CNN Asks Andrew Young If Having Black President 'Reignites Old Prejudices'
CNN stoked fears that new voter ID laws might hark back to the days
of Jim Crow. Monday marked the anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, and
CNN's Zoraida Sambolin used that to discuss whether the new laws might
"suppress the minority vote."
"Do you think that having an African-American president is actually
reigniting some of these old prejudices?" she asked former Ambassador
Andrew Young who helped draft the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
Sambolin interviewed Young and activist Martin Luther King III, who
dodged her attempts to get them to talk about racial and political
implications in the laws.
"But there are concerns about the African-American turnout, as we've
been talking about. Do you think the low turnout could hurt the
president?" she asked Young.
[Video below. Audio here.]
And Sambolin injected race into the conversation from the beginning.
"With America's first black president up for reelection this November,
the conversation about voting rights has been reignited. 30 states are
currently enforcing some form of voter ID law which many civil rights
advocates say is an effort to suppress the minority vote," she began her
report.
CNN has been hitting the new voter ID laws lately, asking Democratic-friendly groups like La Raza about underlying racial and political motives.
A transcript of the segment, which aired on Starting Point on August 6 at 7:11 a.m. EDT, is as follows:
[7:11]
ZORAIDA SAMBOLIN: Today marks the 57th anniversary of the Voting Rights
Act, signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on August 6th,
1965.
(Video Clip)
LYNDON B. JOHNSON, (D) former U.S. president: The vote is the most
powerful instrument ever devised by man, for breaking down injustice and
destroying the terrible laws which imprison men because they are
different from other men. Today, what is perhaps the last of the legal
barriers is tumbling, and there will be many actions and many
difficulties before the rights woven into law are also woven into the
fabric of our nation.
(End Video Clip)
SAMBOLIN: With America's first black president up for reelection this
November, the conversation about voting rights has been reignited. 30
states are currently enforcing some form of voter ID law which many
civil rights advocates say is an effort to suppress the minority vote.
And joining me are Martin Luther King III, president and CEO of the
King Center and oldest son of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., as well as
former U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young who helped draft the Voting Rights
Act of 1965. He is issuing an open letter to America today to mark its
anniversary. Thank you so much gentlemen for joining me this morning.
Ambassador, I would like to start with you because you were there to
witness history, you were present for the signing. America, we're
wondering whether it has made any progress. What do you think the
challenges are or continue to be?
Ambassador ANDREW YOUNG, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations:
We've made enormous progress, but what happens is we still don't have
the majority of Americans participating in the election. Less than a
third of the American population will even bother to vote. And there's
something wrong with that. That -- the voting rights problem has been
replaced by financial problems. And that now it's not who has the most
votes but who gets the most money. And that has totally distorted our
problem.
And we need to revise this Voting Rights Act to do something more along
the order of some of our European or Israeli friends. They make voting
mandatory and they vote on weekends when everybody can vote. And America
can't be – I think we're number 139 in terms of percentage turnout of
democratic nations. And we're supposed to be the leader of the free
world.
SAMBOLIN: There is a lot of apathy. Mr. King, if you can tell me about
this effort now, what you're doing, what it's all about and why we
should care. Why are we talking about this this morning?
MARTIN LUTHER KING III, president and CEO, The King Center: My dad used
to say that a vote-less people is powerless people. And one of the most
important steps that we can take is the short step to the ballot box.
This is the greatest democracy on the planet, and as Ambassador Young
said, out of 170 plus countries we're number 138. That is unacceptable.
We have got to find a way to make sure that access and opportunity is
available for all people. And by virtue of the fact that there are
nearly 30 states or a little bit more who have passed laws that might be
perceived as restricting voting, I'm kind of disappointed that 47 years
after the Voting Rights (sic) was signed on this day, that there may be
some Americans who may not be able to vote because of what is perceived
as some restrictions.
So part of what we're doing is a campaign to educate and inform the
public. And this is not partisan. This is not about one party. This is
not about a candidate. This is far bigger than any candidate. This is
for every American to be able to participate and have access in this
most important process that my dad and others gave their lives so that
we may have.
SAMBOLIN: Mr. King, you were talking about these restrictive voter ID
laws so I want to put some information up for our viewers. It's a recent
study from Brennan Center for Justice, and it says that in ten states
that have passed restrictive voter ID laws since 2008, it could be more
difficult for as many as 5 million voters to cast their ballot. What is
the reaction to the claims about voter suppression?
YOUNG: Let me say to that that I just turned 80 years old. I was born
in New Orleans. Now they tell me when I want to get my driver's license
renewed, I have to have a whole raft of papers. I'm not sure I know
where those papers are and I can't go all the way back to New Orleans to
get them. It's just more and more cumbersome to vote. And that's not
the direction in which a democracy should be moving.
SAMBOLIN: Well you have this awesome perspective -- congratulations on
the 80 years of age. Do you think that having an African-American
president is actually reigniting some of these old prejudices?
YOUNG: I would rather say that we have a very divided nation on the way
in which we should go. And frankly, I think we would have that divided
nation if everybody was the same color. And so I would rather keep color
out of it and say which direction do we want the country to move in?
And I think the same thing is true with voting rights. Voting rights
was a racial problem in 1965. Now it's a problem of voter participation
for the elderly, for young, for college students. And the difficulties
that make our vote less and less important because of the billions of
dollars that are going into elections -- we will spend more money per
vote on this election than any other election in our history.
And the next president, whomever that is, needs to change that and
needs to make it possible for a citizens vote to count. And so next year
on August the 6th, we hope to be in Washington talking to the next
president about straightening out this voting procedure once and for
all. First of all, it ought not be on a Tuesday in November. Chris Rock
says if you want to have a party and don't want anybody to come, have it
on a Tuesday in November.
(Laughter)
YOUNG: But we can vote on weekends. Many countries vote on weekends and
they get 80, 90 percent turnout. It's embarrassing for America to have
less than a third of the people and usually that means that about 15
percent of the people elect the president. And he doesn't have a
mandate, whoever he is, because you've got so many people frustrated on
the other side because they did not have a place and they did not have a
voice. We've got to give every American a voice in the election of our
president.
SAMBOLIN: I'm sorry to interrupt you, and I know you don't want to
break this down along racial lines, but Mr. King, I want to bring you
back into this election. In 2008 President Obama took the black vote,
and right now in the latest Gallup poll President Obama is crushing
Romney among black voters, 87 percent to 5 percent. But there are
concerns about the African-American turnout, as we've been talking
about. Do you think the low turnout could hurt the president?
KING: Well, think the low turnout does not just impact the president,
it impacts the whole process. And the reality is the goal should be to
create the climate for everyone to participate, and, as Ambassador Young
has said, to make it as easy as possible, not to make it as complicated
as possible, so that seniors, so that students, so that maybe those who
are immigrants who are legitimate cannot vote. The goal is to make sure
that everyone has access.
SAMBOLIN: Ambassador Andrew Young, Martin Luther King III, thank you so
much gentlemen for joining us this morning. We appreciate the dialogue
and the perspective.
VELSHI: Andrew Young, not only 80 years old, and really accomplished.
Delta has named a plane after him to celebrate his 80th birthday.
Obviously he's a great Atlanta and Georgia presence.
