Thread: Rick Perry Says Eric Holder 'Poll Tax' Comments Aimed To 'Incite Racial Tension,' Ask

Rick Perry Says Eric Holder 'Poll Tax' Comments Aimed To 'Incite Racial Tension,' Asks For Obama Apology

July 18, 2012
Gene Demby
Huffington Post

Texas Gov. Rick Perry said that Attorney General Eric Holder's remarks last week calling his state's voter ID laws "poll taxes" were an attempt to incite racial tension and called on President Barack Obama to repudiate them.

"In labeling the Texas voter ID law as a 'poll tax,' Eric Holder purposefully used language designed to inflame passions and incite racial tension," Perry wrote in a statement. "It was not only inappropriate, but simply incorrect on its face."

The Republican governor called the law "common sense" and said the president should apologize for Holder's insulting comments.

Holder made the comments last week during the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's annual conference in New Orleans. The attorney general said, "Many of those without IDs would have to travel great distances to get them -- and some would struggle to pay for the documents they might need to obtain them."

"We call those poll taxes," Holder had said to applause. The "poll tax" part of his comments were not part of his original script.

Perry's statement comes just days after closing arguments in a federal case that will determine whether the Lone Star State's new voter ID law violates the Voting Rights Act.

In the Jim Crow South, poll taxes were one tactic commonly used to keep blacks from voting. Towns would arbitrarily impose taxes on people pursuing their right to vote. By 1904, every former Confederate state had put in place some form of poll tax. Coupled with literacy tests, which disqualified black voters for a single wrong answer but did not penalize whites, poll taxes were part of a system of widespread disenfranchisement in the South.

Practices like these prompted civil rights groups to push for the Voting Rights Act, which prevented states from placing onerous burdens on citizens pursuing their right to vote. As part of the act, certain states and jurisdictions that were deemed to have a history of disenfranchising voters must obtain federal approval from the Justice Department before making changes to their election rules.

In recent years, Republican-led legislatures across the country have passed voter ID laws, which require voters to show official identification at the polls. Proponents of the laws say they prevent election fraud.

But critics point out that election fraud is exceedingly rare and that such laws may have the result of turning away thousands of people who are otherwise eligible to vote. "The impact of ID requirements is even greater for the elderly, students, people with disabilities, low-income individuals, and people of color," according to a report for the Brennan Center for Justice, a nonpartisan voting rights institute at New York University.

Members of those groups, particularly blacks, Hispanics and college students, tend to vote for Democrats.

Rick Perry Says Eric Holder 'Poll Tax' Comments Aimed To 'Incite Racial Tension,' Asks For Obama Apology

I've only heard "poll tax" twice lately. Before Holder said it I asked a friend of mine with a smile on my face, "Is this the poll tax returning?" He respoonded, "Looks like it." There our conversation came to an end. Other than those two times I heard anything of it after Holder said it. (I know black, white, native American, asian Americans, none have mentioned it) Appears to me Perry is the one trying to ratlle cages.

Got to agree with Perry on this one, Holder is trying to anger the base, clearly trying to fire up minorities on voting,this administration has caused more racial tension then any I've seen in my life time.

I agree with 'oldguy'. Obama and his minions are so quick to play the race card you know they have most of them up their sleeves. Rather than unify the country, Obama and his handlers clearly understand the only way he can win re-election is to divide and conquer; pit us against one another while appealing to the fringe groups that constitute Obama's real base.

The best way to beat him (my opinion) is to keep reminding everyone of the Obama record on the economy; the total number of jobs lost vs created; the number of jobs sent off-shore since 2008; the attacks on the energy industry and the resulting effects on unemployment, manufacturing, trade deficits, etc; failure of the Administration to enforce immigration laws and the effect on the economy, deficit, and national debt; and the administration's out of control spending with the resulting effect on jobs, economic growth, standard of living, and debt sustainability.Create a giant clock (like the doomsday clock the anti-nuke folks love to use to show how close we are to the world ending), only instead of nuclear holocaust it will be the national debt holocaust with specific dates for ending Social Security, Medicare, Welfare, Food Stamps, etc. if we continue to proceed in the current direction with no curtailment of spending.

On another note:

Practices like these prompted civil rights groups to push for the Voting Rights Act, which prevented states from placing onerous burdens on citizens pursuing their right to vote. As part of the act, certain states and jurisdictions that were deemed to have a history of disenfranchising voters must obtain federal approval from the Justice Department before making changes to their election rules.

It is about time for this portion of the Voting Rights Act to come to an end. It should be apparent how a racist administration, such as Obama's, can use this to promote voter fraud while undermining the value of the votes cast by citizens legally entitled to vote.

We are facing the most important election of my life time and the choice is between Capitalism or Socialism/Marxism. Many of the safe guards I naively thought were in place failed America we're fast moving in the direction of third world countries and yes I too once thought it was impossible.