Missouri’s new voter ID law was motivated by the same forces that lead to Jim Crow laws and segregation, according to a small group of local activists gathered Wednesday at Springfield’s Park Central Square, site of the 1906 lynching of three black men. Several people, including representatives of the Missouri NAACP and Faith Voices of Southwest Missouri, gathered downtown to speak with local journalists about the new law, which went into effect June 1. Marlon Graves, vice president of the Springfield NAACP chapter, and local liberal activist Marla Marantz explained the significance of holding the event in the Park Central Square.
Graves noted that the square was the site of the 1906 lynching of three black men — Will Allen, Fred Coker and Horace Duncan — and held echoes of “our history of Jim Crow, xenophobia and white supremacy.”
“The new law is born into the tradition to suppress other people,” said Graves, who is distantly related to Duncan. “… We look to (Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft) to implement every effort to make sure that each and every person who is entitled to vote to be allowed to do so with the dignity and respect they deserve.”
Full Article: Voter ID opponents say law has echoes of Jim Crow, lynchings.