Minnesota Majority sez: stop the brown-skinned people from voting

We know that Republicans like to darken the faces of any Democratic candidates that are minorities like Erik Paulsen did to Ashwin Madia. We know that Republicans like to fear-monger to their base's racism. Past racism by Republicans will seem subtle compared to the racism of the modern Republican party.

With the Tea Party taking control of the Republican party, we know that the tone of the 2012 election is going to plummet to new depths of tastelessness. Teabaggers have once again made overt racism acceptable for Republicans.

This image used by Minnesota Majority, a vote suppression organization, on their WeWantVoterID.com is simply unacceptable. Minnesota Majority uses the image of a black man in a prison uniform and a caricature of a Mexican along with a ghost and a zombie.

The message is clear. Stop brown-skinned people from voting so that Republicans have a better chance at winning. Welcome to Jim Crow circa 2012.

Minnesota Majority was clueless and unapologetic.

But Dan McGrath, executive director of Minnesota Majority, rejected the claims as "ridiculous." He said the images are a political cartoon, and he described it as "coincidental" that the felon attempting to vote is an African American. McGrath explained the person in the mariachi costume is "supposed to be an illegal immigrant, and it's kind of difficult to convey that."

Yes, it is hard to foment fear of brown-skinned people without reverting to racist stereotypes.

Minnesota Majority and Republicans have no proof of vote fraud so they will resort to racist stereo types to push their vote suppression agenda.

Eric Pusey

Minnesota Progressive Project seeks to be the go-to source for progressive politics in Minnesota.