To commemorate the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday this weekend, an event that spurred the passage of the landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act, John Oliver took a moment out during his show last night to remind everyone that nearly 4 million people living in the United States are still denied full voting rights. Why? Because they live in territories.
Coincidentally enough, 98 percent of these residents happen to be racial or ethnic minorities who were once categorized as government-acquired “alien races” and therefore not extended constitutional protections.
“Alien races can’t understand Anglo-Saxon principles?” Oliver asked. “I find that condescending and I’m British. We basically invented patronizing bigotry!”
As Oliver goes onto further explain, it gets even worse for American Samoans, who are the only people born on U.S. soil but denied citizenship. Last month, Mother Jones published a report detailing the Obama administration’s fight to continue denying citizenship to American Samoans using a century-old racist law to justify their case.
Oliver also summed up everything stupid about Daylight Saving Time in 3 minutes:
