"Oh, sugar, did you ever hit the nail on the head."
"What?" asked Squid-boy.
I waved it away. "Nothing. It's just an expression. I mean, you asked the right question. And the answer is tied up in why the rich want to keep the poor divided. That's why. Because if they united and voted together as a block, they could get the corrupt politicians out of office and replace them with some who would represent the interests of the majority. But by stirring up all the little conflicts that divide people, the rich keep that from happening."
"But, surely, there must be enough people who don't fall for this type of manipulation coupled with the people who are victims of it that they could still form a majority," said Yax.
I nodded. "In a lot of places, there are. But, like I said, the people in power aren't stupid. They've put up barriers to keep a lot of the people who would vote against them from being able to vote."
"How?" asked Squid-boy.
"Well, it goes back to our history, again, and gets pretty complicated."
He gestured with one of his arms for me to continue.
Closing my eyes, I gathered my thoughts. "When the country was founded, it was only light skinned, land-owning men who could vote. But, as time went on, more people got the right to vote¾light skinned men who didn't own land, darker skinned men, and then finally women. It's actually been less than a hundred years since women got the right to vote. But just because people have the right to vote, that doesn't mean it's easy.
"First you have to register to vote, which is one place that those in power can put up obstacles. In the past they've had 'poll taxes,' which were fees you had to pay in order to register to vote. Now, that's illegal, but they have other tricks. Part of the Jim Crow laws I was telling you about earlier were things like 'reading tests' and 'civics tests' that people had to pass in order to vote. People would have to either read a passage or answer some basic questions about our government. It sounds good in theory, but the people who ran the registration offices would cheat to allow only the people they wanted to vote to register.
"People with lighter skin would be given simple, basic sentences to read or asked questions that were common knowledge, like who was the first President of our country. But people with darker colored skin would be given long, complicated things to read that were often in languages other than English. Or they'd be asked much harder, esoteric questions, like what do articles III and V of the Constitution of the United States establish? There's an answer, but unless someone is a Constitutional scholar, they probably won't know what that answer is. It was a sneaky way to prevent people with darker skin from being able to vote."
"Is this still going on?" asked Yax.
I wagged my hand back and forth. "Yes and no. It's not going on in that form, anymore, because those kinds of things have been made illegal. But there are other things that are happening that are done for the same reason and have the same effect. They're a bit more subtle, though."
"What things?" asked Squid-boy.
"Well, for one thing, there're voter ID laws. It varies from place to place, but some of the laws are just blatant attempts to keep people who are poor, who are often also people with darker skin, from voting."
"These laws require one to have identification in order to vote?" asked Squid-boy.
I nodded. "Yep. Sounds reasonable, doesn't it?"
He blinked at me. "It does. But I have the feeling that something about these laws is not what it seems at first glance."
"Yep, you got that right, Squid-boy. First, the laws generally specify only certain IDs that will be accepted. Usually, they are things like a driver's license that most upper and middle-income people have. But people who are poor, especially if they live in an urban area with mass transportation systems, might not have that type of ID. Add to that the fact that the IDs are often expensive and can only be obtained at certain designated facilities, which are often not located in or near neighborhoods where poor people live, and you have a real barrier for people who don't have a lot of money. Also, the facilities where these IDs can be obtained are only open during the hours that most people work, so if someone needs one they generally have to take time away from their job to get it.
"Which means if a poor person from one of these neighborhoods wants to vote, they have to take time off work, which might get them fired; travel on mass transit, possibly for hours; stand in line, possibly for hours; pay more money than they likely have; and then travel all the way back to their home. So, it's not really surprising that many of these people decide it's just easier not to vote, is it?"
Yax shook his head. "No, that's not surprising, at all. Inevitable, really."
I nodded. "Yep. And then there're the laws in some places that forbid people who have been convicted of a crime from voting. Like I already told you, there are a lot of laws that deliberately target poor people and people with darker skin, so those populations are disproportionately affected by restrictions like this. And you also have to take into account the fact that election days are always on Tuesdays, which is the middle of the work week for most people, and waiting in line to vote can take hours in some places. Especially in places where poor people live."
"So, the people who are least likely to have flexibility in their job schedules or bosses who will be understanding if they are late to work or have to leave early, have to figure out some way to get to their polling places, which can be quite a distance from where they live and work, before the voting closes and without it resulting in them getting fired. Because most of those people are one or two paychecks away from being homeless, so they can't afford to risk losing their jobs. Oh, and they also have to figure out how to make sure their family gets their dinner and is taken care of while they're stuck standing in line for hours."
Squid-boy stood staring at nothing for a few heartbeats. It seemed like he was thinking, so I waited for him to speak. After a while, he blinked, drew himself up to his full height, and then bent forward. "This makes sense¾in an odd, irrational way¾young human. Perhaps it all ties into the next exhibit we want to show you."
"Over here," called Yax, who had wandered deeper into the room.
I followed the sound of his voice and found him standing next to an exhibit that showed a group of robots holding signs and…dancing?
"What in the pink and purple heck…?"
The tall alien waved at the display. "Pay no attention to the 'droids' movements. It's just more maintenance routines to make sure their movement programming is working. Please just focus on the rest of the exhibit."
I did as he asked. The setting was a city street. The robots closest to me were, as I said, holding signs. They were dressed like regular civilians you might find anywhere in modern America. Farther down the street there were more robots, but they were dressed like police and carrying plastic shields and dangerous-looking batons. I knew what this was supposed to be.
Sighing, I nodded and said, "Yes, this ties into it, but it's a bit of a long story to get there."
"In what way?" asked Yax.
"Well, people aren't marching just because of the laws that make it difficult for them to vote. It's more of a 'one thing leads to another' situation."
"Being denied the ability to help choose one's government isn't sufficient reason to protest for your people?" asked Squid-boy.
I rubbed my temples. "It is. But it also isn't. Like I said, it's a long story. You have to understand everything in its historical context. The anger and resentment that are coming to a head now have been building for centuries."
"Centuries!" exclaimed Squid-boy. "Why has it taken so long for people to take action?"
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