30 most vicious John Oliver take downs
By Jeremy Dick
18. John Oliver reveals the racist history of territory voting rights
Americans have made a lot of progress in terms of equality since the mid 1900s. African-Americans and women are now allowed to vote, and it would be terrible to suggest they couldn’t. But would you know that about 4 million people, nearly completely ethnic, are still not allowed to vote?
We’re talking about those in the U.S. territories. This would include places like Guam, American Samoa, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Although these places are considered to be American soil, the government doesn’t believe the citizens there should have access to the same constitutional rights.
John Oliver brought this issue up on Last Week Tonight and talked about how ridiculously bigoted and horrible it was. “Puerto Rico has more American citizens than 21 U.S. states, but less voting rights than any of them,” he would say on the program.
The reason for this dates all the way back to 1901 when a racist Supreme Court declared that the constitution wouldn’t apply for places “inhabited by alien races, differing from us in religion, customs, laws, methods of taxation, and modes of thought.” The horribly outdated law needs to be rectified, and Oliver ripping it to shreds on television was a good start.
Next: 17. Bail