No, people don't actually need photo ID in daily life
My granny was born in the twenties, either on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. Since she was born at home and had no birth certficate, she and her sisters used to have roaring arguments about that. Both her parents died when they were quite young and they spent some time being passed from relative to relative, none of whom cared in the least what day she was born on.
She started work and married when she was 15. Had a kid. Had a poverty stricken life without ever being aware she was poor. Never drove, never smoked, only drank on rare occasions. Rode the bus and bummed rides off people who were going her way. She worked as a hotel maid for many years and ate whatever was leftover from the meals there. Gloated when people gave a good tip.
She opened a bank acount in 1941 while her husband was gone to war. Had that same account at the same branch until the day she died. Didn't need ID there, she had a card that said she had been a customer since 1941 and knew everyone that worked there and all their troubles, too. Cheerfully helped them if she could. She'd cash her check on Saturday morning and spend Saturday paying people in cash.
Get carded? Mercy, no. Back then, honest hardworking women did not get carded and by the time carding people began she was beyond question old enough to sit in her neighborhood bar and drink the cheapest beer they served on tap. Never bought tobacco, but if a baby was born, she'd cheerfully smoke a cigar. That was different. Of course she had a Social Security card, she was on the ground when the program started and paid into it all her life.
ID for getting an apartment? She didn't have an apartment so much as a series of rooms and nobody really wants ID for room rented by word of mouth. Loans? Credit Cards? Never had them, never needed them and could not afford them. Borrowing $5 until payday was a huge deal to her.
Died just 2 years ago and there are plenty people of her generation left. She went her entire life without a birth certificate, a high school education, a photo ID, a car, a loan or a debit card. She didn't miss any of them and never needed them for anything.
There are millions of people just like her still among us. Why would you need a photo ID at your bank if you've been using the same branch since WWII was on? If you ride the bus to work and live in a room over a drugstore or behind somebody's house? Who is going to refuse to serve somebody with no teeth, glasses thicker than Coke bottles, a million wrinkles and snow white hair? Odds are, they can drink in a bar they've frequented since the 1930s and don't drink anywhere else except a friend's home.
So why should people like that have to be driven way out to the motor bureau with scads of info the don't have(bills for ID--she lived on a cash only basis--often lived in places that had all utilites included.) to prove who they are to get a card? Why disinfranchise an entire generation?
I'm also finding vast numbers of younger people that can't afford to drive. They get a bank account to deposit check in on their parents say so and then don't need ID of any kind. The bank accepts them. They don't need ID anywhere else, so they don't get it.
Why don't we do something very simple? We proved this works in Iraq. Dye the finger of anyone who votes. Then they can't vote again. We invented this system and gave it away. We know it works. We watched it work. Its more or less idiot proof.
But since its not sofisticated, we spit on its worthiness.
This entry was originally posted at dreamwidth.org
She started work and married when she was 15. Had a kid. Had a poverty stricken life without ever being aware she was poor. Never drove, never smoked, only drank on rare occasions. Rode the bus and bummed rides off people who were going her way. She worked as a hotel maid for many years and ate whatever was leftover from the meals there. Gloated when people gave a good tip.
She opened a bank acount in 1941 while her husband was gone to war. Had that same account at the same branch until the day she died. Didn't need ID there, she had a card that said she had been a customer since 1941 and knew everyone that worked there and all their troubles, too. Cheerfully helped them if she could. She'd cash her check on Saturday morning and spend Saturday paying people in cash.
Get carded? Mercy, no. Back then, honest hardworking women did not get carded and by the time carding people began she was beyond question old enough to sit in her neighborhood bar and drink the cheapest beer they served on tap. Never bought tobacco, but if a baby was born, she'd cheerfully smoke a cigar. That was different. Of course she had a Social Security card, she was on the ground when the program started and paid into it all her life.
ID for getting an apartment? She didn't have an apartment so much as a series of rooms and nobody really wants ID for room rented by word of mouth. Loans? Credit Cards? Never had them, never needed them and could not afford them. Borrowing $5 until payday was a huge deal to her.
Died just 2 years ago and there are plenty people of her generation left. She went her entire life without a birth certificate, a high school education, a photo ID, a car, a loan or a debit card. She didn't miss any of them and never needed them for anything.
There are millions of people just like her still among us. Why would you need a photo ID at your bank if you've been using the same branch since WWII was on? If you ride the bus to work and live in a room over a drugstore or behind somebody's house? Who is going to refuse to serve somebody with no teeth, glasses thicker than Coke bottles, a million wrinkles and snow white hair? Odds are, they can drink in a bar they've frequented since the 1930s and don't drink anywhere else except a friend's home.
So why should people like that have to be driven way out to the motor bureau with scads of info the don't have(bills for ID--she lived on a cash only basis--often lived in places that had all utilites included.) to prove who they are to get a card? Why disinfranchise an entire generation?
I'm also finding vast numbers of younger people that can't afford to drive. They get a bank account to deposit check in on their parents say so and then don't need ID of any kind. The bank accepts them. They don't need ID anywhere else, so they don't get it.
Why don't we do something very simple? We proved this works in Iraq. Dye the finger of anyone who votes. Then they can't vote again. We invented this system and gave it away. We know it works. We watched it work. Its more or less idiot proof.
But since its not sofisticated, we spit on its worthiness.
This entry was originally posted at dreamwidth.org