John --
It is staggering that we're writing this to you in 2021, but in Tennessee, the three-fifths compromise is up for debate again.
Last week, Tennessee state Rep. Justin Lafferty, a Republican, argued on the floor of the Tennessee state house that the three-fifths compromise was designed to *end* slavery, not perpetuate it. His telling of the story is that slave owners were willing to water down their own power to eventually get rid of slavery altogether.
Let's be clear about the three-fifths compromise, John. One of the original sins of the Constitution, it stated that enslaved Black people would count as three-fifths of a whole person when determining representation in Congress.
The revisionism coming from Rep. Lafferty is outrageous, but not unexpected in today's Republican Party. We need to elect progressive people of color in 2022 to ensure that this whitewashed Republican historical narrative ends up back where it belongs -- in the ash heap of history.
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Hatred and bigotry will never prevail in America. Thanks for doing your part to make sure of that.
ASPIRE
