouble is not easy to see in the country, because it is not known who actually participated in voter registration. But imagine if a couple go to the Civil Affairs Bureau to obtain a marriage certificate, and the clerk suddenly asks, how many members are there in the Politburo? A few young people who are particularly familiar with national events may know the answer "25". But what if the clerk then asks to recite the names of all members, otherwise the marriage certificate cannot be obtained? China will surely have a large area of late marriage and late childbirth.
Annie may have grown up in the United States for several generations. She has to go through the hardships of climbing snow-capped mountains and grass to complete the voter registration. I emigrated as an adult but I did the same thing as catching fish in a bucket. The voter registration form in Maryland has only one page. It is very simple to fill in, including basic information such as age, whether or not to be a U.S. citizen, gender, date of birth, home address, contact information, etc. What caught my attention is the ninth item of the form, "Party". The explanatory text reads "In order to participate in the primary elections and party conventions, you must complete the registration." There is no need for an introducer, a long evaluation period, and repeated thought reports. Tick one of the 5 options of "With other parties" and you will be included in the party. After the form is mailed, I will receive a confirmation letter from the Maryland Election Commission. Since then, I have become a registered voter and have the right to vote in federal, state, and local political elections. The process is simple and convenient.
The difficulty of registering Annie's voters and the ease of registering voters for new immigrants can be summarized in the roughest way. The historic efforts of decades of civil rights, equal rights, and suffrage movements have played a key role. Geographical factors are also very important. The metropolitan area where liberals gather is very different from the rural areas in the south. In response to the election law reforms carried out by the Republican Party at the state level, Democrats, including Biden, responded with "reversing history". Some say that this is going to retreat to the Jim Crow era when apartheid was promoted in the South, and some people say that it is going to retreat to the American Civil War in the 1860s. In the movie "Selma", Martin Luther King and others lead The power gained by Anne’s brave resistance may shrink slightly.
View more about Selma reviews
