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Where is the outrage?

by: XavierLA

Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 18:24:28 PM EDT


I was in East Los Angeles on Super Tuesday when the non-partisan election reform organization Why Tuesday? interviewed Dolores Huerta, one of my personal heroes. Huerta, a human rights activist, community organizer, and co-founder (with Cesar E. Chavez) of the United Farm Workers, talked about the need for serious voter reform to ensure that every voice is heard in our democracy.

Dolores Huerta has spent her life fighting the good fight, empowering people of color and other marginalized groups to organize and push for change.

It was in that spirit that today hundreds of Latinos--organized by the United Latin American Citizens—protested outside of the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee in Washington, DC.

Latinos came from Orlando, Tampa, Miami, Jacksonville, and beyond to express their outrage at their disenfranchisement

“This is a civil liberties issue – not a campaign or candidate issue,” said Jose Fernandez, president of the Democratic Hispanic Caucus of Florida, speaking to the crowd… Another speaker was Anita de Palma, 66, of Clearwater, Fla. She is a past Florida director of the League of United Latin American Citizens… “This is our heritage!” said de Palma, referring to the right to vote and have that vote count. “Our forefathers fought for it, our father’s fought for it, and I’ll be damned if we are going to let it get away from us now!”

And she’s right.

Julian Bond, the chairman of the NAACP, has said that this selective disenfranchisement could remind voters of America’s “sordid history of racially discriminatory primaries."

And it does.

The overriding consensus on MichiganLiberal is to tell the 2 million voters who voted in Michigan and Florida "tough luck," and to blame the MI and FL party leadership.

"Tough luck" is what African-Americans were told when they failed literacy tests.

"Tough luck" is what African-Americans were told when they weren't able to pass the "grandfather tests" in the days before the Voting Rights Act.

"Tough luck" is what my grandparents were told when they tried to buy a house, only to discover there was a "whites only" clause in the deed.

"Tough luck" is what my mother and her black neighbors were told when they wanted to swim in the Los Angeles city pool on "whites only" days.

And "tough luck" is what people of color hear time and time again when whites overlook us for the job, promition, or recognition we've earned.

So excuse me if I think we've had enough of "tough luck."

A few weeks back, I posted about a rally a grasroots "activist" organized in Lansing to raise awareness about the disenfranchisement of Michigan's voters. I also posted about some Michigan and Florida union workers who protested at DNC headquarters.

And although proud of both efforts, the question that lingers in the back of my mind (and in the minds of many of the other people of color I talk to) is why are  the rest of our brothers and sisters in the Michigan Democratic Party remaining silent when the votes of hundreds of thousands of are hanging in the balance? We ask ourselves, "Where is their outrage?"
XavierLA :: Where is the outrage?

My grandmother joined the Democratic Party because it was the one party in which she had a voice. On more than one ocassion, she, along with her brothers and other Democrats, were chased out of Pico Rivera, CA schools where they held their meetings as "communists" and traitors to this country and its flag.

But to my grandmother, a strong, smart and resourceful woman of color, there was nothing more true to the spirit of America and the American dream than the Democratic Party. She remembers her days as a Democratic activist fondly--you can hear the energy in her voice and see th excitement in her eyes.

It was, after all, the Democratic Party which welcomed--even invited--her involvement and which appointed her, the daughter of farmworkers, with less than 6th grade education, to the Los Angeles City Commission.

NAACP Chairman Julian Bond is right to recall the history of systematic and institutional disenfranchisement of people of color in this context, because the most common excuse for disenfranchising millions of voters is that this is an "intra-Party dispute over the system of selecting our presidential nominee."

The history of people of color here in America is choc full of rules and systems which either overtly sought to--or functioned in a way that--silence our voices.

But quiescence never did suit us well, and quiescence certainly should not be the position of the Democratic Party.

To quote the most recent platform of the Michigan Democratic Party:
Some of the greatest tests for society have always been: Do we respect the rights of all? Do we ensure that each and every person is given a voice and full representation in decision-making?

You wouldn't get a sense of that if you read some of the posts on this blog and in comments elsewhere. We talk about delegates and forget about the millions of Americans in Michigan and Florida that cast their ballots in January. As Democrats, we fought hard in 2000 to see that no vote was left uncounted and no voter disenfranchised by the "rules" (as interpreted by Katherine Harris), where is that same fervor now?

My grandmother is a Robert Kennedy/Dolores Huerta Democrat.  She was at the Ambassador Hotel the night RFK was assasinated.  But in the darkness of the days that followed, she always knew that his work to advance the cause of Latinos and, indeed, all marginalized people of America, would continue.  Its that same spirit which ought fuel our Party today, and we mustn't rest until the votes of every last Chicano/Latino, African-American, Michigander, and Floridian are counted.

Because its a sad day when Democrats and the Michigan Democratic Party are silent on a matter of the voting rights of millions.  It was the "silent abolitionists" who helped facilitate slavery; it was the "silent sympathizers" who frustrated the efforts of the women's suffrage movement; and it was the silence of the many that enabled Jim Crow to live for so long.

The votes of minorities have been silenced too often in the past, and we must not allow our Party to repeat this mistake. 

In light of the today's protest, I'm starting to think maybe Dolores Huerta was right when she said “we're here celebrating a new civil rights movement, and it's headed up by Latinos.”

 
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Where is the outrage? | 20 comments
Let me check - (4.00 / 6)
OK, that's what I thought.

My outrage is right where I left it, aimed squarely at those who would seek to obfuscate the facts and wrap the holy mantle of voting rights around a totally phony 'election'.

The voters had no say (4.00 / 1)
Michigan voters should not be punished because state legislators, who have long worked to change the oversized clout of IA & NH, challenged party rules and moved up the state's primary.

Hillary speaks for me.
[ Parent ]
Clinton outrageous as well. (4.00 / 1)
Michigan voters should not be punished because state legislators, who have long worked to change the oversized clout of IA & NH, challenged party rules and moved up the state's primary.

They didn't challenge the oversize clout so much as try to join in it. They (state leaders)assumed that the NH and IA races would decided the race.

Also, let's be honest. Hillary Clinton did nothing to stand up for Michigan or Florida voters She signed the pledge not to campaign or participate. The fact that she reneged on part of that pledge does not make her the savior of Michigan. She was as willing to play by the rules as anyone else. She neither campaigned nor took a stand against the primary system that you so oppose.

[ Parent ]
Well, again, the Rules Committee never said (4.00 / 2)
that staying on the ballot constituted "participation," and in fact it was specifically made clear by the Committee that passed the rule in question that it did not.

And much to the opposite of your point, Hillary has consistently stood up for the voters of Michigan, even in the statement a lot of people see as her saying the primary wouldn't "count."  Because if you read her statement in context, she is saying that under the DNC Rule committee's decision to selectively enforce the rules, the primary doesn't count.  She never makes a statement on whether or not the Rule Committee's decision was fair or just.


I did not believe it was fair to just say goodbye Michigan and not take into account the fact that we're going to have to win Michigan if we're going to be in the White House in January 2009.

In this, the rest of the statement, its clear that Sen. Clinton is standing by Michigan voters, realizing the impact that silencing us would have.

Hillary speaks for me.
[ Parent ]
Did she campaign? (4.00 / 1)
When did she say that, before Iowa or after? Before the primary or after?

Pretty weak. Also, she didn't campaign in Michigan and had no problem signing the pledge. Again, Clinton didn't take any risk nor take any leap of courage. Courage doesn't seem to be a Clinton trait, and it will cost here dearly with the future resistance form the Republican party. If elected, her lack of courage will result in 2010 being like 1994 in Congressional elections.

[ Parent ]
The interview was from October 11, 2007 (4.00 / 1)
So when she was the "frontrunner."  So your attempt to say she was just trying to do what benefits her fails.

Neither Clinton or Obama campaigned in Michigan, just as neither campaigned in Florida.  Although Obama had the benefit of a neighboring state here in Michigan, very wealthy supporters who funded an uncommitted drive, and was airing national ads in the days leading up to the Florida primary (despite those ads being against the letter of the RULES).

Hillary speaks for me.

[ Parent ]
Platitudes (4.00 / 2)
She didn't take any risk in that statement (at least what you quoted). Stating a simple strategic fact is not an act of courage. Had she actually campaigned or skipped the pledge, she would have shown courage. As it was she supported Iowa and New Hampshire's role by signing the pledge.

None of the candidates had to make a stand about it. It was a selfish act by both party's to grab a starring role in the primary. But Clinton's claim now that she somehow won by doing nothing significant is the outrage.

Michigan Democrats gambled and lost. They lost delegates and a lot people were discouraged from voting, thus it's hard to call his a fair election. The 'voting rights' argument is lost because seating the farce of a primary doesn't give any votes to the people who couldn't vote for their candidate because Michigan Dems voted to buck the trend. Seating them in a skewed pro-Hillary election doesn't restore that right at all.

The Michigan Dems failed, Hillary failed to do anything meanigful, the voters lose whether seated or not. There is no win for anyone outside the Hillary Clinton voters.

[ Parent ]
The Outrage... (4.00 / 5)
Trip down memory lane... (4.00 / 3)
Whatever happened to northernlib? Funny how you can be going at it hammer and tongs with someone, then miss her when she gives up...
[ Parent ]
I've been asking myself the same question about northernlib (4.00 / 3)
[ Parent ]
Wow!! (4.00 / 4)
XavierLA,

This is a very beautiful and lovely photograph of the honorable Dolores Huerta and yourself.  

I'll bet that it is the kind of photograph that your future descendants (if any) will be very proud to see.

Thank you for sharing it.


"In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act." - George Orwell

My grandmother was working in the office as well! (4.00 / 3)
And she made sure that my two young cousins also took their picture with Dolores.  I think it was a great moment for our family, because my grandmother started remembering when she encountered Dolores in the 50s and 60s.

Hillary speaks for me.
[ Parent ]
You're a day late and a dollar short, Xavier (4.00 / 6)
If you took the time to examine the timeline of the Michigan and Florida disputes, you would discover that (a) Harold Ickes,  a prominent member of Team Hillary, sat on the DNC committee that stripped those states of their delegates and (b) neither Hillary Clinton nor her campaign uttered a peep of protest after the DNC voted to do so.

And please spare me the crocodile tears over disenfranchisement. The Michigan and Florida controversy is a dispute over party rules, and one in which the Clinton campaign is on the wrong side of both the law and the facts.

A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always count on the support of Paul.

As I said, this is not an issue of candidate preference (4.00 / 2)
and having been instilled with the belief that my vote is my voice, I would be arguing the same thing if the coin was reversed.  I've heard too many stories about the voter intimidation that occurred during the 40s, 50s, and 60s to members of my family, and the type of racism which fueled them.  I don't want Democrats or the Democratic Party to be associated with a similar turn, and see this is as a fundamental civil rights issue.

Its funny, because a lot of people don't think that when I say that I'm being genuine, but that's understandable because they haven't walked a mile in my shoes, as I haven't in theirs.

But I think it is ridiculous and anti-Democratic to hold an election and then invalidate the voices of the millions who cast ballots.  Isn't that what happened in 2000?

No one, and I mean no one, has the right to say that my vote doesn't count... I don't care if you're name is Harold Ickes, Hillary Clinton, or George W. Bush.  Again, the voters should not be punished for a decision, helped along by Republicans, that we had no control over, especially when the votes of so many people of color are at risk of being disenfranchised.

Hillary speaks for me.

[ Parent ]
Spare me (4.00 / 6)
You do your cause and your candidate (and don't try to deny your obvious preference) no good at all when you engage in a continued effort to elevate a series of incompetent, hubristic actions by our state party brass into the modern-day equivalent of Jim Crow segregation. That old dog won't hunt.

As for your "disenfranchisement" argument, it has more holes than the Old Course at St. Andrews. And if you haven't figured that out, you're either willfully blind or so ignorant of the basic facts of the Michigan delegate dispute that I suggest you stop posting here until you do your homework.

Enough is enough. I've had my hatful of the propaganda that Team Hillary has spewed out by the metric ton since she decided--after she got upset in Iowa and trounced in South Carolina--that suddenly Michigan counted.

A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always count on the support of Paul.

[ Parent ]
Please tell me what the facts are (4.00 / 1)
Because we're obviously looking at the same information and seeing something entirely different.

I know that there was political posturing on both sides.  Clinton supporters helping to move up the primary, Obama removing his name, Edwards' supporters suppressing the plan to put everyone's name on the ballot, and Obama staying silent on the issue of a re-vote.

But my position says that we need to start thinking about the millions who are being silenced.

Hillary speaks for me.

[ Parent ]
Then think about those responsible. (3.40 / 5)
Xavier, your vote doesn't count. Our DNC representatives got together and decided whose votes count. You have to be old enough, you have to be a citizen, you only have to be a Democrat that day and most of all:

You have to show up on the RIGHT DAY.

Michigan showed up on the wrong day. This has nothing to do with people of color being disenfranchised or Michigan Democrats being disenfranchised. This is about following the agreed upon national party rules.

Michigan Democrats spoiled their ballot, it was rightly thrown out. If it upsets you enough maybe you'll direct your anger where it belongs and remember the clowns responsible for this fiasco next time we have a primary.

[ Parent ]
I have to ask (1.00 / 1)
where you this outraged before the primary, when tons of posts were suggesting that the primary itself was disenfranchising voters, while numerous supporters of Clinton didn't seem to give a rat's ass?

I was disenfranchised by the January primary and you would be disenfranchising 100,000s of Michigan voters who voted in the Republican primary or just stayed home.

You want to enforce your vote in a disenfranchising primary because it benefits your particular candidate...

Ask your relatives about how that tactic went down over the last century...

[ Parent ]
asdf (4.00 / 5)
Photobucket
I had this nightmare last night... (3.50 / 6)
It was mid-November, and I was blogging at Michigan Liberal:

"I told you so! I told you if we did this, we would have President McCain!"

And Xavier answered:

"No, it was Howard Dean's fault!"

{shudder}

[ Parent ]
Where is the outrage? | 20 comments

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