This roundup is dedicated to the triumph in Alabama, which revealed not only the stark contrast between Black and White when it comes to voting Democratic, but also the stark contrast between the post-election analysis of White Males and everyone else.
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Anne Branigin, at The Root, profiles Perman Hardy, one of the legion of African-American women who made Doug Jones’ election possible:
Meet the Former Sharecropper Who Helped Push Alabama’s Historic Black Voter Turnout.
In a long-overdue (and, frankly, yet to be seen) declaration, Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez recently acknowledged the importance of black women to newly elected Alabama Sen. Doug Jones’ victory.
“Let me be clear: We won in Alabama and Virginia because black women led us to victory,” Perez said. “Black women are the backbone of the Democratic Party, and we can’t take that for granted. Period.”
Among the women not be taken for granted is 59-year-old Perman Hardy, a former sharecropper and home health nurse who has made it her mission to ensure that her neighbors in majority-black Lowndes County vote in every election…
Leading up to Election Day, Hardy also signs up local students who attend out-of-state colleges for absentee ballots. And it’s no easy feat—as Al.com notes, she does this “using a portable scanner plugged into her Tahoe’s cigarette lighter socket, to scan their driver’s licenses and Social Security cards and submitting the forms on their behalf.”
“If you can’t reach down and pick somebody up, just don’t do anything at all,” Hardy said about her work. “But don’t ask me how I do it, don’t ask me how. It’s just what I do.”
Where should the DNC be devoting time, people and money? To Perman Hardy, and ten thousand other African-American women like her. If Tom Perez can’t figure that out, he has no business heading the DNC.
Jess Fournier at Feministing , giving us a sample of the voices of decidedly clear thinking, and reasonably angry, not — White males, demolishes any and all arguments that Democrats need to concern themselves with finding those white voters who are always just beyond our reach:
Although a Democratic candidate won in Alabama, the Democratic Party doesn’t get to claim this as a victory after consistently ignoring the needs of black southern voters and relying on desperation and fear to get people to vote blue, while blaming black voters for low turnout. It is Black women have consistently been at the forefront of movements for liberation, transforming the South and the country through feminist activism committed to supporting the most vulnerable among us.
For a more in-depth look at one example of black women’s organizing for community healing in the South, check out Alexis Pauline Gumbs’ “Freedom Seeds: Growing Abolition in North Carolina.”
“We believe that we grow the world we want community by community grounded in our specific contexts but growing a shared and dynamic vision and process that will bloom, revealing alternatives to a violent policing, imprisoning state, and feeding us with the fruits of our loving labor.”
Rather than portray black women’s political participation on Tuesday as an anomaly, let us understand black women’s history of involvement in activism and support their work to dismantle white supremacy and racial capitalism.
But, but… the WWC hasn’t been given enough attention…
Please.
Demetria Irwin at The Grio lays out the lessons every progressive should take from the Alabama senatorial victory:
Dear Black Alabama Voters,
Thank you, as usual.
Despite all the
terrible legislation that was specifically created to prevent you from voting, you still went out to vote AND you voted like you should in the Alabama election for the vacant U.S. Senate seat.
As any intelligent, rational adult would do, you resoundingly voted for the person who was not the gun-toting guy with an apparent affinity for under aged teenage girls and who would like to get rid of Constitutional amendments after 10 (effectively undoing abolition of slavery, the woman’s right to vote and black folks’ right to vote among other important milestones)…
Despite your righteous efforts and — yes this does add a critical vote in Congress — this Democratic “win” is not a time of celebration. It is 2017 and a man who wants to undo the abolition of slavery BARELY lost a seat in the U.S. Senate…
For the future (and that means starting right now), let’s look to getting competent, experienced, Black candidates in office who can have a real impact in their elected positions. You have resoundingly flexed your voting muscle. Let’s put it to good use.
Brentin Mock at Pacific Standard shows how many obstacles African Americans in Alabama faced just to go to the polls::
Black voters exceeded voter turnout expectations and played a huge role in electing Jones, but they had to overcome several handicaps at the polls, as did many voters in general, to do that.
Black Get-Out-the-Vote Efforts Were Compromised: As law scholar Richard Pildes explains at Election Law Blog, one of the most instrumental organizations for black political participation in the state is the Alabama Democratic Conference…
But its efforts were crippled this year thanks to a new state law that forbids political organizations from making financial donations to other political groups, which is how the ADC earned much of its revenue…
Police Checks at the Polls: The Daily Beast reported seeing police set up near polling locations to check people for warrants in Montgomery, Alabama, one of the state's urban centers where black voters helped send Jones to victory. There is a long historyof this specific kind of police badge-sponsored voter intimidation in Alabama (and other states) to frighten black voters away from the polls.
Faulty Voting Equipment: Also out of Montgomery, there were reports of long lines caused, in part, by voting machines that broke down throughout the day. Merrill also failed to deploy an adequate number of polling officials and resources based on his belief that there would be extremely low voter turnout…
Voter ID: While some federal and state courts have declared voter ID laws racially discriminatory, as have most studies, Alabama has been determined to move forward with a voter ID law regardless. This state's version of the law is particularly problematic because it was unfurled right as Merrill announced the closures of voter ID centers in several counties throughout the Black Belt…
Make no mistake, these are targeted, systematic efforts to disenfranchise African-American voters— because the GOP knows if the black vote is maximized, Democrats win. Simple as that.
This is happening around the country, of course. So the next time someone tells the Democratic party has a ‘problem with its message not appealing to enough white voters’, remind them that the white voters who are receptive to our message already hear it, and have no compunction about voting with us. The problem is voter suppression and constructive disenfranchisement. The good people of Alabama showed us what we need to do to overcome them.
previous Alternative Voices Roundup compilations:
Alternative Voices Roundup: Other voices around the net.
Alternative Voices Roundup: Other voices around the net. (Oct. 29, 2017)
Alternative Voices Roundup: Other voices around the net. (Nov. 6, 2017)
Alternative Voices Roundup: Other voices around the net. (Nov. 12, 2017)
Alternative Voices Roundup: Other voices around the net. (Nov. 19, 2017)
Alternative Voices Roundup: Other voices around the net. (Nov. 26, 2017)
Alternative Voices Roundup: Other voices around the net. (Dec. 3, 2017)