I had seen the initial report about this.
And, then yahtzeebutterfly brought us further links.
Look at this picture.
The red parts are where the majority of Alabama’s Black population lives.
It’s also where the Department of Motor Vehicles offices will be CLOSED.
Alabama Passes Voter ID Law, Closes Issuing Offices In Black Counties (VIDEO)
Still think Voter ID laws aren’t meant to keep folks from voting? What other purpose can they possibly serve? Back in 2011, Alabama passed a voter ID law requiring Photo ID. For most Americans, that’s a driver’s license.
Unfortunately for folks living in Alabama’s “Black Belt” – the state’s 15 mostly Black counties – those driver’s licences are about to become a LOT harder to get. Why? Because on Thursday, October 1, the state’s shutting down a staggering 31 driver’s license offices, leaving only four open.
Officials claim they’re doing this because of budget cuts, but it looks a lot more like the GOP-controlled state legislature wants to keep Black people from voting. After all, this certainly isn’t the first time the state of Alabama’s tried to keep Black people from voting. And now that the majority -GOP Supreme Court has gutted the Voting Rights Act of 1965, they’re free to do it again.
WHERE IS THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT ON THIS?
WHERE ARE THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY’S CANDIDATES FOR PRESIDENT ON THIS?
WHERE IS THE CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CAUCUS ON THIS?
https://twitter.com/lordxmen2k/status/651051768634171392
“They think they don’t count”: The race riot that continues to haunt Oklahoma
Ninety years after white arsonists torched Tulsa, blacks remain grossly underrepresented in the state’s electorate
JENN ROLNICK BORCHETTA, DEMOS
Last Tuesday was National Voter Registration Day. The significance of this day has never been clearer to me than when I found myself in Tulsa, fighting for the voting rights of Oklahomans.
I was meeting with local advocates about the state’s voter registration problems. Under Section 7 of the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA), public assistance agencies must offer low-income citizens the opportunity to register to vote. Until recently, Oklahoma public assistance agencies were not complying with this law.
My hotel in downtown Tulsa bustled with people in suits. When I asked what business brought the suits, the hotel staff said simply, “Oil.”
My meetings were held at the Metropolitan Tulsa Urban League (MTUL), on the other end of town. In chatting with a local about Tulsa neighborhoods, I mentioned my destination.
“Oh,” he said, “that’s the Black section.”
As I drove toward the MTUL from the hotel, there was a stark change in the landscape. The bustling storefronts disappeared and I found myself passing a number of vacant business lots and—on seemingly every block—closed churches.
“Church donations are the first thing that must go in times of financial trouble,” said Dr. Donald Tyler, the MTUL interim CEO and a minister to a congregation of thousands.
Fiinancial trouble was not new to the area. Oklahoma is a historically impoverished state, with the nation’s 16th highest poverty rate as of 2014. While the state as a whole has a 17% poverty rate, it’s almost double that for Black Oklahomans, who clock in at a staggering 30%.
I spoke with people who have spent years helping Oklahoma communities and who have struggled to engage low-income Oklahomans in democracy. “They think they don’t count,” explained Lisa Anderson, longtime president of the MTUL Guild.
There is more to this than a statistical history of poverty, though. During these conversations, more than one person mentioned the Tulsa Race Riot—a dark mark on a region that’s virtually unknown outside of the state.
To understand the Tulsa Race Riot, you first have to get a sense of the area in the early 1920s. Greenwood District was the wealthiest Black community in the United States. Home to almost all of Tulsa’s Black lawyers, doctors, and other professionals, it was also known as “Black Wall Street,” and it was the model of a successful community. Born of the Oklahoman oil boom and thriving despite the rampant segregation of the area,Greenwood residents had access to Black-run banks, movie theatres, and even—unlike many of their white neighbors at the time—indoor plumbing.
http://www.salon.com/2015/10/02/they_think_they_dont_count_the_racial_pogrom_that_continues_to_haunt_oklahoma_partner/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=socialflow
https://twitter.com/AriBerman/status/650319438592536576?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
And this is the TRUTH. That’s why the racists TROLLS have been trying to comment here.
GTFOH STAY IN YOU LANES, MUTHAFUCKAS!
We need to push hard against these heinous regressive moves that will result in voter suppression.
I just have to post this video from Obama’s Selma speech this year:
https://youtu.be/3o9I7eOEHAs&rel=0
Thank you, yahtzee.
These VOTER SUPPRESSION mofos are BRAZEN!
Ari Berman has been on this type voter suppression forever and a day.
Apparently he has a book out on this ( GIVE US THE BALLOT
The Modern Struggle for Voting Rights in America
Ari Berman @AriBerman Sep 10
The great @repjohnlewis reviews my book Give Us the Ballot in Washington Post, calls it “must-read.” A huge honor!
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/john-lewis-how-we-won-and-are-losing-the-right-to-vote/2015/09/10/5f77e644-50bc-11e5-933e-7d06c647a395_story.html …
from the article:
he has done a yeoman’s job on reporting on this issue.
Rikyrah,
Here is a county map of Alabama to go along with the one in your article so that we can see the names of the counties indicated by your map.
http://geology.com/county-map/alabama-county-map.gif
http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/alabama-county-map-counties-seats-neighboring-states-35300731.jpg
This needs to be up in the thread too.
Also,
let’s talk about the EMPLOYEES of those closed Department of Motor Vehicle Offices. I’d like to know the demographics of those employees. I’d bet serious money, that the overwhelming majority of those employees – WHO NOW HAVE NO JOBS – ARE BLACK.
Which, of course, is THE POINT.
I had not thought about that. I bet you are right, Rikyrah.
Yes; because you’d hear a deafening scream if the job-holders were white.
SO NO JOBS, NO DRIVERS LICENSES, NO PROOF OF IDS THAT THEY ARE LEGALLY REGISTERED= NO VOTING for those DEMOCRATS WHO JUST WANT YOUR VOTE & PROMISE TO GIVE YOU FREE STUFF.////////
CRIMINAL & DESPICABLE
Yes it is, Ametia. They aren’t even trying to hide their racist voting suppression tactics.
I fear that oppression will worsen if this is not stopped NOW.
this racist nonsense just brings up all the injustices that we’ve suffered.
Definitely.
This is what happens when the Supreme Court fools around with the Voting Rights Act and guts the major part…Section 5.
You know, back in November 2012, I predicted that things like this would happen when I made this comment:
http://firstread.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/11/09/15054843-supreme-court-to-hear-key-voting-rights-case?lite#th3607952-c71840299
Comment #1.20 at that above link.
I also made this comment back in Nov. 2012 at comment #131:
From the article above–
The Supreme Court failed to note that this is because the Voting Rights Act of 1965 PREVENTS
http://firstread.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/11/09/15054843-supreme-court-to-hear-key-voting-rights-case?lite#th3607952-c71842112
meanwhile the media is using TRUMP, CARSON, and the rest of the GOP clown car to distract from their devious plans to steal the 2016 election through CRIMINAL VOTER SUPPRESSION.
Because we all KNOW there is NO WAY on God’s green earth the Republican Party can ever win the White House anytime soon, with their racism, bigotry, and all out assault on our DEMOCRACY.
It IS an all out assault on our Democracy!