More than 80 percent of the population of Detroit
is black. This is very well understood by John Pappageorge, who is
white and a Republican state legislator in Michigan. "If we do not
suppress the Detroit vote," said Mr. Pappageorge, "we're going to have
a tough time in this election." Oops! Republicans aren't supposed to
actually say they want to suppress black votes. That's so retro. It's
so Jim Crow. This is the 21st century, and the thing now is to do the
dastardly deed, but never ever acknowledge it. That's where our friend
Pappageorge went wrong. After his startling quote was published several
weeks ago in The Detroit Free Press, Mr. Pappageorge, who is 73,
apologized and said he certainly never meant to suggest that anything
racist or illegal take place. But he reiterated to me in a phone
conversation last Friday that he did indeed mean that the vote in
Detroit needed to be kept down. A lot of other Republicans have similar
views about the vote in areas with large African-American populations.
Most blacks vote Democratic. If those votes can be suppressed,
Republicans benefit. [more ]
Article originally appeared on (http://brownwatch.com/).
See website for complete article licensing information.
]