Democrats and Civil Rights Groups Urge People of Color to Vote, Citing GOP Racism Voter Suppression

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/election-2014/democrats-and-civil-rights-groups-urge-people-color-vote-citing-gop-racism-and-voter



Democrats and civil rights groups in 2014's battleground states are urging communities of color to turn out in force and vote against Republicans, explicitly saying that some of the GOP’s top candidates have supported the kinds of laws that led to Trayvon Martin’s shooting death, repression in Ferguson, Missouri, and the return of racist voting laws.

The messaging—some of the bluntest in a year setting advertising spending records—is being delivered on radio ads on African-American stations in North Carolina, on flyers left at doorways in Arkansas and Georgia, and is even coming from surrogate speakers for the top candidates. Last weekend, Alma Adams, a Democratic legislator in North Carolina, told a crowd at a rally for U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan, “We need to Uncle Thom—Tillis, that is, home,” referring to the Republican U.S. Senate candidate, who, as that state’s Speaker of the House, helped roll back voting rights and loosen gun laws.

North Carolina is not just a state where the outcome of the Senate race could determine whether Republicans will have a congressional majority for President Obama’s final two years. It’s also the state that has seen the most political advertising spending in 2014’s midterm election, according to industry experts. As a result, the brash racism-themed messages are intended to break through already numbing campaign advertising.

In North Carolina, a super PAC started by Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, has been running an ad on black radio accusing Tillis of “making it harder for communities of color to vote” and backing the kind of gun law that “caused the shooting death of Trayvon Martin,” referring to the Florida youth who was killed in a “Stand Your Ground” confrontation with a self-styled vigilante. In Georgia, Democrats are distributing a flyer with a picture from Ferguson of two black children holding signs that say, “Don’t shoot,” and saying that turning out and voting is how “to prevent another Ferguson.”

[cprise]

1. You have to put them in the position of turning you away

If they're going to try to supress voting, make them do the dirty work so the world can see what's going on.

Not showing up to vote would be a travesty.

[JustAnotherGen]

2. Amen

This is an election where -

If you can vote - you MUST vote.

They - them - over there

Are doing everything they can to push us back to 1927.