General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhat would happen if say several African American males showed up in the most white geographic
voting election and challenge the voting status of White People.
Think about it, these Voting Activists aligned with the Tea Party are going to African American voting areas and stand their watching people vote. It's intimidating, especially when they show up when the older folks come to vote. These folks remember voting intimidating, and Jim Crow and all sorts of voting suppression aimed at the African American community.
I have been wondering about this since I was coordinating voting workers when i was an officer of the democratic party here in the Cleveland Area...
Response to WCGreen (Original post)
Post removed
4th law of robotics
(6,801 posts)absolutely nothing will happen to black activists who go out of their way to intimidate white voters.
treestar
(82,383 posts)Is that the New Black Panther Party? They don't look that frightening to me. Why do you find them intimidating?
Marinedem
(373 posts)Stay classy.
CatWoman
(79,591 posts)to call out such bullshit as nicely as he/she did.
what you posted was nothing but right wing propaganda, and you know it.
own it.
Missycim
(950 posts)any race holding nightsticks outside a polling place isn't intimidating?
Travis_0004
(5,417 posts)What is the point of showing up in a military like uniform, along with a giant nightstick?
treestar
(82,383 posts)Why should we be afraid of them? They may be for their own protection. Less lethal than guns.
HiPointDem
(20,729 posts)Republican poll watcher Chris Hill stated that voters had been complaining about intimidation, while the District Attorney's office stated that they had not been contacted by any voters.[28]
The New Black Panther with the nightstick was escorted away by the police.[29]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Black_Panther_Party
Marinedem
(373 posts)The NBPP is a racist organization. They are no different from the Klan or the Skinheads in most rational peoples eyes.
http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-files/groups/new-black-panther-party
Call me crazy, but having a couple of members standing in front of the doors to a polling place in paramilitary garb while holding blunt objects qualifies as voter intimidation.
But hey, they're just innocently hanging out and I'm the right winger for questioning that.
I posted in response to the OP with an example of what would happen in this situation: National media coverage and little else. Same as with Tea-partiers.
CatWoman
(79,591 posts)"the new white party"?
treestar
(82,383 posts)If that is the Philadelphia incident, it is an AA neighborhood.
Missycim
(950 posts)Neighborhood.
MrSlayer
(22,143 posts)Trust me, had they tried this in my neighborhood we would have been talking about the racist white people that beat these two assholes to a pulp. They were intimidating no one.
It's why the Bush administration declined to prosecute.
Take this horseshit elsewhere.
Missycim
(950 posts)it was President Obama that chose not to prosecute.
The Department of Justice later narrowed the charges against Minister King Shabazz and dismissed the charges against the New Black Panther Party and Jerry Jackson. The decision to dismiss the charges has led to accusations that the Department of Justice under the Obama administration is biased against white victims and unwilling to prosecute minorities for civil rights violations. These charges have been most notably made by J. Christian Adams, who in May 2010 resigned his post in the Department of Justice in protest over the Obama Administration's perceived mishandling of the case, and by his former supervisor Christopher Coates.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Black_Panther_Party_voter_intimidation_case
While I was wrong on the location, and for that I apologize.
MrSlayer
(22,143 posts)The Bush administration first decided not to prosecute because there was no intimidation. Now, after President Obama took office, the assholes looking to set up a scenerio in which they could accuse him and Holder of being biased in favor of black people filed the charges again, which as before, were dismissed.
http://blogs.ajc.com/cynthia-tucker/2010/07/12/bush-doj-decided-new-black-panthers-no-major-case/
:snip:
But solid reporting from Media Matters and Adam Serwer of The American Prospect ought to put this nonsense to rest (it wont, but it should). The charges against the New Black Panthers were downgraded by the Bush Department of Justice:
The decision not to file a criminal case occurred before Obama was even in office.
This means that the case was downgraded to a civil case 11 days before Obama was inaugurated, 26 days before Eric Holder became attorney general, and about nine months before Thomas Perez was confirmed as head of the Civil Rights Division.
:snip:
HiPointDem
(20,729 posts)lived in the building.
and despite all the talk about how the men were using racial slurs, etc. etc. -- i haven't been able to find any video of such a thing.
Minister King Shabazz carried a billy club, and is reported to have pointed it at voters while both men shouted racial slurs,[5] including phrases such as "white devil" and "you're about to be ruled by the black man, cracker.
here's all i found:
whoever was speaking (which you can't see, nor can you hear anything before or after) said "that's why you're going to be ruled by A black man" (obama, obviously).
whoever put up the video billed it as "you're gonna be ruled by THE black man."
one wonders who all these white crackers were that were voting at public housing in a black neighborhood.
Only 34 whites live in Precinct 4 in Philadelphia out of a total population of 970, according to census data. But there was a sea of white faces there that day, mainly Republican lawyers whod come to monitor the polling station in what, since the disputed 2000 presidential election, has become an election-day ritual for both parties.
http://www.mainjustice.com/tag/jerry-jackson/
another funny thing about the case is that at least one of the two panthers is supposedly not an obama fan:
[Obama] is a puppet on a string. I dont support no black man running for white politics. I will not vote for who will be the next slavemaster, he told the Philadelphia Daily News days before the election, according to Politico.
http://www.mainjustice.com/tag/jerry-jackson/
frankly, the whole thing smells like a set-up.
i see a lot of suits.
Missycim
(950 posts)Last edited Wed Aug 29, 2012, 07:09 AM - Edit history (1)
who went to to polls to vote or where the polling place was located, no one (of any color) should show up to a place of voting with nightsticks. I don't understand why anyone would think what these people did was appropriate.
HiPointDem
(20,729 posts)but i *do* care when people misrepresent the facts.
which the republican party hacks who started the ball rolling on this story did.
it appears based on all the evidence i'm able to find that the "threats," the "racial slurs," *& so on were fabricated.
no actual voters complained. just republican party hacks.
that's the party that thinks weapons -- guns -- should be carried to *all* public venues.
JRLeft
(7,010 posts)Cali_Democrat
(30,439 posts)There are numerous documented cases of the Klan and Skinheads killing African Americans because of the color of their skin.
How many white people have the NBPP killed?
Careful, your slip is showing.
HiPointDem
(20,729 posts)Cali_Democrat
(30,439 posts)Have any information on this?
CatWoman
(79,591 posts)those guys showed up in predominately BLACK precincts.
so that is an epic FAIL on the part of the poster who posted that pic.
the ignorance of some astounds.
Cali_Democrat
(30,439 posts)Right wing propaganda fail.
HiPointDem
(20,729 posts)by police.
sounds like a set up actually.
During the 2008 presidential election, poll watchers found two New Black Panther militia members shouting racial slurs outside a polling place in Philadelphia.[26]
One of the two was a credentialed poll watcher, while the other was a New Black Panther member who had brought a police-style nightstick baton.
A University of Pennsylvania student, Stephen Robert Morse, was hired by the local Republican Party on behalf of the John McCain presidential campaign to film the incident.[27] His video aired on several news outlets throughout the country.
Republican poll watcher Chris Hill stated that voters had been complaining about intimidation, while the District Attorney's office stated that they had not been contacted by any voters.[28]
The New Black Panther with the nightstick was escorted away by the police.[29]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Black_Panther_Party_voter_intimidation_case
Zalatix
(8,994 posts)What were these guys convicted of? I don't recall them being found guilty of any crime.
If two "evil scary" black men are standing around near a voting area in Philly, and they're ARMED with physical weapons to boot, they would be lucky just to be arrested.
Sounds to me like all those claims about them harassing voters is bullshit. Unless these guys were arrested and convicted of something - which they absolutely would be, if they even LOOKED guilty.
In fact.... hmmmmmmmmmm.
http://mediamatters.org/research/2010/07/16/report-fox-news-has-hyped-phony-new-black-panth/167811
Jamaal510
(10,893 posts)Fox Noise spent almost a total of 10 hours covering TWO dudes who were standing around at a polling place?! They ought to be ashamed of themselves, trying to place animus in their viewers towards fellow Americans. And how do we know that those guys weren't paid off by some wingnut in order to make Obama and AAs look bad? Judging by what we've seen so far from them, they would engage in those type of below-the-belt tactics.
Zalatix
(8,994 posts)Marr
(20,317 posts)Since that Black Panther showing was neither massive, nor organized, nor in any way supported by the establishment. That single image of two men simply standing there-- not challenging anyone's right to vote at all, mind you-- got huge amounts of air time and right-wingers everywhere judged it as an implicit and open threat.
But they do much worse themselves on a massive scale-- openly challenging peoples' right to vote-- and insist it's nothing to worry about, and anyone who feels intimidated is just a loony?
Bozita
(26,955 posts)Marr
(20,317 posts)They ran that photo everywhere for weeks.
limpyhobbler
(8,244 posts)If they were challenging white people's voting status or intimidating voters at the polls they would be arrested after about 12 seconds. That's the point of the OP.
I never knew the new New Black Panther Party was real. I thought it was something Fox "news" invented to scare white people.
HiPointDem
(20,729 posts)treestar
(82,383 posts)Maybe not in most areas but it indeed would result in the police being called and some type of trespassing or disorderly conduct charge.
ismnotwasm
(42,408 posts)At the very least threatened, but probably shot and killed.
And that's reality.
lsewpershad
(2,620 posts)is, send these men to every polling station where "these Voting Activists aligned with the Tea Party" appear.
Cali_Democrat
(30,439 posts)Think back to the tea party rallies in 2010. 99% of the people were white. Many were carrying gun in the open. Now imagine if there was a rally with 99% black people and many of them were carrying guns in the open. What would the reaction be?
jaysunb
(11,856 posts)10 brothers that lost their voting rights due to prison terms (they"ve now served) and hire them as "poll watchers" over in Lakewood & Rocky River. They could also be deployed at the eastside polls to "watch" the watchers.
Sounds fair and fun to me.
elbloggoZY27
(283 posts)Thanks Vets I am one of you. Served on the USS Constellation CVA-64 in 1966-1968.
We are in the year 2012 and the ugly head of discrimination and voter intimidation keeps razing its really vile head.
We all put our lives on the line for this Country and it's time to eradicate the political poison in out society. We are a melting pot and I am proud that we are.
U.S Navy Veteran.
ArnoldLayne
(2,145 posts)the Brides father a General walking her down the aisle. "I'm watching you watching him".
WCGreen
(45,558 posts)I went into every ward when I was the treasurer and spoke at every ward Club in the County.
jsmirman
(4,507 posts)but just put any big black male in each of the polling stations to watch the watchers.
The old busybodies that form the "backbone" of "True the Vote" will be too busy cleaning their underwear to provide any further nuisance.
Ikonoklast
(23,973 posts)Bernardo de La Paz
(50,563 posts)MrScorpio
(73,696 posts)And if you'd like, I'll post an OP essay later to explain why.
The reason I'd post another OP is that I don't want to hijack your thread.
HopeHoops
(47,675 posts)I know damn near everyone who votes there and it will definitely cost me a few beers at the local pubs, but I'm considering it.
azureblue
(2,276 posts)is a bunch of black attorneys show up and try this. And also, I wish a bunch of black attorneys would walk a disenfranchised voter through the registration / ID process, and be there on voting day, to intimidate the intimidators.
I may be out of line here, but, if i were to fault the black voter movement, I would say that it should be turning its heavies - the attorneys, the judges, cops, etc., loose on these closet racists.. Nothing makes a cop or bully back down faster than having some guy or woman hand him his business card that says "attorney at law" on it.
Throd
(7,208 posts)But I think any group of people trying that would get a hostile reception around here, regardless of race.