Politics & Power Quote by Marc Morial

The line walks a familiar political tightrope: insisting something is “not to politicize” while making a deeply political demand. Marc Morial’s intent is protective and strategic. He’s arguing that voting rights aren’t a luxury that can be paused during crisis, but the mechanism that decides who gets heard when the money flows, the zoning changes, and the neighborhood map gets redrawn.

The subtext is sharper than the civility suggests. “They must have a voice” implies that, absent legal protection, they won’t. The phrase “from which they have been displaced” is doing heavy moral work: displacement isn’t framed as a neutral side effect of disaster, but as a rupture with consequences that can be compounded by policy. Keeping voting rights “in the state” signals a specific fear: if displaced residents can’t vote where they’re registered, power shifts to those who stayed, those who benefit, or those positioned to capitalize on reconstruction. Rebuilding becomes a quiet form of disenfranchisement.

Context matters. Morial, tied to civil-rights advocacy and post-disaster urban politics, is speaking into the history of American “recovery” efforts that double as demographic and economic reordering. Displacement after hurricanes, floods, or redevelopment doesn’t just scatter people; it can thin out a constituency. His careful disclaimer is less naivete than a rhetorical shield, anticipating accusations of opportunism. He’s telling you the real opportunism happens when procedural barriers decide whose community gets rebuilt, and for whom.