Heroes of the 2012
Presidential Campaign
As
I watched the ending of the recently released movie, The Butler in which Academy Award Winning Best Actor Forest
Whitaker portrays the life of Cecil Gaines, personal butler to American
Presidents from Eisenhower through Reagan, I became grateful to persons whom I
consider heroes of the 2012 presidential campaign. After years of retirement, Gaines returns to
the White House at the express invitation of President Obama who wishes to
thank Gaines for his years of faithful service to the United States. Nearly fifty years after he first entered the
Oval Office, Gaines takes the long walk to the door again but this he does so
literally living his wildest dream. He
enters the office to meet the first African American President. Lee Daniels, the director, allows us to
consider countless possibilities for the future of African Americans and other
citizens of color, specifically, and the nation, generally, as Gaines turns the
corner toward the Oval Office. The
momentous election in November 2008 made Gaines visit with President Obama
possible. Arguably, an even greater
possibility occurred four years later with Obama’s reelection which solidifies
the Affordable Care Act granting healthcare, dignity and the potential of each
citizen to actualize his talents and potential.
Innumerable
nameless and diverse citizens in Florida and Ohio endured heat, humidity, haze
in long lines without being given any food, water or chairs in which to sit and
rest are heroes of the 2012 presidential campaign in my estimation. Additionally, the Reverend Al Sharpton, host
of MSNBC’s Politics Nation, is also
one of the heroes of that election as he consistently sounded a screeching and
wailing alarm about the deadly potential of the orchestrated campaign to
suppress the vote of African Americans, other citizens of color and immigrants. Their willingness to withstand such
indifference and indignities with the full consent of their local, state and
federal governments vindicates the sacrifices of their African American
forbears and other American citizens who fought valiantly for the passage of The
Voting Rights Act in 1965.
Wisely
and strategically utilizing the invaluable forum of his public affairs show,
Sharpton finally actualized his legacy as a Civil Rights activist in awakening
sleeping generations to the horror of a systematic use of election law to
nullify one of the most socially progressive pieces of legislation in American
history. Future generations of citizens
of color and immigrants who will hold elective office and thereby improve the
quality of life for their communities within the United States and global
village will owe an incalculable debt of gratitude to those voters in Florida
and Ohio and Reverend Sharpton for their labor of love which forced the
political and governmental establishment to preserve the legal and civil rights
a previous generation won with the gift of their lives. Their heroic deeds in months preceding last
year’s election will enable this democratic republic to embrace its pluralistic
future with integrity and greater equality.
On
the night after the November 2012 election, several Republican Party operatives
acknowledged the tragedy and error of the voter suppression effort. It failed miserably partially because of
Sharpton’s efforts and the increasing realization of minorities and immigrants
that they would be disenfranchised.
Various local, state and federal judges equally deserve credit for
intervening appropriately to ensure the fundamental American right of voting be
given to all Americans without contemporary equivalents of the ghastly burdens
of poll taxes and literacy tests in the height of segregation in the American
South. Laws requiring a driver’s license
or some other form of photo identification in order to vote were passed in the
two years preceding the election. Multiple states passed some type of voter
suppression law.
Fortunately,
in key states that could determine the outcome of the election such as Florida
and Ohio, these requirements would not decide the election and nullify the
votes of millions of Americans in other states.
Considering the low poll numbers of Mitt Romney amongst African
Americans, Latinos and other immigrants and President Obama’s ability to earn a
sufficient percentage of White voters, it was apparent numerically that Romney
could not win without restricting the influence of voters of color and
immigrants. Accordingly, a sinister and
inherently un-American decision was made to pursue this dastardly course of
legislative and judicial action to ensure Romney’s election and the election of
Republicans throughout the nation.
Parenthetically,
several recent documentaries, Gerrymandering
and The Best Government Money Can Buy
among others, about modern day gerrymandering in Texas, California and
other states detail the use of redistricting and other means of devaluing the
potency of the African American, Latino, Asian and immigrant vote. In Texas, four separate congressional
districts intersect at a traffic light.
Not surprisingly, this method of drawing district lines divides a Black
community and places one neighborhood in four different congressional
districts. As a consequence, the
influence of Black voters is negligible in each of these districts. The White majority will determine the outcome
of congressional elections except in the cases of an extremely close race in
which the outcome depends upon a percentage point or two. Given the near automatic reelection of
congressional incumbents, such a scenario is very unlikely. Essentially,
the combination of deceitful redistricting in which both major political
parties engage to protect their interests and sustained voter suppression
efforts will relegate the strength and effect of voters of color and immigrants
to the days of segregation before the Voting Rights Acts of 1965.
Nonetheless,
nameless and numerous voters in Florida and Ohio in addition to other swing
states, Virginia, North Carolina, Iowa, Pennsylvania and Michigan, were repulsed
by the voter suppression attempts. Some
persons in Miami Dade County in Florida stood as long eight hours without being
offered food or water to ensure their votes would count. They willingly suffered through adverse
conditions in reaction to the efforts of political operatives to devalue their
vote and citizenship. Similar stories
were recorded in Cuyahoga County in Ohio.
In both places, these voters concluded that elections in their states
had been stolen in 2000 and 2004.
Residents of Florida felt their votes and citizenship were negated by
the U S Supreme Court’s infamous decision, Bush
v. Gore, in which five of the nine justices essentially determined the
outcome of a presidential election. Four
years late, voters in Ohio showed similar disgust when their votes were ignored
by the Secretary of State and the election was given summarily to President
Bush although substantial questions remain as to the outcome in that state. In the 2012 presidential election, these
Americans from diverse economic, racial, cultural and ethnic backgrounds
determined that their votes would be counted.
Their lingering disgust with the perceived injustices of the two
previous presidential elections fueled their resolve.
Their
additional favorable outlook on the policies of the Obama Administration,
particularly the Affordable Car Act, mandated their wholesale assault on the
menacing campaign to deny their votes.
Their refusal to allow the moneyed interests and other political
operatives to intimidate them into cynicism and uncritical acceptance of these
injustices actually vindicate the historical legacy of past generations who
literally gave their lives in some instances to ensure that average American
citizens would have the right to vote.
Ironically, the masterminds of the voter suppression efforts outfoxed
themselves. Once the sleeping masses
awoke and discovered these dastardly deeds, individually, they decided to fight
against these injustices and inequities.
Heroically, they reacted with their tenacity as they went to court,
petitioned their elected representatives and most significantly stood in line
to vote. Demonstrating the very best
attributes of personal responsibility, they bore whatever necessary burdens to
advocate for themselves and persons with shared experiences.
Those
millions of heroes were awakened partially by Reverend Al Sharpton who
steadfastly and ingeniously utilized the forum of his public affairs
programming and celebrity to warn voters of the looming danger of voter
suppression. After the mid-term election
in 2010, Sharpton began to emphasize the need of voters to examine local and
statewide initiatives to require government issued photo identification to
enable the right to vote. Further, he
stressed the potential impact upon the votes of citizens of color and
immigrants. The combination of denying
convicted felons the right to vote, as disproportionately many parolees are
Americans of African and Latino descent, and requiring photo identification
cards essentially would reduce significantly the numbers and effect of the vote
of citizens of color. In raising this
issue to the level of critical public discourse and electoral crisis, Sharpton
demonstrated the very best in Civil Rights Movement leadership relevant to
twenty-first century challenges and contextualization. Sharpton commendably embraces the
irreversibly emerging pluralism of American society in which race practically,
relationally, politically and pragmatically intersects ethnicity, language,
culture, religion, sex, creeds, secularism, humanism and even the lack of any
religious affiliation. Advocacy for
civil and human rights in the global village necessitates conversations, knowledge
and coalitions with diverse constituencies with whom you share common
objectives and challenges notwithstanding differing dreams, cultural mores,
principles and methods for achieving success.
Insightfully, Sharpton relentlessly sounded the alarm regarding this
danger until he woke up snoring diverse communities to this ominous reality of
progressive efforts at voter suppression.
While
“Generation X,” the “Millennials,” and their cynical parents meandered
aimlessly through the protracted recession, banking catastrophe and seemingly
endless housing crisis, the menace of voter suppression would threaten severely
if not eventually eliminate their long-term economic and political viability
inclusive of quality of life issues relating to retirement, healthcare,
education, housing, environment and admission to the middle class. Conceivably, many of these citizens perceived
the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections whereby the ballots and votes of traditionally
disenfranchised and underrepresented segments of the United States population
had been cancelled through officially sanctioned chicanery. On their behalf and in tribute to the African
American veterans of every war in which this country engaged particularly the
First and Second World Wars, the citizens who suffered the aftermath of The Great
Depression, the persons who bore the brunt of brutal and senseless segregation
and the courageous people who rose up in the Civil Rights Movement and Black
Power Movement, Sharpton’s advocacy rose to a piercing crescendo warning of
such imminent existential danger to the American body politic. In some ways, his steadfast cautionary words
each evening on his show actually equate with a symphony of democracy and
egalitarianism as he strives to ensure all Americans receive equal protection
and due process of the law which begins with the fundamental right to vote.
Al
Sharpton’s unrelenting attack upon the voter suppression conspiracy redeems the
irresponsible race baiting and other political and legal shenanigans he
perpetrated within public discourse during the late 1980s and throughout the
1990s. Questions still persist relating
to the Twana Brawley fiasco of 1987 which resulted in the disbarment of two
previously well-respected civil rights attorneys. No ever accounted for the funds raised during
public rallies to protest a possible legal scheme to disregard racism. Tangentially, an official who was accused as
part of that ordeal committed suicide possibly for unrelated reasons; but his
name and legacy are forever shrouded by that debacle. Inexplicably, a sixty-eight count indictment
against Sharpton was dismissed summarily.
The breadth and depth of such a bill of indictment lends plausibility to
the notion of some type of guilt.
Otherwise, Sharpton was the clear victim of prosecutorial
vengeance. Then Mayor of the City of New
York, David N. Dinkins, experienced constant disrespect from Sharpton and his
associates. In an infamous and totally
unnecessary press conference at Gracie Mansion, Mayor Dinkins had to remind the
New York press corps that he was the duly elected Mayor and thus did not have
to justify himself to rogue community activists who had never served in a
position of accountability. Notwithstanding
these examples and others historians will cite, Sharpton earned the respect and
honor of a future generation. His
revelations of the potentially colossal consequences were the voter suppression
campaign to have succeeded will secure him a favorable place in American
politics and history. The sober judgment
of history juxtaposing time, distance and analysis of the intersection between
personal character and choices with contemporary context will conclude this was
Sharpton’s finest moment.
Parenthetically,
subsequent to President Obama’s reelection, several states were successful with
enacting laws requiring photo identification and other obstacles to the
practice of democracy. Reactionary fears
to America’s irreversible pluralism, growth in immigration, rising Tea Party
adherents, decline in the Republican Party’s reliance upon White majority
voters and apprehension about e country’s standing in the global economy, all,
possibly explain the premise and impetus of these laws. Accordingly, the awakened masses must remain
vigilant to protect their interests and continually secure voting and civil
rights for all citizens.
On
election night in November 2012, I watched the returns enthusiastically
expecting President Obama’s reelection. As
I surfed through myriad channels and listened to divergent political pundits
who attributed the outcome to Super Storm Sandy, Mitt Romney’s shortcomings as
a “flip flopper,” genius of the Obama Biden campaign leaders, shifting
demographics in the electorate, lack of a central message by Republican
candidates among other explanations, I determined the primary rationale for the
results centered upon the tenacity and resolve of countless and nameless
millions of American citizens who endured long lines and adversarial condition
to vote. Vindicating the provocative
activism and direct civil disobedience of past generations of forward thinking
and progressive citizens who demanded their rights, my fellow Americans in
Miami Dade County in Florida and Cuyahoga County in Ohio are heroes for today
and tomorrow. These citizens opened the
door to a new era in American politics and history. They laid the foundation for the next few
generations of citizens who will face the challenge of complex economic,
social, political and religious relationships amongst the world’s most
pluralistic population. They are heroes
as they voted to preserve rights and protections benefiting diverse persons who
share American citizenship.
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