A Black, older woman today told me that she's not voting because...

[AP]

...she thinks there's nothing we can do and the bible says there will be heaven on earth no matter what we do.

I told her that when I arrive at the pearly gates, I don't want to tell MLK and RFK and JFK that I didn't think it was important to vote. I told her that I didn't think that God would be too impressed with me if I didn't do everything I could to alleviate misery and give people lives with as much dignity as possible.

I told her that my favorite passage in the bible was Habakkuk and that when god tells Habakkuk that the thing to do when you look at the BS going on in the world is "write it down," I interpret that as meaning write your X down on the ballot.

I told her that God's telling me to write it down, and I will be writing it down on Election Day.

I convinced her to vote.

[AuntPatsy]

1. I'm impressed,thank you......

[proud patriot]

2. Woo Hoo

:thumbsup:

[okieinpain]

3. very nice.

[RevCheesehead]

4. Amen - and thank you!

[JohnnyCougar]

5. Way to go!

I think I convinced my dad NOT to vote. That's good, because he would most definitley vote for *.

[zaj]

6. Wow! (my new hero!)

[grytpype]

7. Well done!

[ParanoidPat]

8. Beautiful! Thank you.

:toast: :evilgrin: :thumbsup:

This deserves a big :kick: !

[AP]

9. I'm glad I decided to phone bank today.

And I hope all DU'ers who feel the way I feel when I hear people say things like that are phone banking as much as possible.

[cheshire]

10. Geeze you spoke from the mount. From God brain thru your mount to her ear.

[milburn]

11. I have a Black woman on my street

I talked to her and said that bush is a chimpanzee and she didn't know what I was talking about.

[newyawker99]

42. Hi milburn!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[goclark]

12. Way to go!

[elf]

13. ONLY IN AMERICA

:scared:

[shrdlu]

14. I Kiss You!

[Moonbeam_Starlight]

15. Thank you thank you thank you

then did you make sure she was registered to vote???

You ROCK hard.

[AP]

17. She was on our call list, so she was reg'd.

But she was telling me that she wrote to the BoE that she wanted to unregister 4 years ago and she was upset that she wasn't taken off the rolls.

This call began about as bad as a call to a Democrat could be.

At the end she was asking me if I had that scripture number for her.

What I should have done was asked her where her church was and I should have called her pastor and told him that some members of his flock have some crazy ideas. Just think what it would have been like for her if Sunday's sermon were on Habakkuk and on the importance of voting?

So I really missed an opportunity. I got one vote, but I could have hit a grand slam.

That's one thing about phone banking and precinct walking: the more you do it, the better your strategies become. Next time I'm going to hit the grand slam.

If you like politics, it's really quite something to phone bank. Everyone should do it and do it often.

[Moonbeam_Starlight]

21. Oh I've probably called

over 1000 people in the last year. Some were for a local school board race (we kept a crazy fundie from taking a seat from a VERY good Dem) and one is for the woman running for state house in my district. She is a strong Dem too.

Phone banking is challenging, but can be VERY rewarding.

[missouri dem]

16. Great Job

Thank you. Keep up the good work. This is how we will win- one voter at a time.

[JohnKleeb]

18. That's beautiful stuff

[NEDem]

19. we need a couple hundred people like you in every state.

Great job

[JI7]

20. i love that

i kind of did a similar thing but with someone i know. she is religious but not very political. so she opposes abortion, same sex marriage and some other things based on her religious beliefs. but she doesn't actively oppose it in that she isn't involved in politics.

but i convinced her to vote by talking about economics. she is latina and comes from a family that is kind of poor. they aren't poor in that they are always hungry, but more in that they live paycheck to paycheck with many in the family contributing to get by. she made a bad comment about the grocery strikers once and i explained why they were doing it and then i talked a bit about Bush's racism in a way she could understand.

so i convinced her to vote. and she didn't even ask things like "doesn't he support abortion".

[Eric J in MN]

22. Which book of the bible is Habakkuk in? nt

nt

[AP]

26. It's its own book.

1:2 How long, Lord, must I cry for help? But you do not listen!I call out to you, "Violence!" But you do not intervene!3


1:3 Why do you force me to experience injustice?4Why do you put up with wrongdoing?5Destruction and violence confront6 me;conflict is present and one must endure strife.7


1:4 For this reason the law lacks power,8and justice is never carried out.9Indeed,10 the wicked intimidate11 the innocent.12For this reason justice is perverted.13

...

2:2 The Lord responded:4"Write down this message!5 Record it legibly on tablets,so the one who announces6 it may read it easily.7


2:3 For the message is a witness to what is decreed;8it gives reliable testimony about how matters will turn out.9Even if the message10 is not fulfilled right away, wait patiently;11for it will certainly come to pass--it won't be late arriving.


2:4 Look, the one whose desires are not upright will faint from exhaustion,12but the person of integrity13 will live14 because of his faithfulness.15

http://www.bible.org/netbible2/index.php?header=&book=hab&chapter=2

[AP]

28. I'm rereading this and it's like a summary of the last four years.

From the 2000 election BS to today, including when Ari Fleischer fainted at the event at his high school.

[Mr_Spock]

23. Good job.

Nice points you made...

[Sugarbleus]

24. Well Done!!!......................that's the way to do it... eom

[clonebot]

25. YOU ONLY FORGOT ONE THING!

YOU FORGOT TO TELL HER TO VOTE DEOMCRAT!! ;)

(kidding)

[tjdee]

27. Way to go with Habbakuk at that!

I'm in awe of your ability to work that.
Awesome.

[deckerd]

29. Amen... Shout It Out!

Man shall not live by bread alone y'know... Feed the People!

[FrenchieCat]

30. Great job...but why did it matter that the woman was Black????

And why did you find it necessary to describe her by her race in the title of your post? Her response could have come from any number of folks, black, white, brown or yellow. Did her being Black make her a tougher case or an easier case, or what? Being an older religious woman might have been a good enough description. Black folks are kinda of sensitive about using their race when it doesn't add to the story. It's similar to the 6 o'clock news stating...."black man arrested for assault"...

It's not your fault. But do ask yourself if you would have said..."an older white woman today told me that she's not voting because...."

Personally, I don't think so.

[DemBones DemBones]

31. You're right and I'm afraid most of us white liberals

are guilty of the same. :-(

[CarbonDate]

36. I do, personally.

I'll describe someone as an "tall white dude". Then again, I'm in the military, so sometimes such distinctions are necessary.

But yeah, I'll describe whites by their race as often as blacks.

As a point of interest, black people do the same thing you pointed out with white people, only in reverse. Ethnocentricity is not exclusive to caucasians.

[AP]

37. Matters because she's the base of the democratic party: a black woman

She's the person who, demographically speaking, is most like to vote democratic. I also think it's important to know because there's something significant going on demographically-speaking. Black women vote democratic for a couple reasons relating to the fact that that demographic really feels the brunt of the impact of crappy Republican policies. However, that demographic also tends to be very religious, and this story tells you how those two facts interesect in a way that results in voter apathy for a very small group of people.

If I hadn't told you her race and age (and that she was religious), you would have missed 90% of the significance of this story. You also would have missed the point about why it was so important to remind her that MLK and RFK took bullets for democracy at a time when race and poverty were the most important political issues in America.

Also, it's important to know the demographic details because I have a sneaking suspicion that she didn't come up with this idea out of the blue. I'm so sure she got it from some right wing strategy that is targeting a lot of older black church-going women.

[roseBudd]

40. I think it does matter because African Americans are dem base

just as white uneducated rural is GOP base

[mahina]

32. You are my hero today.

Thank you for a wonderful encouraging story. I'll carry it in my heart.
Reminds me of Barack Obama...we worship an awesome God in the blue states!

edited to say what he really said.

[vetwife]

33. Terrific !

[mhr]

34. Fantastic - What A Great Story! - Thanks For Sharing

eom

[VOX]

35. Wow. Good work, AP...

Thanks for your good efforts!
:toast:

[IdaBriggs]

38. Yeah! You Are Fabulous! nt

[Rambis]

39. Bravo!

:kick:

[oasis]

41. Voter registration deadlines are nearing. Keep that in mind gang.

[in_cog_ni_to]

43. Whew!

Your story had a happy ending! I was worried there for a minute. Good job!

[mzmolly]

44. Beautiful story!

:toast: to you AP!

[GreenPartyVoter]

45. Well-done!

-----------------------------------------------
And God told His children: "I love you. Play nice."

Would Jesus love a liberal? You bet!
http://www.geocities.com/greenpartyvoter/liberalchristians.htm

[TrogL]

46. If she's a fundie, she's probably a repug

[mr_binklesworth]

47. I don't understand leaving it to God...

If a person expects everything to be left up to God, bother getting up in the morning?

People like that sadden me - it's like a family who won't give medicine to an ailing child because God will do the right thing.

I'm glad you convinced her to vote - which ever way she votes, as long as she votes. Perhaps you've changed her whole perspective on life. Thanks very much!!!

-MF

[KittyWampus]

48. Nominated For Front Page. Very Well Written, Concise Account

great suggestion.

[crispini]

49. AMEN!

AP, you sure do walk the walk.

[itzamirakul]

50. Great news! We need even more....

This summer Michigan State Representative John Pappageorge (R) was quoted in the Detroit Free Press as saying, "If we do not suppress the Detroit vote, we're going to have a tough time in this election."
African Americans comprise 83% of Detroit's population. If you know anyone in this state and this city, be sure to encourage them to cast their vote in the coming election. Pappageorge eventually apologized, but from what I understand, he gave one of those "I mean the same thing" apologies, saying something like, "I unfortunately made a poor choice of words. I should not have said 'suppress' I should have said, 'limit' the Detroit vote."

[gauguin57]

51. A song for this lady

I love this song by Arrested Development ... how some churches just tell you to pray about everything, and tell you you'll get your reward in the afterlife, so don't bother doing anything about the world's problems while you're here.

Fishin' 4 Religion, by Arrested Development

Grab the hook, grab the line
Grab the bait, grab the box and wait
Tackle and shackle the topic the faculty has chosen
Chosen by many, chosen by plenty, chosen by any
man or woman who understand
the topic that's known and
flock and clock the topic
as I drop my hook and get a bite
The reason I'm fishin' 4 a new religion
is my church makes me fall asleep
They're praising a God that watches you weep
and doesn't want you to do a damn thing about it
When they want change the preacher says "shout it"
Does shouting bring about change ? I doubt it
All shouting does is make you lose your voice
So on the dock I sit in silence
staring at a sea that's full of violence
Scared to put my line in that water
coz it seems like there's no religion in there
Naively so I give it another go
Sitting in church hearing legitimate woes
Pastor tells the lady it'll be alright
Just pray so you can see the pearly gates so white
The lady prays and prays and prays and prays
and prays and prays and prays and prays...it's everlasting
"There's nothing wrong with praying ?" It's what she's asking
She's asking the Lord to let her cope
so one day she can see the golden ropes
What you pray for God will give
to be able to cope in this world we live
The word "cope" and the word "change"
is directly opposite, not the same
She should have been praying to change her woes
but pastor said "Pray to cope with those"
The government is happy with most baptist churches
coz they don't do a damn thing to try to nurture
brothers and sisters on a revolution
Baptist teaches dying is the only solution
Passiveness causes others to pass us by
I throw my line till I've made my decision
until then, I'm still fishin' 4 religion