NPR report from March 9th:
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People announced it will appear before the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva next week to seek support for its fight against voter identification laws enacted in U.S. states.
The civil rights organization says the laws are among several measures adopted by some states that violate the human and civil rights of minority voters by suppressing their participation in elections.
The power of the U.N. on state governments historically is to shame them and to put pressure on the U.S. government to bring them into line with global standards, best practices for democracy,” NAACP President Benjamin Jealous told reporters Thursday. “There are plenty of examples — segregation of the U.S. to apartheid in South Africa to the death penalty here in the U.S. — of global outrage having an impact.”
Some Twitter reactions:
The NAACP goes to the UN to fight legally enacted voter ID laws in US? Our Supreme Ct. isn't good enough? http://t.co/pxr0hAQx #tcot
— Ron Christie (@Ron_Christie) March 9, 2012
NAACP Asking UN Human Rights Council To Condemn America Over Voter ID Laws … http://t.co/C3aAtC4x
— Weasel Zippers (@weaselzippers) March 9, 2012
"These laws are a resistant strain of Jim Crow. Their racist intent is clear" – Benjamin Jealous NAACP on voter ID laws
— Ed Pilkington (@Edpilkington) March 8, 2012
Read more: http://twitchy.com/2012/03/12/naacp-goes-to-united-nations-to-overturn-voter-i-d-laws-in-u-s/
