A brief history is in order. Black suffrage was a tool of white supremacy before the Civil War. During the 1860s, in a New York State election, people voted against black suffrage.

 White behavior will make you go, hmmmmmm WTF. How many free Africans lived in NY in 1860? Out of a NYC population of 7,000,  1,600 were of African descent and most of them were slaves. I guess the thinking was “Shit, let the 100 black folks vote and they will take over everything and fuck it up for us.”

The 15th Amendment to the Constitution guaranteed Americans the right to vote in 1870. They signed it into law after the Civil War. It was up to Congress to enforce the law with legislation.

 How is that working out? 

  Led by freed men and women ex-slaves aligned with white allies in the south, to sweep Republicans into power. Just think about that for a moment. The civil war ended 5 years earlier and ex-slaves were exercising their right to vote. Most were illiterate but understood the power of the vote after being “free” for only 5 years. Let no one try to diminish our understanding of the power of the vote!

 How did America react to our proving we understood more than we let on? Compromise legislation between the former Slave States and the federal government for votes freed up the South to terrorize free African Americans while they denied our right to vote. America turned its back and looked the other way.

 We passed the first Civil Rights Act in 1957,  87 years after the 15th Amendment authorizing prosecution for those who violated the right to vote for United States citizens.

 The assault on our right to vote continues and now it's approaching 150 years. Marinate on that. States like Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina gerrymandered districts to restrict the voting impact of African Americans. They will do whatever it takes to keep people of color at arm’s length, including creating an illusion of voting fraud, gerrymandering districts, and whatever else it takes to make the voting process more restrictive. Nothing has changed for us when it comes to voting!