http://www.commondreams.org/views/2014/11/25/ferguson-isnt-about-black-rage-against-cops-its-white-rage-against-progress
Comment:
"Felony disenfranchisement" = white rage.
Manipulating congressional districts to guarantee over representation of Republicans and whites = white rage.
Attacking
the new voting restrictions and the manipulation of congressional
districts should be a major focus for Democrats/Liberals/African
Americans. It could be a real winning issue.
Most Americans have
no idea that Felony disenfranchisement often means means that you lose
your right to vote for life. They think it means you cannot vote while
in prison. That is just the start. Many other states restrict voting of
convicted felons for long after the prison sentence ends. In Florida you
lose your right to vote forever.
Most Americans have no idea that
Felony disenfranchisement was first implemented in the US immediately
after the civil war. Most Americans have no idea that at that same time
blacks were hit with trumped up felonies as a way to stop them from
voting.
Felony disenfranchisement is Jim Crow 101.
No other western democracy does this. Most other western democracies even allow voting *while in prison*.
See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D...
The
irony is that most other western democracies consider voting a RIGHT
while in America it's increasingly becoming downgraded to a privilege -
like driving.
Then there is the case of the District of Columbia. Their votes don't count in presidential elections.
Do you see a common theme here?
African
Americans -especially males are far more likely to be convicted of a
felony than whites are for similar crimes. Example: possession of
marijuana.
The states that engage in the most aggressive forms of
Disfranchisement are in the south. Florida, Mississippi and Virginia to
be exact,
The District of Columbia is majority black and the whites that live there tend to be Democrats.
Do you see a pattern here?
In
this latest election the Republicans won 52% of the votes for
congressional candidates. A small majority. They were given 57% of
congressional seats. A sizable majority.
In 2012 there were more
votes for congressional Democratic candidates than Republicans. Yet
Republicans received 20 more seats. 20 more! Is this democracy? No it's a
rigged system designed now to bolster the chances of whites,
Republicans and conservatives.
And I didn't even talk about the voting ID requirements.
The
key turning point was the election of 2000. Things were moving in the
right direction until 1964 and then were stable more or less until 2000.
Various tricks and voter purges and so forth allowed Bush to "win" that
election. They got away with it then and have not turned back. Each new
voting cycle produces more restrictions, more purges and more fear -
billboards warning people that they could be committing a felony if they
vote without credentials - I saw one of those billboards. It's like we
are at 1960 again but moving backwards.
The American public is
just ignorant of the facts on this and it's high time they were
educated. It could be a huge winning issue for
Democrats/Liberals/African Americans. There is no excuse for this and
even most conservatives cannot overtly defend this stuff.
