Focused Read in 3 minutes
"The civil rights movement is on the ballot...
(By Porsha White, Georgia State Director for Let America Vote)
Don’t fool yourself for a second by thinking the movement is a closed chapter in history, or that its work is finished.
The struggle for civil rights goes on in 2018 ― and just as in 1870 and 1965, it runs straight through the right to vote.
That hard-won right is under attack. In the last several years, politicians have become increasingly brazen in their drive to block people of color from participating in our democracy.
For proof, consider Georgia... the Republican secretary state who is running for governor, has purged hundreds of thousands of voters from the rolls and is now refusing to process 53,000 voter registrations, primarily from black Georgians.
Local officials, meanwhile, have been trying to limit voting periods and close polling locations ― most often those serving African-American communities.
In 2015, officials attempted to close nine of 10 polling places in Hancock County; in 2017, six of eight polls were threatened in Irwin County; and in 2018, officials moved to shutter seven of nine polling sites in Randolph County. In every case, they backed down only after civil rights groups spoke up and attracted national attention.
Things may actually be worse in North Carolina, where Republicans have pursued scheme after scheme to complicate voting and excise people of color from the process.
They’ve engaged in blatant, egregious racial and partisan gerrymandering.
They’ve purged voters from the rolls and cut early voting days and times.
They enacted a voter ID law that a court struck down for targeting African Americans “with almost surgical precision.”
This year, they’re trying to write extreme voter ID laws into the state constitution ― along with attacks on gubernatorial power explicitly aimed at giving GOP lawmakers greater control over election administration.
And while Georgia and North Carolina may be the most aggressive voting-rights offenders in the country at the moment, they’re hardly the only ones.
... What’s to be done?
Election administration is a matter of law and policy, but
the fundamental answer to ensuring the right to vote is moral.
Politicians ― and let’s state it plainly; they’re almost always Republicans ― must stop manipulating our electoral system for their own gain.
They must answer to a higher calling than their own re-election.
They must hold themselves to a higher standard of civil engagement than that of the Jim Crow era.
For too long and in too many places, politicians have tried to shape the electorate to match their politics.
We must commit to a more responsive, moral politics that values every voice in our democracy.
Some states are doing just that: in recent years more than a dozen states have adopted automatic voter registration (AVR), a powerful shift in elections administration that registers voters or updates their information anytime they interact with state government...and makes elections more secure. And experience from recent elections clearly shows it increases participation.
States could also ease restrictions on voting rights for former offenders. In Florida, Iowa and Kentucky, voters permanently lose the franchise with a felony conviction ― even after they’ve served their sentence, paid their fines, fees and restitution, rebuilt their lives and reintegrated into society.
Laws in many other states are less stringent but have similar intentions. None of them serve society ― they just piggyback on existing racial and socioeconomic disparities in criminal justice to disenfranchise millions of Americans and sideline already marginalized groups from the democratic process.
There’s more. Policymakers should end voter purges and repeal ID laws. And Congress must update and upgrade the Voting Rights Act.
The U.S. Supreme Court’s notorious Shelby County v. Holder decision in 2013 eviscerated the law, neutering the provision that allowed the Department of Justice to vet voting provisions in places with a history of voter suppression.
It’s been a disaster...Discrimination against minority voters, the head of the commission told The New York Times, is ”enduring and pernicious.”
Congress must move swiftly to update the Voting Rights Act and identify a new list of jurisdictions where a recent history of blatant, anti-democratic voter suppression demands federal review and approval before new measures can be adopted.
Policies abound that would safeguard our electoral system and make voting more accessible for everyone, if politicians are only willing to embrace them.
The election looming before us represents a key moment that will decide whether we embrace our increasingly diverse society or retreat into division and injustice.
For years, division and injustice have been on the march, and this is our chance to push it back.
(Emphasis is mine.)
The Civil Rights Movement is not just history.
The march from Selma to Montgomery was not the end of the struggle.
And the Civil Rights Act of 1965 did not secure voting rights in perpetuity.
The work goes on, for the activists on the streets and the canvassers knocking doors today, the voters at the ballot box in November, and the lawmakers sworn into office next January. ... "
Focused Thought in 30 seconds
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Focused Monthly Inspiration
( #itsNovember2018now )
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What's in the book:
→ Direct sources & resources for Democrats:
* ( Personal favored and most informative follows are also shared here with the understanding that readers will always apply their own critical thinking to any information provided anywhere by anyone. #StrongerTogether does not share sources of information lightly but -- no one is perfect! -- so always #DistrustAndVerify -- even if it's me. I am using a star rating that is strictly based on my situational experience with the work of the media personality specifically in relation to issues of interest to me. )
The Democratic Party Website
Also, NOT exactly a Democratic Party specific source under a GOP majority but a good place for to hear and to watch speeches & hearings directly C-SPAN
Democratic National Committee's Team Blue!
"The Blue Wave 
🌊 won't happen unless we all pitch in to help elect Democrats across the country. We've partnered with a number of organizations to make sure we're covering ground in every single community 👣. Join Team Blue to volunteer to get out the vote 
🗳️ in your community..."
🌊 won't happen unless we all pitch in to help elect Democrats across the country. We've partnered with a number of organizations to make sure we're covering ground in every single community 👣. Join Team Blue to volunteer to get out the vote 🗳️ in your community..."
You can email your two Senators and your Representative in Congress in one email here
"Postcards to Voters are friendly, handwritten reminders from volunteers to targeted voters giving Democrats a winning edge in close, key races coast to coast.
What started on March 11, 2017 with sharing 5 addresses apiece to 5 volunteers on Facebook...
Now, we consist of over 20,000+ volunteers in every state (including Alaska and Hawaii) who have written close to 3 million postcards to voters in over 100+ key, close elections."
You can find Postcards to Voters here
→ Some of my favorite, most active organizations -- some existing & some developing to elect Democrats:
Born from conversations between Governor Howard Dean and Secretary Hillary Clinton in the aftermath of the 2016 election, Onward Together was established to lend support to leaders — particularly young leaders — kicking off projects and founding new organizations to fight for our shared progressive values. here
Since #StandOnEveryCorner has grown, it’s become a stand by all of us to protect our democracy from corruption and treason...A stand not at your State Capitol, but in your own backyard. Not once every few months, but as often as you can here
→ Fact checking organizations courtesy of the Society of Professional Journalists
in alphabetical order...
→ Some of my favorite, most informative
follows on Twitter include:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ US Intelligence | Author | Navy Senior Chief | NBC/MSNBC
⭐⭐⭐ Federal Government Operations | Vanity Fair | Newsweek | MSNBC Contributor | Author
⭐⭐⭐⭐ Voting Rights/Voter Suppression | Author | Mother Jones
→ Some of my favorite, highly credible media -- at the moment:
📰📰📰 Mother Jones
📰📰📰📰 The Washington Post
→ Some of my favorite Talking Heads -- at the moment -- and their Twitter handles:
→ Some of my favorite media/panelists -- at the moment -- and their Twitter handles:
✅✅✅✅ Joan Walsh national affairs correspondent for The Nation; CNN political contributor
✅✅✅ Heidi Przybyla USA TODAY Senior Political Reporter
✅✅✅✅ Jennifer Rubin Conservative blogger at @ WashingtonPost's Right Turn,MSNBC contributor
✅✅✅ Natasha Bertrand Staff writer @ The Atlantic covering national security & the
intel community. @ NBCNews/@ MSNBC contributor
→ Some of my favorite Democrat Party Leaders to follow on Twitter, not in elected office but proving knowledge & experience are positives & not negatives are:
Former First Lady Michelle Obama
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
Former Labor Secretary/Today's DNC Chair Tom Perez
Note: I rarely get involved in primary races -- outside of those in my own area and unless there is a glaring reason that can not be ignored, I support Democratic Party nominees in general elections. I don't support bashing Democrats.
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(Linked) "...is our 2016 platform...a declaration of how we plan to move America forward. Democrats believe that cooperation is better than conflict, unity is better than division, empowerment is better than resentment, and bridges are better than walls.
It’s a simple but powerful idea: We are stronger together."
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Owned, Created and Curated by Gail Mountain, this blog is often gently edited and/or excerpted for quick reading, with occasional personal commentary in the form of the written word and/or in the form of emphasis noted. Network For #StrongerTogether ! is not affiliated with The Democratic Party in any capacity. This is an independent blog and the hope is you will, at a glance, learn more about the Party and you will, with a click or two, also take action on its behalf as it is provided!
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g. (Unapologetic Democrat)
✊ Resisting "Fake News"
g. (Unapologetic Democrat)
✊ Resisting "Fake News"
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