We will soon see the return of a white supremacist classic, “Guess the Number of Jelly Beans in the Jar,” as a requirement for Black people to vote. Targeted voter suppression laws were introduced and passed by Republicans after Justice John Roberts picked up the bigoted baton of America’s white forefathers, and carried that bigotry forward by destroying key elements of the Voting Rights Act. In a continuation to deny equality, the foundation of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which required federal approval for states to change voting laws, was eliminated by Justice John and a Supreme Court 5-4 ruling in 2013. It was basically an invitation to regress back to America circa 1950, with a party theme of, ‘Amp Up the Racism.‘ States RSVP’d immediately by passing laws to keep Black folks from voting. If it wasn’t crystal clear before the benefactor’s of Justice John placed him on the high court, Republicans do not endorse democracy, as it does not yield the white man’s desired result – absolute power. One person, one vote, whereby the People pick their Representatives, is democracy, and democracy is still under attack.
Republicans would prefer a return to Black people being 3/5 of a person, and deny us our whole person vote. So, it is obvious that the next law introduced by Republicans will be reminiscent of their good ole days in America, when white people could openly intimidate Black people, threaten our lives, and kill us without accountability. The sheer madness of it all, is that those things are still happening, and have gained seditious mainstream steam. The People voted, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris won. Then, Donald and his Republican Party, aka, Caucasians for the Coup, evoked an insurrection, because the People’s vote was not one they wanted to recognize. The facts did not fall in line with what they wanted. So, they attacked the US capitol, to kill certification of the facts.
Even in Iowa, midwest lily white Iowa, Republicans have passed sweeping voter suppression laws, one of which is to close polling places earlier. It seems the state’s motto, “Our liberties we prize and our rights we will maintain,” does not apply to voting rights. Additional changes to Iowa’s voting laws will eventually include carving ballots out of butter, and require the consumption of four foods on a stick before voters are allowed to enter a voting booth. Voting booths in Iowa are slated to become dunking booths, whereby the voter is dunked in water based upon the candidate selected on their respective butter ballot. Word on the street is, Republicans in Iowa are planning to combine the voter dunking booths with the Party’s waterboarding practices creating a fundraising super PAC. Counting the sugary convections in a jar will no longer be relegated to state fairs or baby showers, the “jelly bean jar” is on its way to being part of a voting law in your state, if Republicans are allowed to silence democracy.
The jelly bean is said to have its origins in Turkey, dating back thousands of years, the bite-size sweets were called Turkish delights. Conversely, candy historians surmise that Boston candy maker, William Schrafft, created the bean shaped candies, and then pushed popularity for his confection by encouraging people to buy jelly beans for Union soldiers during the Civil War. Union soldiers consuming the pocket sized sweets experienced a rush of increased energy, as a result of the Union sugar surge, the Confederacy lost the war. Confederate soldiers simply lacked the sweet sugar rush of jelly beans to carry them into victory. Ever since the bitter defeat of the Confederacy, white Southerners have held both a fascination and fear of jelly beans. Fascinated by the sweet jelly like nectar of the jelly bean, yet simultaneously fearful of the sugary beans because the candies may have been invented by a Yankee, or even more scary, a foreigner. White Southerner’s fear of jelly beans grew over time, resulting in the banning of jelly beans from their Civil War reenactments, and at Easter celebrations. The fact that jelly beans became increasingly multicolored, and coexisted in a shared bag, only expanded their fear. It would take the endorsement of Theophilus Eugene “Bull” Connor, (way before Ronald Reagan who adored jelly beans), for white Southerners to see jelly beans as an acceptable American candy calculator to suppress voting.
White Republicans’ dependance upon jelly bean justification, coupled with their refusal to accept consequence, fact, or reality will ultimately result in the destruction of democracy if they get away with it – the “it” being oppressing voters, intimidating legislators, and spreading lies. We must be keenly aware that akin to his white forefathers, John Roberts’ unchecked implicit bias is leading a judiciary of jesters instead of judges, where objectivity is giving way to adoration, and the Constitution is dismissed in favor of chicanery. Donald and his MAGA machine overloaded the circuits with judges whom are failing to uphold the Constitution, and abusing power at the behest of the wealthy benefactors who put them on the bench. Republicans have chosen a racist recipe of gerrymandering and jelly beans to extend their regressive rule on their path to power. The money that put racists in robes is exposed, alas, the judicial jig is up, the attempt to engineer minority rule exposes one’s prejudice, not patriotism, while also serving as a reminder that the “A” in U.S.A. stands for America, not apartheid.
“By ensuring that no one in government has too much power, the Constitution helps protect ordinary Americans every day against abuse of power by those in authority.” John Roberts