Major black leaders come out in support of voter ID, slam 'totally oblivious' white liberals

A coalition of black leaders on Friday came out strongly in support of voter ID laws, arguing that most black voters feel the same way and rebuking what they said was the "oblivious" and "opportunistic" denial of those opinions by progressive leaders. 

The coalition — which includes U.S. Rep. Burgess Owens, former Florida Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll, former Texas state Rep. James Earl Wright, and former mayor of Cincinnati and U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Commission on Human Rights Ken Blackwell — declares at RealClearPolitics that "liberal orthodoxy" dictates that "all Blacks think alike, and all Blacks support Black Lives Matter, and all Blacks oppose the recently enacted Georgia Election Integrity Act," one that in part mandates voter ID at the polls.

Yet the writers note that a recent Rasmussen Reports poll "found that 69% of Blacks and 82% of nonwhite minorities support voter ID," while another recent poll "found that a full two-thirds of Blacks in Georgia support voter ID."

"The data seems clear: A majority of Black Americans support voter ID laws," they argue. Yet, they claim, "opportunistic activists like Stacey Abrams pretend the entire Black community stands behind them and the radical Democrat Party," crafting a narrative in which black people "are either opposed to voter ID or, even more offensively, that Blacks are incapable of obtaining IDs."

The group claims that "elites, most of whom are white, have enabled them, taking it upon themselves to determine who the 'leaders' of the Black community are and ignoring anyone else who suggests differently." These elites, they state, are "totally oblivious to the real Black leaders" whose opinions differ from activists like Abrams. 

The writers point out that numerous institutions and industries in American society, including airlines, package distributors and alcohol stores, all require ID from their patrons. 

"Is that racist? Of course it isn't," they write.