Fighting White Supremacy: Voting Rights

As I break down forms of activism into smaller areas, it is with an understanding of how overwhelming it can be when you realize that there is so much that needs to be done. It can be hard to prioritize.

However, so much of the improvement that is possible now is largely because of the results of the last election, especially including heavy voter registration efforts in Georgia that worked out an equal half of the Senate and a tie-breaker in the vice president.

That is not a strong enough majority for many things, but it is even more important to realize how fragile it is. 

There was recently an attempt to overrun the Beaverton School Board with candidates who supported values that were ultimately racist and homophobic, though they would not describe themselves in that way. There were similar candidates in many school districts, some who ran more successfully than others.

I wrote a lot about this. Why am I mentioning it again? Because the losers are now talking about how awful vote by mail is, and how it needs to be done away with. Conservative commentator Lars Larson is joining in, associating mail-in voting with fraud.

It is not, but they don't want people who disagree with them to have a voice. There is a long history of voter disenfranchisement that is racist at its core, but which also disadvantages the elderly, students, and members of the military serving abroad. 

It is very rare to find cases of voter fraud. When they turn up the culprit is usually conservative, trying to prove how easy fraud is, though failing as they are caught. (Though there was the Trump voter who murdered his wife and tried to cast her vote for Trump as well.)

Attempts to erect barriers to voting are happening in many states, most notably Georgia and Texas, but not exclusively.

Republicans only have the votes if they cheat. Some of them found it worth attacking the Capitol, but many will just work to make sure there are fewer people voting in the next election, especially fewer non-white people.

This is an important area of focus.

Focus can be spread across multiple areas.

The first would be passage of the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. This would reinforce parts of the original Voting Rights Act struck down by the Supreme Court in Shelby vs Holder. 

Because of consistent conservative opposition -- including on the Court -- the legislation is not being hurried through. There will probably not be a Senate vote before September. It does not hurt to show support and keep the act in memory now.

Federal protection could be a strong weapon against states' infringing on voting rights, but state attempts also need to be addressed. 

One good source of information is Stacy Abrams, and her organization Fair Fight: https://fairfight.com/

She has a great deal of experience in expanding voter enfranchisement, but different states have different challenges. Local organization should be noted and supported.

At this time, 20 Republican senators are up for re-election in 2022. It would be great if they lost to Democrats for a real majority. A 70-30 balance would remove many obstacles, even under current parliamentary rules.

Does that sound overly partisan? Yes, but the utter lack of honor and integrity shown makes it necessary. To be anything other than Trump's death cult, the Republicans are going to have to re-form. If it is possible, it's not going to happen until after it is completely necessary.

Senate races to keep an eye on in 2022 include Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania,  South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, and Wisconsin. Some of them are recognizable names as horrible people. 

https://ballotpedia.org/United_States_Senate_elections,_2022 

Get on that, and count on them trying to regain the majority in the house. Even in reliable, liberal Oregon, there are people who will be organizing to make voting harder. They won't rest, so we must not rest either.

You may also wish to consider following Ari Berman on Twitter, as he is passionate about voting rights and a good source of information:

https://twitter.com/ariberman

This next election cycle may be our last chance to save democracy. Does that sound overly dramatic? Consider how openly they scorn democracy, harping on the United States being a republic, and not a democracy. True, but there are elements of democracy, including that citizenship and voting rights are no longer determined by sex, race, and property ownership.

That may not last. Whether it does or not depends on what we do now.

Fighting White Supremacy: Calling your congresspeople

Obviously, one can make many phone calls to congresspeople in support of white supremacy as well; this is not an automatic win.

However, it can have an impact to contact the senators and representatives for your area. They do notice phone calls more than letters and e-mail. They might notice phone calls less than office visits, but the calls will certainly be more convenient for you, and perhaps it is less likely to seem like a threat in light of recent events..

In addition, there is a web site that can make it easier for you.

https://5calls.org/

The site -- which will guide you through making five calls per day, if you want -- has the contact information for the offices, suggested scripts for the conversations, and multiple issues you can choose from.

As an Oregonian in a fairly liberal region, I don't use it much. Not only do my senators and representative tend to be on the side I support for various issues, but often they are spearheading the legislation. I am grateful for that. It does remind me that sometimes I can still send messages of support. Any time I have sent any kind of message, it has been acknowledged. I truly appreciate that.

However, if you live in another area, you might be represented by people who are confidently moving in directions you cannot approve. In that case, perhaps your calls can chip at their confidence.

Also, it may not be the worst thing if you call someone who already supports a law expressing your support. Calls like that can strengthen their resolve, and give them anecdotes to relate as they work on the legislation. 

It might be good practice for more difficult calls.

In addition, perhaps looking down the list of current topics will give you some ideas about possibilities and priorities. If you are not sure where to start, that can help.

5 Calls focuses on federal legislation, but there can be local contacts as well.

We recently received a flyer requesting calls in support of the CROWN Act:

https://www.thecrownact.com/ 

Focusing on ending discrimination against natural hair, they are now seeking protection in all 50 states, but statewide legislation was passed in Oregon just recently.

https://www.wweek.com/news/2021/04/29/oregon-house-passes-crown-act-banning-hair-discrimination/

That is one that is directly related to fighting white supremacy. 

The CROWN Act web page shows some stories of state legislatures and provides a space for sharing stories. 

It is worth perusing. One thing that is going to be helpful in finding your arena is seeing what is already happening. We don't need to reinvent the wheel every time we get an idea that things are unfair. Most of the time there are already people working on it. Deeing what they are doing and what they need is a good place to start.

 

Related posts:

https://sporkful.blogspot.com/2017/09/mormons-should-be-fighting-graham.html

Fighting White Supremacy: Being informed for local elections

Yes, I am still obsessing over local school board elections, though with good reason. However, Ballots are due Tuesday by 5 PM, and I am hoping to move on soon. Still, I am learning a lot from this process.

One lesson is how easy it is not to know. 

In general, the bad actors are going to be far better organized, and that requires more effort from people of good will.

I remember reading an opinion piece from a woman whose extended family and neighbors would get together before elections to talk about the various measures. Previously everyone had been assigned to research one and explain the ins and outs of it. The purpose was not to convince the other attendees to vote one way or the other, but to reduce the time that each participant had to spend researching. 

It could also have easily helped in building a sense of community.

There is no reason this could not be done with candidates.

Someone could research the incumbent district attorney, and what policies they have been pursuing.

If there is a library candidate who is in favor of moving everything to e-books, someone should notice that.

Researching school board candidates could be a matter of not just seeing what they say, but also how it relates to the actual policies. For example, at least one candidate has been making claims about the Sex Ed material that are demonstrably false, though it does take someone going over the material to know that the claims are false. For someone who has children in school, knowing more about the Sex Ed material is not a bad idea anyway.

That is the thing: there is so much to know about this world -- much of it important -- and so little time to know it.

We can help each other with this.

It does require some care.

It is easy to fall down rabbit holes of disinformation today. Some agreements on what sources of information can be trusted, and how to verify, is in order. 

In addition, while it is certainly possible to have groups where not everyone feels or votes the same way, if there is fundamental disagreement, like that talking about race makes you the real racist, or that letting kids know there is such a thing as sex is dangerous, those are the kind of things that could easily derail attempts at reasonable discussion.

Those are not insurmountable obstacles though; just things to keep in mind.

And as we work together on being more informed and better able to participate in our communities, then surely we are also building better communities.

Fighting White Supremacy: Cleansing the inner vessel

I have been very disheartened in my attempts to reach out to people I know about the racism of certain school board candidates.

I admit there is a certain brilliance in recruiting candidates from churches in general -- especially but not exclusively LDS churches -- because then there are people who will recognize the names and think well of them. Of course I will put your sign in my yard!

But you would hope that if you mention the racism, people would at least listen to that, and be able to get past "But they have always been so nice!" initial response.

That has been disappointing. 

The worst disappointment is that so many members feel like too much gets made of racism anyway. It's not that they completely doubt it's a problem, but surely it can't be as big of a problem as they make it out to be, especially when they know so many devoted and wonderful police officers.

This is when I want to give up on humanity, though I won't.

One reason I can keep going is because of a book club I have been in, reading Layla F. Saad's Me and White Supremacy. The organizer and most of the attendees are LDS.

Initially, I was frustrated with the book. I think I would have appreciated it more back in 2013, before I had read a lot of books and listened to a lot of people. The book was only published in 2020, so that just wasn't an option.

However, listening to the other group members, and some of the things they are facing, and some of the thoughts and attitudes that they admit to having and changing now... this can be a really important book.

I know more people who would benefit from the book than not.

So that might be a good place to start.

Beyond that, I will say one more thing about Critical Race Theory, even though I did an entire post on it Tuesday.

Many people have an idea in mind that racism is a matter of personal virtue, where being racist makes you a mean and bad person, and so if you are a good person you can't possibly be racist.

There are a lot of directions we could go with that. We could talk about the distinctions between "nice" -- often a matter of superficial lack of conflict -- versus kindness and goodness. We could talk about how the idea of being a "good" or "bad" person is an oversimplification, because even people who do a lot of good have their faults, and some people whose lives seem predominantly bad are nonetheless very kind. Trusting too much in your own goodness has definite dangers.

Critical Race Theory is one way of getting past that, examining how racism is built into the structure of of our society. Because of that, we are frequently participating in and benefited by racism without it being an obvious choice, regardless of how good your intentions may be.

Of course, then once you know that, you should be looking at things differently, and trying to change things; that is work. It involves discomfort. Your participation prior to knowing did not make you a bad person, but trying to be a good person will involve acting on that knowledge.

When everything was so comfortable before, some people reject that change. It's easier not to know, and not to have to think about it all the time.

Here's the thing: if you decide to put your comfort over unequal policing, and income inequality, and three times higher maternal mortality, and all of the stress and pain and unrealized potential that happens due to structural racism, then you are definitely not a good person. You are a weak and petty person upholding evil.

You may not be as bad as the people actively campaigning on a platform designed to uphold white supremacy, but you are bad enough.

That is the choice.

Related posts:

https://preparedspork.blogspot.com/2020/08/mormons-and-racism.html

Fighting White Supremacy: Local Elections

As I was writing about fighting white supremacy, and finding ways to do that, it occurred to me that I could go through various aspects of how white supremacy functions and specific actions for each aspect. It was always the plan to get to local elections, because those play a role.

Because of misguided, ignorant, hostile, downright wrong things church members were posting, I diverted into posts about Operation Underground Railroad and Cancel Culture. 

Just as I was finishing up those tangents, church members are being misguided, ignorant, hostile and wrong about school board elections. I mean, it fits back in to where I was going to go, but please, fellow members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, please stop being exhausting.

I am going to be going hard on school board elections on the main blog (sporkful.blogspot.com) for several posts starting tomorrow, so I encourage you to follow along there.

(Sneak preview: the key identifiers of people in the QAnon adjacent campaigns to run our schools is an insistence that schools should be open regardless of virus risk and a hatred for Critical Race Theory -- which they believes gives white kids poor self-esteem. I will get to that.)

However, for this post on the importance of local elections, I will focus on law enforcement.

You may be aware that laws are not equally enforced, and that inequality works as a means of social control. 

Therefore, even though people of color are not more likely to use drugs than white people, they are much more likely to be searched, charged, and imprisoned for drug offenses. Even as many white people are capitalizing on legal marijuana and doing quite well financially by it, many people of color are still in jail on old charges.

But it was illegal then! True. Follow up question: do you think the people with boutique marijuana shops and their clientele only started using when it became legal?

District attorneys decide what crimes to focus on in prosecution, which pleas to accept, and what level of severity to pursue. 

Judges have a say in how that plays out. They can reject some charges or sentences, but what comes before them depends a lot upon the discretion of the DA.

County sheriffs will have some control over how law enforcement occurs. For many of these discussions, city police chiefs come up more often, but that is an appointed position. Mayors and city council members have an impact, but that gets to be more complicated.

Obviously local decisions about schools matter, as do decisions about water and soil and parks and who goes to the state legislature. It may be helpful as elections come around to look at the positions and think about what they do. 

For this post, I want to focus on district attorneys.

I wrote about such an election just three years ago:

https://sporkful.blogspot.com/2018/05/political-ads.html

One reason I was very against the incumbent -- who won -- was his tendency to lock up potential witnesses whom he did not trust to appear. This included one suspect's father -- who was not accused of any crime himself -- and a rape victim. 

Those cases were particularly cruel. Someone who abuses power so flagrantly is not someone likely to worry about white supremacy.

Speaking of unequal enforcement of the law, the father was Latino and the rape victim was a woman and a convict. In fact, she had been raped by a prison guard while confined. I suppose that made it easy for Washington County DA Bob Hermann and Circuit Judge Charles Bailey to decide that she couldn't be trusted. She said she would appear, but that wasn't good enough. 

Her accused rapist -- a white man and a corrections officer -- was allowed to remain free. Hermann and Bailey didn't seem to mind that this treatment was cruel, could easily discourage other witnesses from identifying themselves, or how rare it is for a rape case to result in jail time, even with witnesses. 

https://www.oregonlive.com/washingtoncounty/2016/09/accuser_in_prison_sex_case_jai.html

I also recall when Sebastian Junger came to town on tour for his book, A Death in Belmont. His appearance was protested by an Oregon crime victims group, with the support of the Multnomah County DA at the time. Why was he being protested? Because his book was about a wrongful conviction. 

I read the book; their complaints were inaccurate. They didn't care, which is a common issue with victims' rights groups. It's not that advocating for victims is not important, but to get so invested in the criminal justice system that you want innocent people to get convicted and stay convicted is not justice.

I am not saying that their protest was even partially about the exoneration of a Black man. However, the probable murderer was a white man, and there should have been clues and evidence for that. That the law went for the Black man is not a coincidence. That was also the case in the book referenced here:

https://sporkful.blogspot.com/2012/07/and-thats-when-i-gave-up-on-death.html

That is white supremacy. You may notice that it isn't great for women, either. 

All of the oppressions end up combining together. Some people oppress when they can, but it is better to fight the oppression. 

One way of doing that is local elections. Our next one is on May 18th, and ballots and voter guides have been sent out.