Fascism and the Racist Attack on Voting Rights

by UB Center for Urban Studies · 05/06/2026

*Voter suppression and anti-immigrant policies are not separate issues — they are a coordinated attack on multiracial democracy to keep power in the hands of a few.*

The gutting of the Voting Rights Act by the U.S. Supreme Court and the vicious attacks on immigrants of color appear to be separate actions—but they are not. They are both acts of voter suppression and direct attacks on liberal democracy.

These attacks on Blacks and immigrants of color are not about election law or immigration policy.

They are part of a coordinated right-wing project to restructure the United States into a form of democratic fascist authoritarianism that uses elections and constitutional governance to create a racialized fascist authoritarian state.

However, the creation of such a state cannot happen without suppressing the vote of Blacks and immigrants of color.

The reason is simple: the alliance of Blacks, immigrants of color, and progressive Whites is the only political force capable of stopping the Right from turning the United States into a fascist authoritarian state rooted in White supremacy.

The elections of Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012 sent shock waves throughout the American Right.

In both elections, most Whites voted against Obama—and he STILL won the presidency. John McCain received 57% of the white vote in 2008, while Mitt Romney received 61% in 2012. Yet both men lost to Obama —McCain by roughly 7 percentage points and Romney by nearly 4 points nationally.

The victories forced the Right to confront the stark reality: Blacks, immigrants of color, and progressive Whites could win state and national elections without the support of the White majority.

Obama’s victories galvanized the Right.

In 2009, the Tea Party emerged as an oppositional force to the Obama presidency and to sound the alarm over the rising electoral power of Blacks and immigrants of color. The Great Replacement theory followed, intensifying anti-immigration and racism.

The re-election of Obama in 2012 intensified the White nationalism movement, racialized fascist authoritarianism, and transformed Donald Trump into a powerful force inside the Republican Party.

Building the alliance between Blacks, immigrants of color, and progressive Whites is critical to stopping the racialized fascist authoritarian movement.

Cast away your illusions and fight back.

The gutting of the Voting Rights Act represented a major setback for the progressive movement, but the fight to create a nation grounded in racial, social, and economic justice continues.

By Henry-Louis Taylor, Jr. | May 6th, 2026