Professor Franita Tolson to Sen. Cruz: Voter I.D. Laws in Your State of Texas ‘Are Racist’

EXCERPT:

CRUZ: "Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to start with a question for each of the five witnesses. In your judgment, are voter ID laws racist? Professor Tolson."
TOLSON: "Thank you for that question. So, it depends. One thing we have to stop doing is treating all our ID laws as the same."
CRUZ: "OK. So your answer -- I -- I want to move quickly. So it depends is your answer?"
TOLSON: "Yes, that’s my answer."
CRUZ: "OK, so what voter ID are racist?'
TOLSON: "Apologies Mr. Cruz, your state of Texas, perhaps."
CRUZ: "OK. So you think the entire state of Texas is racist. What about requiring an ID to vote is racist?"
TOLSON: "So I think it's pretty reductive. I’m not saying an entire state of Texas is racist. But --"
CRUZ: "You just said my state of Texas. So you tell me --"
TOLSON: "Your voter --"
CRUZ: "-- what about the Texas voter ID laws is racist."
TOLSON: "So the fact that the voter ID law was put into place to diminished the political power of Latinos with races intent and had been found to have --" [crosstalk]
CRUZ: "You're asserting that. What’s your evidence for that."
TOLSON: "The federal district court that first resolved the constitutionality of Texas' voter ID law."
CRUZ: "OK, so your view is voter ID laws are racist.”