DAILY KOS - Tue Aug 19, 2014 at 01:21 PM PDT
It seems that some citizens of Ferguson want to increase the extremely
low voter participation rate in Ferguson, and the Missouri GOP (or, at
least the leadership) is not happy about that effort at all.
From
The New Civil Rights Movement:
In an interview with Breitbart News, Missouri RNC executive
director Matt Wills expressed outrage about the reports of voter
registration booths popping up in Ferguson, Breitbart reports.
“If that’s not fanning the political flames, I don’t know what
is,” Wills said, “I think it’s not only disgusting but completely
inappropriate.”
Wills explained that the shooting death of Michael Brown was a tragedy for everyone.
“This is not just a tragedy for the African American community
this is a tragedy for the Missouri community as well as the community of
what we call America,” he said. “Injecting race into this conversation
and into this tragedy, not only is not helpful, but it doesn’t help a
continued conversation of justice and peace.”
While the event(s) in Ferguson was very tragic, I'm glad that it has at
least awakened the community of the importance of the political process
and elections.
The (far) right wing site, "Daily Caller," is also doing a bit of fear-mongering of its own. From the same article:
Liberal activists — including from the George Soros-funded
Center for Constitutional Rights — have promoted voter registration
booths at multiple locations in Ferguson, including at the roadside
memorial marking the spot where Brown was shot.
African-Americans are extremely under-represented in the racial makeup of elected officials and policemen in Ferguson.
Salon gives us some of those statistics:
Ferguson is majority black, but the mayor is white, and five
of the six city council members are white. For members of the community
who feel their interests aren’t being represented, the first step
towards changing that is registering to vote. Also, reportedly, only
three of the 53 Ferguson police officers are Black.
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Commentary:
.The whole country is wondering how it can be that a town that is 65 percent or more African-American can have so few Black people in the government of the city and on the police force. Surely they could not have put those white people in office and then object to their being there. It is obvious that the African-American population of Ferguson, Missouri does not vote. This is unimaginable in this day and time. What type of height of indignation, perplexity, or degradation could cause nearly an entire township to not to vote. The answer is that they obviously must have completely lost confidence in the voting process and the outlook of achieving a fair, open and advantageous result from their elections. Similarly, too few are obviously even motivated enough to run for office. Yet no people is monolithic; so there must have been some African-American voters somewhere sometime. There are a few Black political representatives.at least on a state level; but what about at the local? It is also obvious that Change must finally come to the town of Ferguson.
It is therefore gratifying to learn that voter registration efforts are now being made in Ferguson in earnest, which indicates that the residents must have now taken heart and have been convinced that it is indeed their responsibility to be part of the Change that must be made.
Another tangent benefit that appears that may be developing is the long over-due discussion of what the nature of community policing must begin to become in these United States of America. We cannot loose this fertile opportunity to bring this vital issue to the forefront. People everywhere must help place pressure upon our elected officials to ensure that such changes are being studied, advocated , and instituted. We must insist that local law enforcement officers begin to be trained to maim rather than kill. No one has to shoot to kill a man holding a knife who is several feet away from you even if he is advancing as was actually done today in a close-by area of the City of St Louis, not that far from the Ferguson community. Even if that act did not (thankfully) add more "fuel to the fire" in Ferguson, those residents became aware of it and used that act to confront the news media to underscore what they are fighting against. Such is the open evidence -- which was also videotaped -- for all the world to see. This is an era wherein the United States' racism and evil use of excessive force has been laid open to other nations. It becomes an indictment upon the very soul of our American society, as we go about "policing" and attempting to persuade other countries around the world.
Nevertheless, the residents of Ferguson must be convinced that their only recourse is to register to vote, which is their fundamental right, so they can begin to control the outcomes of these types of pressures among the people and elements of their society for the benefit of generations to come and thereby for people all over the world. The eyes of the world will continue to be on this neighborhood for years to come as it should be.
