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The Real 'Constitutional Crisis' by Mumia Abu-Jamal [written 21 November 2000]
As the swarm of lawyers descend on Florida (not to be outdone by the pack of
journalists accompanying them), the language of legalese sends observers into
fits of fury, as terms like "statutory construction," "stare decisis," and
"public policy" merge into the muddle over "chads" (dimpled or pregnant?),
voter's intent, and butterfly ballots.
The legal battles waged in the Sunshine State are remarkable as much for what
they entail, as for what they ignore. They involve, of course, the counting,
as well as the method of counting, ballots involved in the election. What
they ignore is the remarkable revelations presented by a panel convened by
the heads of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored
People), the Lawyer's Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and People for
the American Way on the Saturday after the elections (Nov. 11, 2000).
Held like a formal hearing, with a stenographer acting as a court reporter,
the panelists (among them NAACP CEO Kweisi Mfume, LCCRUL Executive Director
Barbara Arnwine, and PfAW President Ralph Neas) questioned and examined a
number of witnesses, all of whom had some involvement in the Florida
elections.
What the witnesses testified to, less than a week after the polls closed, was
nothing less than astounding. Adora Nweze, president of the NAACP State
Conference in Florida, told of fighting for over 90 minutes with election
officials at her polling place for the right to vote. She was told that an
absentee ballot was sent to her (which she never received) and thus she was
ineligible to vote. She told the panel, "We wanted you to come, even though
we may not know the law, we knew it certainly was not right..."
One wonders, if this happened to a savvy civil rights leader in Florida, what
of someone who wasn't so savvy?
Several students from the historically Black university in Florida, FAMU,
told of registering online at election.com, only to find out that they
weren't registered when they tried to vote.
A voting rights canvasser, who organized car rides to the polls, told of
hundreds of elderly who were told they weren't registered. Indeed, this
canvasser, a young woman named Fumiko Robinson, told of her own mother being
denied the right to vote, based on an apparent error in the official's log
books which wrongly recorded the spelling of her first name and middle
initial. Fumiko's mom, a Japanese-American, could only vote because her
husband, an African-American, returned to the polls and fought for her right
to vote.
Stacy Powers, a journalist and radio producer, told of going to half a dozen
polling places where she saw systematic harassment and the denial of voters
who were Black. She told of a news source who provided her with a lists of
940 voters who filed absentee ballots (before the election) which were
improperly rejected. When one considers the more recent winning margin
claimed by the Bush camp-930 votes-the improper rejection of the 940 absentee
ballots seems somewhat ominous. Powers, asked how many Black voters were
disenfranchised in the Hillsborough County, the 5th most populous county in
the state, replied, "Thousands."
A Haitian-American women's activist, Marliene Bastien, cited "dozens" of
cases where Haitians were denied help. She told of a call from a man, who
said, "I spent so many years, waiting to become an American citizen, to get
the right to vote, and now I can't vote!" He was, she said, "crying on the
phone."
Yet how many of these voices have you heard represented in the courts, on the
news, in the corporate press? Silenced by their suppression at the polling
place, they are silenced yet again when their very real concerns are ignored
in a national debate that speaks gingerly of "mistakes," yet makes no mention
of fraud, intimidation, and blatant violations not merely of the Voters
Rights Act, but of the 15th Amendment to the Constitution.
Silence in the face of such crimes, is a criminal indictment of the entire
system, which remains deeply opposed to black political power.
_____________
This column may be reprinted and/or distributed by electronic means,
but only for non-commercial use, and only with the inclusion of the
following copyright information: Check www.mumia.org and its links
for
important action alerts. Mumia Abu-Jamal is the author of three books: Live from Death
Row, Death Blossoms, and All Things Censored.
_____________
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