I am so deeply moved by John Lewis& #39; death. Too often now, the fight over voting rights gets framed as a political issue ("how will this law impact the election?"). Yes, it& #39;s political, but John Lewis so forcefully showed us that it& #39;s so much more than that. It& #39;s a moral issue.
Today I& #39;m thinking of the hallowed ground in Selma where John Lewis marched.
But I& #39;m also thinking about Crystal Mason, who faces a 5-year prison sentence for trying to cast a provisional vote in the 2016 election that didn& #39;t count https://www.huffpost.com/entry/crystal-mason-prison-sentence_n_5d3b04e8e4b0c31569e9fb94">https://www.huffpost.com/entry/cry...
I& #39;m thinking about Alfonzo Tucker, an Alabama man who was blocked from voting in the 2018 election because he owed $4 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/feb/27/alabama-voting-rights-alfonzo-tucker">https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2...
I& #39;m thinking about Pleasant Grove, a city in Alabama where African Americans make up a majority of the population, yet no African American candidate has ever won a seat on the city council https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/feb/28/alabama-pleasant-grove-fight-to-vote">https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2...
I& #39;m thinking about Lanisha Bratcher, an African American woman in North Carolina who faces time in prison for voting while ineligible in 2016 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/dec/16/north-carolina-felony-vote-law-black-woman">https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2...
I& #39;m thinking about the organizers in southern California who stood outside a jail handing out voter registration applications to people as they& #39;re released in the middle of the night because the sheriff wouldn& #39;t let them inside https://www.huffpost.com/entry/register-to-vote-southern-california-orange-county_n_5bd22882e4b0a8f17ef5c9e2">https://www.huffpost.com/entry/reg...
I& #39;m thinking about a federal judge who wrote last month that voting rights disputes are essentially political squabbles that courts can& #39;t do little to stop https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/30/wisconsin-voting-restrictions-reinstated-republican-victory">https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2...
I& #39;m thinking about the senate majority leader, who issued a lengthly press release praising Lewis today, but said just four days ago “There’s very little tangible evidence of this whole voter-suppression nonsense that the Democrats are promoting." https://www.wsj.com/articles/mitch-mcconnell-signals-limits-on-race-related-policy-changes-11594733555">https://www.wsj.com/articles/...
I& #39;m thinking about the same senate majority leader who has declined to take up a bill, sponsored by John Lewis, to implement a new formula for the Voting Rights Act.
I& #39;m thinking about the United States Supreme Court that has stepped in to uphold voting restrictions in every single voting case that has come before it this year https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jul/11/supreme-court-justices-liberal-conservatives">https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2...
I am so deeply moved by John Lewis& #39; death and the fight of his life. But it is so clear it is far from over.