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After Donald Trump lost the presidential election in 2020, a wave of new state laws created voting barriers that could have a detrimental effect on the African-American community. But activists and political observers are noticing and intending to repel.
“As long as we have countries that are able to suppress the votes, we will have to oppose the oppressive tactics that are being used.” Alex Rias, senior director of fair justice initiatives in the National City League, told BET.com.
“For several generations and 56 years after the adoption of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, we must move forward, but the tactics have become more strategic and less obvious,” he added.
To address the challenges, BET, the National City League and several other key civil rights organizations partnered for the second National Black Voter Day on September 17th.
It will include a series of events focused on voting, civic participation, economic development, health, education and other issues that are important to the black community.
CONNECTED: Stacey Abrams and Michelle Obama join forces to vote
A new congressional resolution by the Black Cabinet of Congress has designated the third Friday in September as National Black Voter Day. He noted that “voter suppression continues to have a disproportionate impact on color communities,” citing data from the Center for American Progress, which show that blacks report four times more racial discrimination than whites.
“National Black Day is a major effort to engage black communities through education, campaigning, organizing, door-to-door leafing, power building, social and mass media to register, train and mobilize people to vote and vote. continuously ”, resolution.
He continues: “The US House and Senate recognize that black voters are essential to the democratic experiment, and National Black Voters Day is an opportunity for black voters to unite their communities to ensure that black votes are fully represented in the democratic process. “
National Black Voters Day 2021 comes amid a legislative struggle in Congress to pass the Lewis Voting Act, which would restore the protection of voting rights that the U.S. Supreme Court violated in 2013 with its ruling in Shelby County opposite Holder.
In August, Democrats in the House of Representatives passed a bill named after the late congressman, who was an icon in the Civil Rights Movement, without any Republican support. He faces a difficult battle in the Senate, where Democrats seem unable to garner enough votes to pass legislation ahead of the crucial 2022 by-elections.
Meanwhile, going back to the Jim Crow era, at least 18 Republican-led states have passed 30 laws restricting access to ballots since Trump lost the presidency, according to the Brennan Center.
Extensive anti-voting measures make it difficult to vote by imposing rules that restrict postal and early voting, impose stricter requirements for voter identification and eliminate voting roles.
National organizer of social and racial justice Tiffany Loftin told BET.com that he holds elected Democrats, who have the presidency and majority in the House and Senate, responsible for protecting access to black ballots. They have the opportunity to adopt legislation on voting rights.
“If they sit on their hands, point fingers and play money in politics, then not only will people not run in the next election because they can’t,” Loftin said, “but they’ll also feel like someone didn’t have a back. during the time they were in office. “
In the upcoming election cycles, the army of black volunteers may refuse to knock on doors, participate in telephone banks and other campaigns, she warned.
CONNECTED: Rev. Al Sharpton warns of voting rights under threat as lawyers head to Washington’s March anniversary
The question for voting rights defenders is in 2021 and the forthcoming interim period, how will they motivate blacks to vote when former President Barack Obama or aren’t his political opponents, Donald Trump, on the ballot?
Who is on the ballot is important, but another key motivator of turnout is to protect access to the ballot for starters, Rias said.
Countries such as Georgia, Texas and Florida are trying to reduce non-traditional ways of voting, such as postal ballots and early voting, which are becoming increasingly popular.
“The fact that the attack is happening shows you that people are motivated to vote in large numbers if they are given non-traditional forms of voting. And there are people all over the country who don’t want to see that happen. They don’t want more people to have access, “he explained.
Rias said some of the most insidious efforts to destroy democracy include the unlimited challenges of Georgia’s post-election results, but also encouraging poll observers to substantially harass voters by recording them on their phones. and shoot them.
“This is separate and in addition to clearing the voter lists and changing polling stations, changing the hours and dates on which voting or voting is allowed, changing and restricting the ways and places where people can leave ballots,” he added.
Loftin said she was recently asked about the need for something like a National Black Voter, when the nation has already elected a black president and a colored woman is vice president.
“Our agenda has never been just representation,” she said.
The agenda was for quality education, good work, the right to choose a woman, the path to African immigrant citizenship, health care, the cancellation of student debt and an end to police brutality and the mass detention of black bodies, she explained.
“These are the things on the agenda that we are fighting for,” she said. “It’s not about whether a black man is in office, because history shows that we had black people in the office, white people in the office, Latinos and the office, strange people in the office, Native Americans in the office, and we still haven’t succeeded. to fit our agenda. “
Loftin said the Black Church remains a focal point in the ongoing struggle for suffrage. This pillar of the black community is still an institution that registers and trains voters in large numbers, and on election day provides transportation to polling stations.
At a time when most people turn to social media for information, Loftin and Rias stressed the importance of following organizations that provide accurate information when the Internet is flooded with misinformation aimed at black voters.
They urged people to visit Vote.org. The easy-to-use website checks the status of voter registration, registers voters and offers information for voting as a polling station.
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