The View Comes Unprepared On MLK Day 
Monday, January 21st, 2008

Good grief.  If they're going to attempt to discuss the facts, at least get them right!

On The View episode that aired today, the panel was discussing whether America is more "racist or sexist" when it comes to elections.  Of course they're discussing that, because everyone in the media wants to make race and gender an issue this year even though the candidates themselves wisely are not.  Elisabeth Hasselbeck mentioned that we may already know the answer to this, since blacks got the right to vote long before women did.

"Don't we have the answer already, because didn't a black man...wasn't he able to walk into a voting booth far before a woman could walk into the voting booth?" Elisabeth weighed in.

"I'm sorry...wait, wait, hold on," Whoopi interrupted her.  "Uh, women...got the vote before we did," she said, implying that females were granted the right to vote before African Americans were.

Which is not true.

But Elisabeth actually apologized, and assumed Whoopi was right.  Does anyone know the facts here, about what is actually being discussed?

First of all, in 1870, the 15th Amendment was passed, which stated that no law may restrict any race from voting.  This gave black men the right to vote, but not females of any race.

It was not until 1920 that the 19th Amendment was passed, stating that no law may restrict any sex from voting.  That gave the female gender the right to vote:  50 years after black men were given the same privilege.

Whoopi, being on both sides of the coin, should know this - especially if she's going to interject and falsely correct people, and be so smug about it.  And at least one person on the panel of five should have known this.  And if they didn't, they should have looked it up before the show.

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