MoveOn has an urgent alert for activists that brings to mind Martin Niemöller.
Since the US Supreme Court’s galling 2013 gutting of the Voting Rights Act, a number of states — including Tennessee — immediately leaped to impose Voter ID laws, gerrymandering, and other vile actions to allow systemic racism and classism back into their electoral practices. Alabama is going a step beyond, which is a reason to take action now.
As MoveOn writes:
Just one year after enforcing a voter ID requirement, Alabama has shuttered every single driver’s license office located in eight of the 10 counties with the largest percentage of black voters.
Taken together, these measures threaten to steal the vote from a large number of voters across the state—and set a terrible precedent that other states could try to follow. The only way to stop this bold assault on voting rights is with an intense campaign against Alabama governor Robert Bentley—making him feel the heat for his state’s misguided decision.
Gov. Bentley desperately wants to protect Alabama’s reputation and, in fact, he’s offered a temporary solution already—reopening the shuttered offices for one day each month. But the governor needs to know that the nation is watching right now and this partial fix won’t cut it. If each of us, from across the country, picked up the phone and called his office right now, the governor would be too embarrassed—and worried—not to come up with a better solution.
“Misguided”? MoveOn is too kind: This is craven, obvious, politically motivated racism and classism, purely and simply. Alabama has a long, ugly history of suppressing votes of those people it considers too dark and/or too poor to merit a voice in public affairs. Gov. Bentley needs to hear that we are not stupid and we won’t this callous treatment of Alabama citizens.
Get busy: Call Bentley’s office at 334-242-7100 right now! Tell him: “Stop disenfranchising black and rural voters. Reopen the driver’s license offices immediately with a permanent solution.” Then, report your call by clicking here.
This action is vital. If Alabama succeeds in getting away with this malicious madness, you can bet other southern and historically racist states will try to get away with it too. This must stop now. Alabama’s governor needs to know people across the country will hold him and businesses in Alabama accountable if this situation is not redressed.
The time to take action is now! Again, get busy. Stop Alabama and send Tennessee and other suppressive states a message.
