Nope, no racism here! GA Officials Are Going After Black Leaders Who Organized Voters

[kpete]

GEORGIA OFFICIALS ARE GOING AFTER BLACK LEADERS WHO ORGANIZED VOTERS

On the morning of December 21, 2010, Lula Smart was preparing to leave for her job at Sears when she heard a firm knock at her front door. An array of law enforcement vehicles had amassed outside, and armed officers were fanning out around her house. Before that day, Smart had no rap sheet to speak of, only a master’s degree in criminal justice earned earlier that year. While she enjoyed her work in retail, Smart hoped to transition into a job more like that of her unannounced visitors, who would read her a dizzying list of felony voting fraud charges that amounted to more than 100 years in prison. Handcuffed, Smart soon met nine other incarcerated African Americans who had participated in a vigorous get-out-the-vote campaign ahead of an election the previous month. Three of those jailed had been elected to the local school board.


the rest here:
http://www.vice.com/read/the-quitman-10-2-and-voter-suppression-in-modern-georgia-715

[questionseverything]

2. thanks for the op

Yet the massive investigation failed to produce evidence that Smart or any other member of the group had defrauded or coerced a single voter. With these goods lacking, the state built its prosecution instead on proving that she and others breached technicalities like carrying envelopes containing ballots to the mail for their close acquaintances without the proper authorization.

Even on these counts, the state is struggling to make its case. VICE spoke with several Brooks County residents state prosecutors allege are the victims of voter fraud at the hands of the Quitman 10 + 2. Each of them asserted that they had successfully voted for the candidate of their choice without coercion or any impropriety. Similarly, court documents reveal that other alleged victims—called by the prosecution to testify against Smart—had little to offer the state’s case. Under oath, witnesses called by the state asserted that no fraud had taken place and said that, during interrogations, Georgia investigators had them sign personal statements that the agents had written for them.

In 2012, despite the case’s vulnerabilities, Georgia Governor Nathan Deal issued an executive order removing the three black women charged with voter fraud from the school board.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

wether it is racism or 99ism if we had a properly functioning justice department, deal and his cronys would be under investigation

[cordelia]

6. Nathan Deal should be under a jail for all the crap he and his buddies have pulled.

[brer cat]

8. I will be happy to throw away the key. nt

[Aristus]

3. Those redneck shitheads want their slaves back awful bad...

I hope she receives actual justice. Not whatever passes for it in that squalid Confederate shithole where she lives...

[ieoeja]

4. And the winner is ...

Witnesses called by the state to testify against Lula Smart in the 2013 case also expressed concerns that the investigation aimed to intimidate. “When y’all came to my house... y’all just kept coming and harassing me. I know who I voted for, and I voted and I thought I was through with that.” Patricia Little, a longtime Quitman resident, told the courtroom in reference to the state’s investigators. “Y’all making me not even want to vote no more.”

[progressoid]

5. Wow. They are shameless.

[RobertEarl]

7. Where is the US justice department

This begs for a Federal intervention. Holder? Anyone seen Holder?

[GeorgeGist]

10. Holder is a joke.

Just ask the Moocher Militia.

[grahamhgreen]

9. GA is just stuck in the sixties.....

The 1860's

[malaise]

11. Racism in Georgia? Ask Alice as we celebrate her life

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025250704