Desperate times have always pushed societies toward extreme measures. The ancient Greek physician Hippocrates observed that “extreme diseases require extreme cures,” and today, states across the U.S., red and blue alike, are redefining laws around civil protest and voting rights, revealing deeper fractures in American democracy.
In some conservative states, new legislation shields motorists from liability if they unintentionally strike protesters while fleeing crowds... laws that undermine First Amendment protections and effectively treat protestors as disposable obstacles. Oklahoma's HB 1674 even grants civil and criminal immunity to drivers who injure people in riot contexts.
Meanwhile, Georgia has passed restrictive election laws that limit ballot drop boxes, impose stricter ID requirements for mail ballots, ban giving food or water to voters in line, and extend partisan oversight of local election officials. Proponents frame these reforms as necessary election integrity measures... but critics argue they disproportionately hamper Black and Brown voters.
In March 2025, Attorney General Pam Bondi instructed the Justice Department (now under GOP leadership) to drop its challenge to Georgia’s voting law, citing increased Black turnout. However, data suggests the turnout gap actually widened, and lawsuits from civil rights organizations, including the Georgia NAACP, remain unresolved.
The timing isn’t coincidental. After the 2020 election, Republicans nationwide pursued restrictive voting and protest regulations, invoking “desperate times” to justify sweeping legal measures aimed at controlling dissent and preserving power. But when racism is treated like a “disease,” desperate cures often spread far beyond their intended use.
Labeling racism a mental disorder is jarring... but not far from the truth. Its persistence among a substantial portion of White Americans reflects desperation to maintain racial hierarchy, echoing European colonial and British imperial legacies. The very concept of supremacy ties to the lineage of monarchies like that of a nearly seven-decade-reigning Queen Elizabeth II, whose institutions have long upheld elitism and exclusion.
The violent suppression of protest... from vehicular “immunity” laws to gauntlet-run voting precincts... cracks open the facade of democracy. These aren’t isolated tactics; they are symptoms of a society desperately clinging to old structures as calls for justice grow louder.
History suggests that evil carries the seeds of its downfall. Entrenched power may seem invincible, but every action against the marginalized accumulates, creating fractures. As protesters and voters challenge the status quo, the designers of oppression must confront their undoing.
Today, we stand amid a pivotal moment. Desperate laws serve as the final shields for racist and undemocratic systems. Their very creation is a confession of fear... and fear always carries the promise of collapse.
In this reality, voices like George Floyd’s - silenced tragically - have awakened conscience across generations. His legacy asks us to reject performative resistance: it demands real structural reform, and it tells us that we cannot rest until those protections and voices are concretely reclaimed.
We face a choice: bow to desperation and let radical laws define our democracy... or forge paths of justice, rebuild institutions, and prove that in America, equality is more than slogans... it’s a shared future.
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