Pursuing Justice One Step at a Time

Rabbi, you and I probably have a very different perspective on American life. I grew up chopping cotton, and picking cotton, my family tenant farmers in pre-air conditioning, pre-civil rights Texas. I wore shirts my mother sewed from used flour sacks and swatted gnats and flies in 100 degree classrooms.

The same area that once was once of the 10 poorest counties in the USA is now rated among the "best places to live" and is experiencing a mindboggling economic boom--even in 2008. And the changes have, if you will forgive my use of the expression, floated my boat, too. I have over 500 times the income I had as a young adult--which brings me up to about average in Boston.

What was it that this little niche of success had that other areas of the blighted South did not?

We weren't too much on righteous indignation. On the other hand, this little county that had rejected the Confederacy and slavery also ran out rabblerousers for the KKK. In my poor community, nearly everyone spoke fluent English, and fluent Spanish, and was able to greet the new immigrants in at least a little Czech and German and Yiddish (until about 1985, when everybody began speaking English, although there has been a renaissance in language study). Hispanics and Blacks were welcome in the living room of our 1950's white family's home. We worked and worked and worked and worked and our efforts were blessed with success--and in 2008 there are no homeless people here, there is no one sick who is not visited and cared for (I know for sure, there aren't that many people in the town that you don't know them), you still don't need to lock your doors.

But that was true when we were poor, too.

I think we were probably blessed not to have anyone encouraging a feeling of victimization, oppression, or righteous indignation. Well, we did have some experts come down from Massachusetts in the 1980's and tell us we were, to quote the organizers public speech "too stupid to vote for Democrats," LBJ not counting, I suppose, and the area did swing Republican for 20 years, until the last election. But when I've visited Boston, I am struck by the anger everywhere. I mean, for crying out loud, when you have to post a sign saying "yield to ambulances," there are some profound societal issues.

You know your community. I do not. But I have to think less anger, more love, will be better for you. And you may even tell me what I can do to contribute to you. I wish you well, and I hope your community is able to leave indignation behind.

I think the the previous poster, Reaganite in NYC, is a little confused about his facts regarding the alleged ACORN voter fraud. The simple fact is that there are those in this country who are very intimidated by the actions of registering extremely large numbers of poorto vote....and those who are intimidated are often republican conservites that are elected by a white conservative base. Anyone can see why they would be frightened. Unfortunately, we do still have racial issues in this country, and none so more serious than voter suppression.
Most of the alleged voter fraud cases were thrown out of court do to lack of evidence and wrong doing....case in point Mac Stuart in Florida in 04, Mossouri in 06, and so on. In those few incidents where people were charged, it was ACORN who in fact identified the problem and turned the offenders over to the athorities....as for the crack? I've never heard of that...and it sounds like something dreamed up by Rush Limbaugh.
As for the supervisors of elections office whining about how horrible it was to be innundated with voter cards....I am not the least bit sympathetic...it's there job to process that stuff, not ACORN's.
Besides....who has the guts to go into the poorest, most blighted neighborhoods, with the lowest voter turnout and actively engage people in the voting process? The Sup of Elections or ACORN....and when ACORN turns in 90,000 VR cards (as they did in MO. in 06) or hundreds of thousands (as they did in Florida in 04) they should be applauded rather than attacked for the 50 cards here or there that some canvasser faked in order to steal money from an organization that actually works.
And, I guess that strikes to the heart of the allegations....ACORN actually does the work that most other people talk about
And now we see people of all faiths uniting with ACORN to hit the streets and get out the vote....that takes guts, and it terrifies many people....does it scare you? If so, ask yourself why? Why are you scared of so many minorites voting? Is it because we might actually get a black president someday?

I never read anything like that in the NY Times, or Wall street, but I highly doubt anything like that ever occured. Even if it was reported....was it reported as someone claiming that crack had been provided or was it a police docket? There is a big difference.

As for the Voter suppression....that is the real problem. Voter fraud is a boogey man. Even the few false registrations that were subbmitted (that were also, once again, identified and reported by ACORN before they were subbmitted)can you point to one incident when a "fraudulent" voter registered by ACORN actually cast a ballot for any candidate....it's never happened.

What has happened is states, moving off sensationilist stories based on accusations and not facts, have passed laws severely restricting an organizations ability to register new voters. This disproportionately affects minorities. Case in point....in 2004, Mac Stuart, a former ACORN employee in Florida accussed ACORN of shredding VR cards where people had marked "Republican" as the party of choice. In response, in 2005 the Florida legisature passed a series of laws that restricted 3rd party voter registration, and imposed a series of draconian fines and imprisonment for very minor infractions. The result was that the AFL, NLWV, NOW, and several other organizations suspended voter registration activities in the state because not a single organization could take the risk. ACORN still engaged in Voter registration, but had to do so at a much reduced capacity. As a result, the number of minorites registered to vote in that state declined.

In 2006, Mac Stuarts case was thrown out of court and ACORN was praised by the judge involved for their work. Mac Stuarts own atorneys tried to leave the case upon learning that their client had lied. Mac Stuart was later sued by ACORN. However, those laws remain on the books.

Similer laws were passed in Mo, Oh, and other states following the accusations of "voter fraud."

Look, if you register 100,000 voters in a state, and 50 cards or even 1,000 cards come back as "fradulent" that is still 99,000 new valid voters going to the polls and voting. And that is what ACORN has done. Registered litterally hundreds of thousands (perhaps even millions) of low income voters, the vast majority of which are minorities.

As for the Race card....this isn't "playing a race card." Racism exists, and I would and do argue that unwarranted attacks on organizations that successfully promote minority civic engagement is racist. It is essentially saying "It's not that I don't like Black people, I just thinkl they shouldn't vote, or that voting should be made a little more difficult for them." That's racist, and even if you don't see it that way, that is the result.

Look, thinks might look different from NYC....but I've spent a lot of time working is some tough areas in the deep south. Racism is still a major problem, especially when it comes to voting....that's not playing a race card, that's acknowledging a fact.