The political left has for a long time attempted to portray laws that require one to show an ID to vote as disenfranchising to the African American community.
Democrats in the last few months have been up in arms about Republican-led voter integrity laws in states such as Georgia and Texas. President Joe Biden routinely claimed these measures are worse than 20th century Jim Crow laws of the American south. Texas Democrats even fled their state in order to deny the legislature a quorum on the election security bill.
But if requiring an ID at the polls suppresses minority voters, one would have to then conclude that vaccine mandates are “Jim Crow on steroids,” as Biden once said about Georgia’s law.
In New York City, a mandate officially went into effect on Tuesday requiring proof of having received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine in order to participate in a host of in-person activities.
Restaurants, gyms, performance venues, movie theaters, museums, bowling alleys and sports arenas are just some of the places New Yorkers are officially not allowed to visit unless they have been vaccinated.
Mayor Bill de Blasio even said in a Monday press conference that vaccines are now required in order “to enjoy all that’s good in life.”
NEW – Starting tomorrow, you’ll need proof of vaccination to “unlock everything New York City has to offer,” announces Mayor Bill de Blasio. pic.twitter.com/CD02DFKiyK
— Disclose.tv 🚨 (@disclosetv) August 16, 2021
But the most recent data from the city shows a major demographic disparity in the amount of New York residents that have gotten the shot. Just 42% of black New Yorkers have at least one dose of the vaccine in comparison to 57% of whites, and only 38% of black New Yorkers have been fully vaccinated in comparison to 53% of white residents. (RELATED: 80% of Americans Support Photo ID For Voters, 71% Support ‘Easier’ Early Voting)
Why is the city of New York discriminating against its black citizens with vaccine mandates? pic.twitter.com/kPZPePNIkJ
— Lisa Boothe (@LisaMarieBoothe) August 3, 2021
The disparity is even worse among younger African Americans with city data showing that just 28% of black New Yorkers ages 18-44 years are fully vaccinated, compared with 48% of Latino residents and 52% of white residents.
To put it a different way, this means that at least 58% of black New Yorkers would be forbidden by law to go to a restaurant, attend a sporting event, or have a drink in a bar due to the fact that they have not had at least one dose of the vaccine.
Yet the same Democrats that have been outspoken on the supposed racism of requiring an ID to vote have come out in support of mandating a vaccination card in order to go to the gym.
The Biden administration has consistently voiced its support for vaccine mandates and even indicated they would explore the legality of mandating vaccines nationwide.
Biden’s Department of Justice (DOJ) recently announced a lawsuit against Georgia, alleging federal civil rights violations for their election security law, while releasing a memo back in July ruling that vaccine requirements do not violate federal statutes. (RELATED: Texas Democrats Make Big Publicity Stunts Out Of Objectively Uncontroversial Voting Integrity Laws)
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki even went as far as to call the GOP-led voting laws the “worst challenge to our democracy since the Civil War.”
There is only one place in the country right now, however, that has implemented laws that will disproportionately affect the freedoms of the African-American community. It isn’t Georgia and it isn’t Texas.
It’s New York City.