september 2004
BLACK MEDIA WARNS SEQUEL TO 2000 VOTE FIASCO LOOMS IN FLORIDA
BY DANIELLE WORTHY, PACIFIC NEWS SERVICE
On Election Day 2004, everyone's attention will turn toward Florida--the quintessential battleground state which marred the reputation of the electoral system for many voters, especially blacks. But months before the actual casting of ballots, the black media have been reporting that Florida already is embroiled in an electoral controversy rooted in discrimination.
When the Miami Herald broke the story this July of a flawed felon list that mistakenly included a large number of eligible black voters, the state was propelled back into immediate notoriety.
The "newsworthiness" of the story faded in and out for mainstream media but African American publications have steadfastly tracked each emerging detail. For black voters, the implications are too important to ignore. Bill Alexander, a writer for BET.com, posted an article headlined "A Mess in Florida" on the website on July 17. "Florida politics too often have been birthed in outrageousness and burped by shamelessness.(the) controversial Florida presidential vote count of 2000 is on it's way to a sequel," writes Alexander. He explains that more than 2,000 voters, many of them African American, were "accidentally" placed on the list of 47,000 ineligible voters who were ex-offenders. The pressure put on the state after the list was made public triggered the resignation of Ed Kast, head of Florida's election division.
Several media organizations sued to have the list made public. The Westside Gazette, a Miami newspaper serving a predominantly black community, immediately published a story when a Florida court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs. The decision, considered a "victory" by many, was seen as a crucial first step in resolving the crisis, according to the Aug. 6 article in the Gazette.
But some in the black community felt that more needed to be done.
Kweisi Mfume, head of the NAACP, called on U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft to stop the chaos, according to the J. Zamgba Browne in the Aug. 8 Amsterdam News. "We are now seeing the nightmare of unjustified disenfranchisement unfolding before us, especially in Florida," Mfume was quoted as saying.
Another problem with the felon list is that in Florida ex-felons are not automatically returned their right to vote once their sentence is complete. Instead, they have to petition for their rights to be reinstated through a complex bureaucratic process. Unfortunately, the voting irregularities in Florida are not limited to the felon list. Black newsgroups are publishing some unsettling findings. BlackAmericaWeb.com published a story on Aug. 17 that looks directly at the issue of voter intimidation by the state's Republican Party and top law enforcement agency. Sherrel Wheeler Stewart quotes Democratic activists in Orlando, who believe the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) zeroed in on black voters during an investigation into voter fraud.
After the close March mayoral race in Orlando, defeated candidate Ken Mulvaney summoned the FDLE to look into the absentee ballots that prevented a runoff. While the FDLE contends there was no malicious intent and interviews were conducted with "sensitivity," a spokeswoman for the Voter Protection Coalition in Florida, Alma Gonzalez, was quoted in news reports at the end of July as saying: "FDLE agents showed up at the homes of absentee voters, many of whom were minorities and asked them if they had really voted, if they had actually sold their votes, and otherwise questioned them in an unfriendly manner while revealing their side-arms."
African American columnist Bob Herbert noted in the New York Times that a similar investigation done earlier in the spring had already found no fraud. "Why go forward anyway?" writes Herbert. "Well, consider that the prolonged investigation dovetails exquisitely with that crucial but unspoken mission of the G.O.P. in Florida: to keep black voter turnout as low as possible."
Doing just the opposite -- getting a high black voter turnout -- has become the unspoken mission for many now. Hazel Trice Edney, a writer for the NNPA (National Newspaper Publishers Association), also known as the Black Press of America, reports in an article posted on Aug. 17 in The Sacramento Observer that there are numerous groups and individuals working hard "to make sure the Black vote is cast and counted." The article focused on measures by programs like Election Protection, a project run by the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation that will have lawyers and law students at precincts all over the nation. They also set up a toll-free hotline so anyone who is concerned about their rights can talk to lawyers and voting rights experts.
Due to the efforts of Rep. Barbara Lee, African American Democrat from Oakland, Calif., and 12 other members of Congress, the Bush administration has heeded to the pleas for an outside, nonpartisan observer in Florida. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights has been called on to watch over this year's presidential elections according to the Aug. 18 edition of the San Francisco Bay View.
(09092004) (c) COPYRIGHT PNS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
"Facts
are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our
inclination, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot
alter the state of facts and evidence." --John Adams
An Iraqi-American's
Vote in 2004
Hawra Karama
hawrakarama@yahoo.com
July 30, 2004
I've never had the chance to vote for a president or any
other national leader in my life. Having grown up in the
Middle East, voting, like a laundry list of other
apparent pillars of democracy, was something I knew
existed almost everywhere but home. Coming from an area
of the world where monarchies and dictatorships competed
to make their constituents' lives miserable, what could
possibly be more exciting than finally being able to flex
one's citizenship muscles and to exercise a popular form
of self-determination? Voting and the democracy it
represents were on my list of reasons for migrating to
the United States. Little did I realize when I pledged my
allegiance to this country a couple of years ago that I
would deliberately waive my fundamental right to vote for
president in 2004. I do not say that in ingratitude of
the efforts of the people of color and the women who made
suffrage their lifelong struggle. I realize from my brief
study of American history and from the number of years I
have lived in this country how central voting is to the
American definition of liberty; the very same liberty the
defense of which was part of the reason we went to war in
Iraq. Rather, I view the concept of "democracy"
in the same way many of my fellow Iraqis do. Heavily
cynical of most people's definition of democracy, I give
up my right to vote with absolutely no regrets.
I'm told that our troops are in Iraq to defend America's
freedom and to defeat freedom-haters. I can't help but
wonder, how many Iraqis were plotting day and night,
conspiring feverishly to take away your right to vote?
What was the average Iraqi thinking when he stopped
worrying about his child dying under sanctions, suspended
his terror of Saddam's crushing tyranny, and ignored the
diseases depleted uranium inflicted on him, all in order
to take the time to hate Americans' right to vote? How
many people in Fallujah despised American arrestees'
right to Miranda warnings? How many more Iraqis stopped
mourning their children lost to Iraq's many wars and mass
graves just so they can ponder how much they detest the
Statue of Liberty's architecture? The democracy we sought
to defend, the one we insisted on teaching Iraqis, has
claimed the lives of thousands of people. It has tortured
prisoners, maimed civilians, raped women and
belligerently termed the victims of genocide
"collateral damage." When the maintenance of
freedom depends on killing other people, it's no longer
called freedom. When democracy sustains itself by
feasting on people's blood, including that of its own
citizens', it is defined as anything but democracy.
It is in solidarity with the victims of this
"democracy", victims from Detroit to Baghdad,
that I choose not to vote. That goes for voting in
general. As for this November specifically, I may
superficially appear to have every compelling reason to
vote. After all, I am an Iraqi and my heart weeps along
with those of the grieving widows and orphans in Baghdad,
Basra, Najaf, Fallujah, Karbala, and Mosul. Don't I owe
them the duty to vote out their American butcher (Bush)
now that their Iraqi butcher (Saddam) is finally gone?
Well, what electable alternatives do I have? None
other than the Democrats, naturally. We found the
Republicans' going to war over non-existent weapons of
mass destruction, sending our sons and daughters to a
place that didn't greet them with roses, and embarrassing
the United States in the world's public eye unforgivable.
How, then, can we forgive the Democrats' deliberate
starving of the Iraqi people by sanctions, killing 1.7
million of them (according to the United Nations), and
bombing them periodically for the duration of both
Clinton's terms? If we find the Republicans' acts so
repugnant, how can we easily forget Madeline Albright's
considering half a million Iraqi children's lives
"worth it"? If George W. Bush's decision to
drag the country into war was a crime, how can we excuse
John Kerry's collaboration? He did vote for the war,
didn't he? Of course, every once in a while, you'll hear
someone argue that while Kerry's policy on Iraq is not
substantially different from Bush's, we should
nevertheless vote for him because at least Democrats
improve the economy. The omitted sentence in that
argument is ". improve the economy, and the Iraqis
can go to hell".
I will not vote into office a Democrat who latches on to
my people's suffering to advance his own power-lusting,
partisan agenda. Someone told me that Iraqis celebrated
Clinton's election after the 1991 Gulf War. They, like
too many Americans today, fell for the "anyone but
Bush" rhetoric. They will know better than to feel
overjoyed by the presence of a Democrat in the White
House this time.
America is still America, regardless of whether its
president is a Republican or a Democrat. By the same
token, an occupied country is still occupied, tying a
man's genitals to electric wires is still torture, and
ordering tanks to roam another country's streets is still
imperialism, regardless of whether the president is a
Republican or a Democrat. Democrats are every bit as
culpable and un-repenting as Republicans and Baathists. I
will feel no more justified by Kerry succeeding Bush than
an Iraqi did when Paul Bremer succeeded Jay Garner.
Iraqis did participate in democracy a few months ago, and
I'm not talking about the formation of Iraq's interim
government. In April 2004, Fallujah was bombed and
besieged. Over seven hundred people were killed. Hundreds
from Baghdad walked 35 miles to donate their blood, their
food and their love to their fellow occupied Iraqis in
the abused city. Of course, US blockades surrounded
Fallujah and stood in the Baghdadis' way. The Baghdadis
peacefully broke through the blockades with their bare
hands and inspired the world by their courageous
humanitarian act. Similarly, in Benton Harbor, Michigan
last year, an entire city rioted in protest to a white
police officer's slaying
of an African-American motorcyclist. In Jenin and Gaza,
battered Palestinians took to the streets to protest the
their occupation and the occupation of their brothers and
sisters in Iraq.
The chants of angry protesters from Baghdad, Benton
Harbor and Palestine are manifestations of peoples'
collective will. To my mind, that is the true definition
of democracy. The democracy I choose to participate in
does not take place for half an hour once every four
years in a closed voting booth, where I find myself
asking a politician to control my life and the lives of
others. Instead, it unfolds when I join hands with people
of all racial and religious backgrounds and I march with
them, rain or shine, in solidarity with humanity and in
defiance of artificial democracy and those who compete to
lead it.
Howard Dean: Terror Alerts - Substance or Politics?
Aug 11, 2004, 08:41
Over the past week there has been a lot of controversy
about whether President Bush is using the timing of
terror alerts to bolster his re-election campaign.
Terrorism is a very serious issue and I do not believe
that the terror alerts are based solely on politics.
However, I do have some concerns that the timing of this
announcement seems to be based on an election strategy.
Let's look at the facts:
* Bush strategist Karl Rove told members of the
Republican National Committee during a January 2002
speech that Republicans "can go to the country"
on national security issues and invited his party to
politicize the war in an election year. And according to
The Associated Press, a White House strategy for the 2002
elections - formulated by top presidential advisors -
advised Republican candidates to campaign with messages
highlighting the war on terrorism.
* The Al Qaeda operative whose capture led to the release
of information was captured on July 13, twenty days
before President Bush's press conference. The bulk of the
information received was over three years old, some was
eight months old. Even if the computer discs were found a
few days after the capture of the terrorist, that means
that the administration either chose the timing of the
release, presumably for political reasons, or they lacked
the resources to process the information in a timely
manner.
* The day after Ridge was accused of considering politics
for the timing of the announcement, he suddenly claimed
that it took them a long time to process and translate
the information.
* The administration has denied that the Department of
Homeland Security gets involved in politics. In fact,
last year the Department of Homeland Security was
reportedly used for political purposes when it attempted
to track down the whereabouts of Texas lawmakers who left
the state to foil a Republican attempt to gerrymander
Texas congressional districts.
* And, the Department of Homeland Security played the
political card again at the press conference on August 1.
Ridge spent time informing Americans that the President
was a great leader in the fight against terror. Ridge
said, "We must understand that the kind of
information available to us today is the result of the
President's leadership in the war against terror."
* This is not the first or second time this
administration has misled the public. For example,
Weapons of Mass Destruction still have not been found in
Iraq - even though President Bush convinced the American
public and Congress that this was one of the primary
reasons to support sending approximately 135,000 troops
to Iraq.
* I am not the only person to believe that the timing of
this announcement was somewhat based on politics. News
organizations like the Associated Press, The Washington
Post and The New York Times interviewed national security
experts and political strategists, including a "top
GOP operative" and "some senior
Republicans" who have also questioned the timing of
this announcement.
Terror is one of the most serious short term problems
America faces and along with the soaring deficits and the
continuing degradation of our environment, it is one of
our most serious long term problems. All of us want the
President to succeed in fighting this incredible threat.
I am one American who would like to see more substance
and less politics in this fight, so I can look forward to
a future filled with hope, not fear.
Howard Dean, former governor of Vermont, is the
founder of Democracy for America, a grassroots
organization that supports socially progressive and
fiscally responsible political candidates. Email Howard
Dean at howarddean@democracyforamerica.com
Every evening the oddest collection
Of characters crowd this inn:
Here a face from a farm, in frankness yearning
For corruption and riches; there
A gaunt gospel whom grinning miners
Will stone to death by a dolmen;
Heroes confess to whores, detectives
Chat or play chess with thieves..............Patrick
Kavanagh.