Well, as you know if you visited this page in the past year, it wasn't updated since May 2001. This is, of course, pretty dreadful. In my defense, nothing really happened for over a year. We lost our voting rights. We found out we weren't living in the democracy we thought we were. (Nor in a republic either.) Something great and terrible swept over us all. But then we were left simply standing there, totally unsure of which way to go. Our leaders and news media gave us no way to integrate it into our lives, put it in no context, offered no solutions. Let's cut to the chase. If all of us had been able to vote the way we wanted, the person now sitting in the Oval Office would be back in Texas. Some of us did not get to do so. This fact cuts the ground out from beneath everything this nation has ever stood for.
On the bright side, however, the Department of Justice has decided to hold formal investigations into events in three states: Florida, Missouri, and, yep, Tennessee. That was the event that led me to update the web site and write the new article for Alternet.
As you know if you've already read the article, it deals with the state of voting in the United States today, as we stand on the threshhold of the 2002 elections. Has anything changed since the debacle of the 2000 elections? Does it look like anything is likely to? What's already happened in some primaries? How are the most affected communities responding? And if you haven't read the article, click here.
There will be constant updates to this section as events warrant. To see some snapshots of the past year and a half, scroll down.
Holy God! I can't believe what's been going on. Well, I never thought I'd actually live to see the day, but for the past month and a half, Tennessee has been in the process of being investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice. Yes, that's right. The work of many, many people has been vindicated by the mere fact that this investigation is happening, and that these allegations are being taken this seriously. I have spoken with the attorney overseeing the investigation, Bruce Gear, and he has told me that he's found a great deal of merit to the allegations even at this early date. My impression is that it's very likely indeed that Tennessee will see exactly the same kind of hearings that Florida had. Most of the time, people who work on issues of justice know that they may never get any acknowledgement of what they're doing at all. I am very grateful for this and will keep you posted as events occur. Meanwhile, our group, UPCFA, is planning a trip to VoterMarch! Several of us will be leaving Nashville on May 18th to join the protest in Washington on the 19th. I, however, will be speaking on the other end of the continent at VoterMarch West in San Francisco. :) To see their website, please click here. I and Cathy Lohmeier (from our group) met with anti-racist activist Tim Wise this week. What a great guy! :) I hope to eventually be able to follow in his footsteps, and take the news from Tennessee to college campuses everywhere, getting paid actual real-live travel expenses (kinda important.) We talked about eventually collaborating on some work with the Fisk University's Race Relations Institute (he's on the board!) Their website is here.
Oh, and this is so exciting!!! My article is getting published here, there and everywhere! To see it (at one of the places it's published) click here.
I am hard at work on the article for Tennessee Forums. That's a group that you probably have in your state, too-- they request articles on important current events publish them in newspapers all over the state. Research, research, research! :) I just spoke with Gloria Jean Sweetlove, the Tennessee state president of the NAACP. As you might guess, everything I already found out from the Nashville sources was reconfirmed, along with some new information-- for instance, that all over west Tennessee, polls inexplicably opened at eight or nine o'clock in the morning, effectively disenfranchising many working people. Most important is the information that evidence of vote fraud was found in every state in NAACP District Five. I plan to eventually interview NAACP state presidents in every region of the country. I asked Ms. Sweetlove what evidence of vote fraud was found in the 1996 election. Her answer? "Nothing." I then spoke to Mrs. Johnny Turner, Memphis NAACP president. She reconfirmed all the information I'd already received and added that in Memphis they'd also had problems with former felons not being permitted to vote (which, in Tennessee, they can legally do.) She referred to the DMV voter registration problems as a "fiasco." Nobody seems to be much further along in trying to figure out how thousands and thousands of people found out only on Election Day that, through no fault of their own, they weren't registered through the DMV at all. Apparently, it's been traced back to the Department of Safety, and that's as far as it goes to date.
I just got back from the January 20th protest in Washington, D.C.! Don't believe what you saw on the news, folks... there were nearly as many protestors as spectators, and probably MORE protestors than supporters. (BTW, if you are a Democrat from Texas, you have my deepest sympathies. Can anything be more tasteless than those huge cowboy hats combined with cowboy boots and tons of red rhinestone jewelry? It's a fashion don't.
We gathered at Dupont Circle with Votermarch, and I spoke after Patricia Ireland and Granny D (the 91-year-old woman who marched across America for campaign finance reform.) Then I led the crowd in a rousing rendition of "This Little Light of Mine." We videotaped the march (video available on this site shortly!) and then headed over to the Ellipse by a shorter way. That's how we missed the police blockade of the main march. I kept trying all day to find out what happened to the NOW march, the GoreGotMore march, the Shadow Inauguration, etc., but it was impossible to find out anything. Groups were pretty effectively separated-- we didn't even get to see the parade! We crowded against the barricades just as the tubas went by. They always seem to bring up the rear.
I have never seen any event with so many barricades, fences, checkpoints, barriers, etc. Cops were everywhere, although the ones I saw were pretty low- key, most without riot gear. (However, fifteen people were arrested, God only knows what for.) The most surreal moment of the entire event was when we were sitting in a Starbucks just after the parade had gone by. The door kept opening and closing until there were about twelve cops crowded in, all wearing full riot gear. I didn't see them drinking any coffee, either. Weird.
To hear my radio interview at the D.C. independent media center, please click here. Then click on "sounds of the street." Also, there are plenty of new links on the link page, so check 'em out. And the latest news in Tennessee... the national NAACP will be holding hearings in Nashville next month!! They will be at Fisk University and will take testimony about vote fraud. I am rounding up people to speak!
The January 15th Martin Luther King, Jr. march was GREAT!!! We marched down Jefferson Street from Fisk to Tennessee State University, singing "This Little Light of Mine" and "We Shall Overcome." Cathy Lohemeier has written a wonderful petition urging the investigation of vote fraud in Tennessee. We got many many signatures! Remember, I will be speaking for Votermarch on January 20th in Washington, D.C., at Dupont Circle. I don't know exactly when, but the whole thing starts at ten. Stop by if you're in town! The national NAACP will be sending a group to Nashville to hold hearings and take evidence on vote fraud directed against students. The hearings will be at Fisk University. More updates when I know anything! We now have a situation where the U.S. Civil Rights Commission, House Democrats, and the National NAACP have filed or are filing suits and holding investigations into vote fraud. To see the new links, click here.
I will be marching in the Nashville Martin Luther King Day Parade on January 15th with Cathy Lohmeier. :) We will be holding a banner! It goes down Jefferson Street from Fisk to Tennessee State University (two historically black colleges.
Guess what, folks.... it is confirmed, and
Guess what else. The Civil Rights Commission starts hearings next week! It’s hit the fan, folks. I will have a link up within a few days.
On January 2nd, I spoke with Laughlin McDonald, head of the Voting Rights Project of the ACLU in Atlanta, GA. I shared information with him about vote fraud in Tennessee. He's very interested in the fact that, aside from all the allegations of vote fraud, vote irregularities, and voter harassment and intimidation here, Tennessee had exactly the same problems with antiquated punch-card equipment in certain counties and polling places that Florida did. The Tennessean did do an article in their December 17th issue that addressed that particular issue. I am currently trying to get an online link to it. It is the only article I know of on any aspect of voting difficulties in Tennessee that appeared in this state outside the black press.
I then talked to several people at the national ACLU office. My web page may shortly be linked to their site, and I might also get to speak on behalf of the ACLU in Washington on January 20th. :)
On December 21st, I met with Neal Darby, State NAACP representative, at the offices of the Tennessee Tribune. Rosetta Perry was gracious enough to arrange this meeting. I learned many new pieces of evidence, including the full story of what happened at Hadley Park. The rest of the new evidence is here. The national NAACP may end up filing a case in Tennessee, and, according to Neal Darby, the state NAACP chapter may actually file one on their own first. There is also a possiblity... just a POSSIBILITY mind you... that I may be speaking at the protest in Washington on January 20th. Further updates as events warrant!!
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