Racial Disparity Does Not Mean Racial Discrimination

Writer LaShawn Barber wrote an op-ed challenging critics of voter ID for turning the voter ID issue into a racial issue.  Barber points out a critical flaw in voter ID critics’ arguments:  “a racial disparity is not evidence of racial discrimination.” These laws do not single out black voters, or any other specific race.

Barber’s op-ed raises some legitimate questions:

What is preventing these “voters of color” from acquiring a photo ID card? In what way are they different from their “White counterparts”? These are the kind of questions every black American should be asking, not just a handful that includes me. Where is the righteous indignation at being portrayed as helpless children? The only people who should take issue with voter ID laws are those who intend to perpetrate a fraud. No responsible, law-abiding citizen should have any problem with such laws.

So what’s the reason for pulling out the race card?  Barber offers a reason:

It doesn’t take a rocket surgeon to figure out why liberals engage in such hyperbole and condescension. Ninety percent of black voters choose Democrats, and if portraying them as eternally oppressed victims of racism and bias gets them to the polls, so be it.

Democrats are causing an uproar over voter ID to shamefully serve their own electoral ends.