Tag Archives: Mitch McConnell

This post had to be reposted as we count down to the 2022 midterms

Over 50 years ago, African-Americans made up 45% of Mississippi’s population, but fewer than 7% of Mississippians were registered to vote.

In June of 1964, civil rights groups came together to kick off Freedom Summer, a 10-week campaign to dramatically increase the number of registered black voters in the state.

More than 1,000 volunteers of all races and colors, from all over the nation, traveled to Mississippi to do this important work. While there, youth volunteers and their black Mississippian supporters suffered unimaginable levels of vitriol and violence, but they did not stop fighting for what was right.

In the end, Freedom Summer emerged as a defining moment in the civil rights movement, pushing our country one step closer to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

The best way we can honor the work, bravery, and sacrifice of the Freedom Summer volunteers is to exercise the right they fought for so diligently.

Honor the mission of Freedom Summer by pledging to vote in this year’s midterm election.

The extremely low levels of black voter registration in the South were fueled by generations of discriminatory elections practices. States were legally able to hold whites-only primaries, collect poll taxes, and administer literacy tests. When legal barriers weren’t enough, lynchings and bombings—threats and fulfilled promises—kept even more African-Americans away from the polls.

Fifty years later, legislators are attempting to take us backward to 1964, weakening the VRA, making it ever harder for the poor and people of color to have their voices heard at the polls.

Don’t allow these lawmakers to roll back history. They can only win and keep their seats in office when people like you and I stay home during midterm elections.

Raise your voice against those who seek to violate civil rights and human rights. Make a pledge to vote this November:

http://action.naacp.org/My-Vote-2014

In solidarity,

Lorraine C. Miller
Interim President and CEO
NAACP

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

This is what segregation looks like ~~ Alabama – an ugly reminder

07/26/2024 Nativegrl77

Right-wing attacks on voting and equal representation are pushing Black Alabamians out of the picture.

Now the state’s unaccountable government is taking it to the next level. Help stop extreme legislation that mocks and vilifies our history:

Aggressive gerrymandering efforts designed to dilute Black Alabamians’ votes have delivered supermajority control of the state’s legislature — and Alabama’s entire executive branch — to the extreme right wing. With Black voters largely blocked from electing their candidates of choice, Alabama’s unaccountable politicians are hard at work shredding the social safety net and attacking federal laws that protect our health.

Demonstrating just how reckless Alabama’s political leadership has become, the GOP is actually invoking Brown v. Board of Education in its latest campaign to harass and vilify Black women and families. Comparing herself to civil rights champions fighting to end school segregation, Rep. Mary McClurkin (R-Indian Springs) just pushed a package of bills through the House that would force women to carry pregnancies to term even where pregnancy results from rape.¹

The GOP is appropriating the civil rights struggle to ram through its extreme, unconstitutional policy agenda,² while depending on massive civil rights violations to win and hold office. And with November’s election already heating up, we can expect the hypocrisy will only get worse — unless national attention makes Alabama’s government’s predatory behavior toward its own Black constituents too difficult to publicly justify.

It’s time to take a stand: Demand Alabama’s Senate leadership and Gov. Robert Bentley recognize the House is committing a repugnant, costly overreach and reject HB 489, HB 490, HB 493, HB 494, and HB 31 now.

While Alabama’s white political bosses mock both the civil rights movement and Deep South’s continuing legacy of chattel slavery to the faces of their few remaining Black colleagues in Montgomery,³ everyday Alabamians are struggling to survive. Federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families dollars are consistently diverted to projects that have nothing to do with fighting Alabama’s staggering poverty rates, and the state has flirted with becoming the first to end TANF entirely.^4,5

Alabama insists single adults making just $1,332 a year are too wealthy to qualify for Medicaid,⁶ blocking access to basic medical care for hundreds of thousands of residents. Gov. Bentley could easily expand Medicaid coverage with funding from President Obama’s Affordable Care Act — creating 30,000 much-needed jobs, growing wages, and generating nearly $1 billion in new revenue — but he’s refused.^7,8 Alabama’s already low abortion rate could be further reduced under the ACA’s expanded access to contraception, but Attorney General Luther Strange is suing to keep that from happening.^9,10

It’s clear the right wing’s retrograde agenda has nothing to do with standing up for families or protecting the vulnerable — it’s about foreclosing opportunity for Black communities and suppressing Black political power. Despite our growing numbers — over 26% of Alabamians identify as Black — and record levels of voter registration, Black voters and elected officials now have less influence than at any time since the civil rights era.

The GOP strategy is to “pack” Black constituents into fewer districts, “crack” up influential communities in non-majority Black districts, and otherwise “bleach” formerly diverse districts prone to cross-racial coalition building. The resulting, unearned Republican wins have stripped formerly influential Black legislators of leadership positions and the ability to move policy or conduct oversight,¹¹ making Alabama’s government increasingly indifferent to Black constituents’ interests. Even before last year’s Shelby County Supreme Court ruling validated Alabama’s “unbroken chain of repetitive discrimination” dating to the early days of the Voting Rights Act,¹² this ruthless redistricting push has sought to reinstate the bad old days of political apartheid, when representing Black folks was simply not required of white officials.¹³

What’s happening in Alabama should be a national scandal. Tell the state Senate and governor to do their jobs representing all Alabamians — and ensuring the state doesn’t fall farther behind — instead of finding new ways to victimize Black families and communities.

Thanks and Peace,

–Arisha, Rashad, Matt, Kim, Johnny, Hannah and the rest of the ColorOfChange team
April 1st, 2014

Help support our work. ColorOfChange.org is powered by YOU—your energy and dollars. We take no money from lobbyists or large corporations that don’t share our values, and our tiny staff ensures your contributions go a long way.

References

1. “Alabama House Passes Extreme ‘Heartbeat’ Abortion Ban, Three Other Anti-Choice Bills,” RH Reality Check, 03-05-2014
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/3386?t=9&akid=3341.1689899.mOw4eJ

2. “Alabama Lawmakers Propose Near-Total Abortion Ban, Other Severe Restrictions,” RH Reality Check, 02-20-2014
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/3398?t=11&akid=3341.1689899.mOw4eJ

3. “Equating Slavery and Abortion: Where are the Women in this story?” Feministing, 01-24-2011
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/3387?t=13&akid=3341.1689899.mOw4eJ

4. “Alabama Voters to Decide Whether to Save Poor Kids,” Mother Jones, 09-18-2012
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/3389?t=15&akid=3341.1689899.mOw4eJ

5. “Alabama: The sixth poorest state in America,” AL.com, 01-16-2014
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/3390?t=17&akid=3341.1689899.mOw4eJ

6. “As Alabama Cuts Benefits, Desperate Man ‘Robs’ Bank To Get Food, Shelter In Jail,” ThinkProgress, 07-11-2013
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/3388?t=19&akid=3341.1689899.mOw4eJ

7. “Study: Expanding Medicaid would create 30,700 jobs,” AL.com, 10-09-2013
blog.al.com/wire/2013/10/study_expanding_medicaid_would.html

8. “Senate Democrats Remind Governor Bentley that Alabama Must Expand Medicaid,” Alabama Political Reporter, 10-12-2013
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/3391?t=21&akid=3341.1689899.mOw4eJ

9. “Alabama joins EWTN in new lawsuit against Obamacare contraception mandate,” AL.com, 10-28-2013
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/3392?t=23&akid=3341.1689899.mOw4eJ

10. “Study: Abortion rate at lowest point since 1973,” Washington Post, 02-02-2014
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/3393?t=25&akid=3341.1689899.mOw4eJ

11. “The Decline of Black Power in the South,” New York Times, 07-10-2013
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/3394?t=27&akid=3341.1689899.mOw4eJ

12. “What Is Alabama’s Problem With the Voting Rights Act?” The Nation, 02-26-2013
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/3395?t=29&akid=3341.1689899.mOw4eJ

13. “Keeping Black Voters in Their Place,” New York Times, 11-05-2013
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/3396?t=31&akid=3341.1689899.mOw4eJ

~ my 2cents ...

Republicans … say one thing in front of cameras and continue to vote another on the floor of Congress

10/06/2022 Nativegrl77

yep, just another rant … Please Vote to keep #BidenHarris intact in 2022! This is a post from 2013 tweaked

The 113th-116th Congress’ are long gone, but it should be noted they were “in session” or “at work” fewer days than most of their constituents, even with the attack of #Covid-19 … the people they seem to keep saying depend on,” the government tit for entitlements,” then without remorse proceed to vote against the average voter and their lives … some Republicans call “average voter” their constituents lazy and these constituents continue to vote against their best interests? I still cannot understand this. The nonsense continued with the 114th, 115th, 116th Congress, and now here we are with the 117th Congress. Thank goodness, the 117th Congress is mostly a predominantly Democratic Party. We have a slim but winning trifecta. We all must support trust and push for great policies that help ALL, Not a select few, in America.

Furthermore, we the people were governed by a guy with no political experience; seemingly no sense of real loyalty to what most of us call #AmericanValues, doesn’t seem to be a true Republican or a person who leans left though the fact is he has given $$ to both, he said a lot, done little though the executive orders he once hated when President Obama was in office came fast hard and against We The People. His comments for the action are incoherent at times and a lot of those policies will be doing some damage shortly… btw, can somebody tell this to trump voters, who while now possibly are all insurrectionists; most will still reap the benefits the rest of us vote for and that is offensive. The trifecta he held, aka our 3 branches of government, was capable of doing the right thing, but they decided slashing, burning, cutting average voter lives to shreds, stalled CHIP, and holding DACA/Dreamers politically hostage was better for their agenda. This group once called DACA kids #incrediblekids now saying on every platform possible that they are bad folks, illegals, criminals, and murderers. This trifecta government held a lot of secret meetings, seemingly making secret deals constantly; lest we understand or accept that all of this talk is not only cheap … The truth is being manipulated and what most of us know as the truth has officially become known as “alternative facts” … sigh

What happened to Congress?

It should make Americans all wonder if $175K for members of Congress is just too much for public servants that work less than 120 days a year as members of Congress, led by Republicans. The thing is they seem to think the rest of us need 2 maybe 3 jobs, and deserve less social services among some other stupid things like fewer migrant families, though reports are that the Trump administration has requested foreign workers for Mar-a-Lago numerous times a year. I am SMH. While I am not an expert, it is certainly important to know our GDP will suffer if he goes full out to ban the browns and blacks

Yes, it is time to breathe in slowly and slowly release your breath … be still, then repeat the process when needed as insanity in the News, and Politics begins to try and make viewers accept the trump era as valid that “alternative facts” are real while the extreme right puts it on loop mode. The idea that Americans should just trust anyone on a news platform and or in the highest office or a member of Congress at face value is a joke especially when that looks like “performance art” seeming not only like they believe what they are saying but assume that no one is paying attention to their behavior on the floor of Congress because they certainly act like we all have amnesia every time they get a chance to be hooked up to a mic!

So, again … Congress, if led by republicans will say one thing while in front of the camera while planning a takedown in secret rooms; tossing their titles of Public Servant down the nearest sewer which makes you wonder how we will ever pass the Voters Right Act, immigration reform and other bills For Americans when a good faith effort is kept off the floor of Congress because of political competition and poison pill amendments added. There was a time when we would tell the Republican Party they need to be more inclusive because trust, respect, and future votes are not seasonal or easily earned, nor should they be. The current Republican Party has many leaving, stating this party is no longer worthy … due to white nationalism or something even worse.

Who else felt like the era of trump while not over per se, his reign as POTUS felt so much longer than four years

on 1/6/21, the ugly happened

The fact is, the era of trump created misguided, awful people gullible to false misleading information and some were just waiting for this guy to finally arrive. We have seen a lot of divisive behavior since 2016, which makes a left-leaning voter wonder, can Republicans continue on this path, continue to get away with so much, and not pay for the BS that happened in the 2016 or 2020 elections and at the DC Mall? Okay, I don’t know about you, but the number of times I actually had to stop and take a deep breath as we watched the government of trump try to take our country beyond the extreme right rivals the number of times we had to listen to Republicans continue to say one thing in front of the camera while voting the opposite on the floor of Congress. Some of us watched in horror as they acted; remember (acted) like they plan to be bipartisan, but they continued to show themselves to be less than trustworthy, less than bipartisan and their votes … Please check any and all republican members voting records! This is proof of how they actually feel about constituents that cannot be denied or overlooked.

Republicans have been waiting for a trifecta that allows them to vote and pass bills without hearings or much debate. So, folks must call your member of Congress because the next generation is counting on us because climate change is real, Women deserve reproductive rights, the voting rights act should be permanent, immigration reform and a real jobs act is the American path toward Stability, not Austerity though Republicans seem to keep pushing or that 2007 financial collapse just didn’t impact them enough

– When you’re a rich member of Congress; you tend to say, do as We say Not as we do, and they continue to Vote as they want or get paid to vote NOT the way they sold/ran their campaign on

I want America to wake up, push back, and demand all members of Congress do the People’s business

#VotingMatters

Republicans see themselves as stewards of the purse strings in the House of Representatives, but it does not give them the right to toss #WeThePeople under the bus, who as taxpayers give them not only a salary but government healthcare?

All elections from here on will decide what kind of life we all want our next generation to navigate through … please take the time to understand what and who is causing America to decline at this time … The House of Representatives holds the American #PurseStrings which is why Americans have been held, hostage when Republicans are given that task to govern… try leaning left

Nativegrl77