Page 7
January 4, 2012
The Right to Vote is Under Attack
Falsehoods push
new restrictions
by
L eslie W atson M alachi
The 2008 election was a hope­
ful one for African-Americans
in our democracy, not because
of who was elected, but be­
cause of who turned out to vote.
We voted at a nearly identical rate
to our w hite neighbors for the first
tim e in U.S. history. In fact, A frican-
A m erican women had the highest turn­
out rate of any group o f any race.
M ore than 40-years after the end of
the Jim Crow era (albeit am id the
resurrection o f what many are calling
the "New Jim Crow "), we closed that
persistin g gap o f p articip atio n . In
greater num bers than ever before, we
stood up,, and we spoke with our vote.
But since 2008, our right to vote,
w hich is essentially a form of free
speech, has been under an unprec­
edented attack.
Shortly after the election, over half
of R epublican voters said that they
believed the presidential election
had been stolen for Barack O bam a
by ACO RN , a now -defunct orga­
nization that w orked to register
new voters, including many A fri­
can A m ericans.
In response to this false myth
promoted by right-wing media and poli­
ticians, state legislatures across the
country have been trying to make it
harder to register to vote.
The m ost com m on form this takes is
voter ID laws, w hich, under the guise
o f preventing the over-hyped problem
o f "voter fraud," in fact keep m illions
o f voters from the polls. These laws,
w hich are on the books or being con­
sidered in 41 states, target voters who
don't have certain types o f govern­
ment identification. They are over­
w helm ingly young, elderly, and per­
sons of color.
W hat's even more discouraging than
the faulty basis o f these restrictive
laws is where they com e from. The
A m erican Legislative Exchange C oun­
cil, a group funded by large corpora­
tions that writes legislation for state
legislators, is pushing these voter ID
laws to states around the country.
W hy do big business interests care
about restricting voting rights? Because
voting is the only way those o f us
w ithout m illions of dollars to spend on
elections can make our voices heard.
The real goals of these laws were
throw n into sharp light in Tennessee
this year, when we learned about D or­
othy C o o p e r, a 9 6 -y e a r-o ld b lack
wom an who was denied a voter ID
because she couldn't produce a copy of
her m arriage license.
Mrs. Cooper had voted nearly every
year since she was of voting age, and
had never before run into a problem
registering, even in the Jim Crow South.
Mrs. C ooper w asn't trying to com m it
fraud. She was trying to exercise her
right and her duty as a citizen. Yet she
was treated like a crim inal.
W hile we can and should fight the
enactm ent o f these restrictive laws,
we can't stop there. The most im por­
tant thing you can do to make sure
your voice is heard in the dem ocratic
process is to know your rights and
vote. This is especially true for A fri­
can A m ericans, who are dispropor­
tionately being targeted and im pacted
by these new laws.
The Black Church has a longstanding
history of championing political, educa­
tional, and economic rights, not only for
African Americans, but for all citizens.
And in this modem era, we must con­
tinue the fight.
The right to vote, especially for
A frican A m ericans, is under attack.
Churches, laity, pastors, and m inis­
try leaders, who were essential to
securing that right, will be essential to
preserving it.
Minister Leslie Watson Malachi
is the director for African-Ameri­
can Religious Affairs at People for
the American Way.
What Next for the Occupy Movement?
Empower
dissent with
the ballot box
by
R ich C ohen
The unprecedented Occupy
Movement has given the Ameri­
can people a voice for their griev­
ances and for their hopes, and in
doing so have rattled the elites
who are now recognizing the
moral force behind the cause
that is taking root in the public
consciousness.
But to keep the public on our
side, we must demonstrate that
their concerns are our concerns
and are being acted upon with
wisdom, skill and urgency.
Every grievance, every issue
we care about, from student debt
to foreclosures, from environ­
m ental ch allen g es to living
wages, from attacking countries
that did nothing to us, to provid­
ing a doctor to anyone who needs
one, will not be decided on its
own in the streets we occupy,
but in the buildings we don’t.
The outcom es that m atter
m ost to us are decided alm ost
entirely in one particular build­
ing, the U.S. C apitol, which
right now is ruled by corporate
m ajorities controlled by Wall
Street. If we are serious about
our grievances and truly com ­
m itted to m aking this country
our own, then “We the P eople”
m ust occupy the U.S. C on­
gress, the m ajor pow er center
of the U nited States, and be
there with our own m ajority
control.
Only by winning a 218 seat
majority in the House of Repre­
sentatives and a 60 seat filibus­
ter proof majority in the Senate,
will we have the numbers nec­
essary to actually shift power
from Wall Street to us.
Without those numbers there
is literally no way to take control
of our country. We have two
choices. We can either aim high,
honoring ourselves by taking
power, or remain on the outside
looking in and endlessly react­
ing, constantly defending our­
selves and forever appealing to
corporate politicians.
Hopefully w e’re learning that
agitating and pleading alone will
never get us more than a wa­
An electoral strategy com ­ cent, but mobilizes them, are the
tered down imitation of what we
need. The question is, are we bined with ongoing visible street two essentials for reclaiming and
occupations (around foreclosed remaking our country.
reactors or deciders?
Rich Cohen is a member of
As deciders our first step is to homes, student debt, etc.) that
occupy our neighborhoods with doesn’t just talk to our 99 per­ Occupy Portland.
relentless face-to-face, house-
by-house, street-by-street con­
gressional district campaigns that
succeed in electing members of
Congress who are not beholden
to Wall Street and lead to our
ultimate occupation of the Con­
gress.
We have the people to get it
done, but do we have the will?
W e sh o u ld e x p e c t m ore
from o u rselv es than ju s t c a ll­
ing attention to our grievances
or hoping that a W ashington
or local p o litician w ill throw
us a bone. If w hat we are
d o in g is really m ore than ju st
Portland:
(503) 244-2080
b eatin g up on the “bad g u y s,”
Hillsoboro: (503)244-2081
then we m ust link our street
d issen t to the b allo t box with
Facsimile:
(503) 244-2084
the single-m inded goal o f tak ­
Email:
Sweeney @ PDXLawyer.com
ing m ajo rity co n tro l o f the
C o n g re ss.
T hat’s where the power is
and where we need to be if
Advertise with diversity in
getting our problems solved and
reaching for our best as Ameri­
cans is why we are really here.
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THE LAW OFFICES OF
Patrick John Sweeney, PC
Patrick John Sweeney
Attorney at Law
1549 SE Ladd
Portland, Oregon
11 ‘ P( ,rtland Observer