Get Out to Vote Activities Continue Amidst Hurricane
Protect Our Vote Sunday Announced for Oct. 28 and Nov. 4
By Hazel Trice Edney

President Barack Obama receives an update on the ongoing response to Hurricane Sandy at the National Response Coordination Center at FEMA headquarters in Washington, D.C. on Sunday. FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate, right, and Richard Serino, FEMA Deputy Administrator, are seated next to the President.  PHOTO: Pete Souza/The White House

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Only days before the presidential election, a mega-storm slowed down both candidates and threatened to knock out power in at least 10 million homes across the East Coast. But, even as the storm hit, a Black voter operation used every possible mechanism to continue get-out-to-vote and voter protection efforts for Nov. 6.

“The Black community is facing one of the greatest challenges ever against malicious schemes and laws deliberately aimed at stopping and discouraging our people from exercising their right to vote. Only a unified effort by the Black Church can protect the vote won through the blood, sweat and tears of our people over the years,” said Dr. W. Franklyn Richardson, chairman of the Conference of National Black Churches, in a release announcing "Unity: Protect Our Vote Sundays” sponsored by a string of civil rights organizations Oct. 28 and Nov. 4.

Meanwhile during the storm, “We have robo calls featuring Actress Vivica Fox telling the people in the states to vote early and the people in the states who can’t vote early, she’s just telling people what they need to do to be prepared to vote,” says Edrea Davis, a spokeswoman for the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation one of the civil rights organizations involved in the Unity movement. She says calls are also going out encouraging people to “Walk a friend to the polls,” a special outreach to the youth.

“The hurricane is going on but the work is also still going on,” Davis said. Live calls were also being made across the South. “Yes they’re working, encouraging people to exercise their right to vote.”

Escalating activities toward Nov. 6, “Unity: Protect Our Vote Sundays” is a plan for Civil Rights and Black church leaders to join forces to protect Black voters.

The partners include The National Coalition on Black Civic Participation (NCBCP) the Conference of National Black Churches (CNBC), National Action Network, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law (LCCRUL), Samuel DeWitt Proctor Project and A. Philip Randolph Institute (APRI), according to a release.

“The Unity: Protect Our Vote Sundays goals are to mobilize Black faith leaders in a call to action to Black denominational and congregational leaders to take up arms to mobilize and protect their congregations from voter suppression tactics across the country by providing them with tools and information to protect their vote through Black Youth Vote, Black Women,’’ said NCBCP President/CEO Melanie Campbell in a release.

As the storm approached, President Obama – on a break from campaigning – issued a warning.

“Obviously, all of us across the country are concerned about the potential impact of Hurricane Sandy. This is a serious and big storm,” he said in a statement released immediately after a meeting with FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) on Sunday. “But the other thing that makes this storm unique is we anticipate that it is going to be slow moving. That means that it may take a long time not only to clear, but also to get, for example, the power companies back in to clear trees and to put things back in place so that folks can start moving back home.”

Hurricane Sandy was expected to affect some 50 million people from South Carolina to the New England states. Authorities speculated that it could also affect election turnout and voting if major damage and power outages continue into next week. Encouraging everyone to take the storm seriously, Obama said the federal, state and local governments are working together to protect residents and their homes.

Meanwhile, Obama and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, both continued television advertisements, but stopped email fundraising and canceled some travel as the storm came closer to land earlier this week. Maryland cancelled early voting as the state and Washington, D.C. declared a state of emergency.

With threats of voter intimidation at the polls amidst the close race, plans for Election Day continue. The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and Election Protection are providing voter protection tools including its national nonpartisan Election Protection Hotline, 1-866-OUR-VOTE. They also have a free mobile app to download and use in case voters are blocked in their effort to vote or have questions (Text OURVOTE to 90975).

“As we have done for over 10 years, the Election Protection Coalition will be there for all voters to safeguard their fundamental right to vote and have that vote counted on Election Day,” said Barbara Arnwine, President and Executive Director, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.

Meanwhile, volunteers are also needed to serve as poll monitors, says CNBC President, Jacqui Burton.

She is encouraging denominational leaders, pastors, clergy, lay leaders and attorneys "to volunteer to serve as poll monitors in our massive effort to mobilize an ‘Army of Poll Monitors’ to be a moral presence at the polls against efforts to intimidate Black voters.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Africa Dropped from Foreign Policy Debate

 

President Barack Obama and the late Ghanain President John Mills on a button. PHOTO/GIN

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from GIN

(TriceEdneyWire.com)  –With election fever moving into high gear, a final “foreign policy” debate between the Republican and Democratic candidates brought out their policy prescriptions for Asia, Iran, Russia and the Middle East. Sub-Saharan Africa, inexplicably, was bumped from the guest list.

Despite Pres. Obama’s wide popularity in Africa, almost nothing was said about the evolving relationship between the two giant powers - U.S. and the countries of the sub-Sahara - including trade agreements, corporate investments, security issues, and expanding military cooperation.

Mali was mentioned for a hot second by Republican hopeful Mitt Romney where this year soldiers trained in the U.S. pulled off a coup and ousted the President. This opened the way for a takeover by the indigenous Tuareg people in the North who were soon sidelined by a fundamentalist group that desecrated ancient tombs and installed “sharia” justice.

Also off the radar screen was a low intensity war against the Al-Shabaab Islamist group that has taken a toll on our allies Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia and sends refugees to our shores. U.S. advisors, private security firms, and substantial U.S. aid pour into the region, with debatable success.

Finally, neither the environmental crisis producing deadly drought, the uprisings by a restive labor force, no longer content to be paid a substandard wage, nor the unsustainable gap between the rich and the poor made it to the evening’s agenda.

Meanwhile, a Nigerian blogger on Lagosbooksclub wrote: “many Nigerians like me sort of liked the phrase NIGERIA FOR OBAMA,” but he confessed to being less impressed today. “Yes we have always liked democratic presidential candidates more …but for what reason?… On the other hand we also know that the republican candidate would have probably described 97% of Nigerians as victimized tax dodgers too.”

Oct. 28, 2012

Civil Rights Icon Still Fighting for Black Vote
By Hazel Trice Edney

(TriceEdneyWire.com) – Ninety-one-year-old Rev. Joseph Lowery may not have been able to campaign as much as he did four years ago at the age of 87. But, canvassing the state of Georgia for the Obama re-election, is doing all he can to turn out the Black vote.

“I think it’s an imperative that we turn out in large numbers…It’s imperative that we turn out in mammoth numbers to re-elect him because I think he deserves re-election,” says the civil rights icon who four years ago gave the benediction at the inauguration of the nation’s first Black president. But, Lowery makes it quite clear that race pales in comparison to the real reason that he favors Obama over his Republican opponent Mitt Romney.

“He saved this country from a terrible actual catastrophe with his creativity, with his raw courage to do the stimulus thing,” Lowery said in an interview with the Trice Edney News Wire. “And, in spite of the bloodletting, ‘Let them go bankrupt’ and ‘Let them die’ [suggestion] of Mitt Romney, Obama insisted on saving industry; particularly the automobile industry and others. And I think he deserves re-election. I think we need to do everything we can to turn out the vote and to encourage others to cast their vote for Obama.”

But, it is clear that an invisible opposition – that has little to do with political issues – will shave some votes from Obama.

The Associated Press poll has concluded that “racial attitudes have not improved in the four years since the United States elected its first Black president...Those views could cost President Barack Obama votes as he tries for re-election.”

As a co-founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Lowery is an old pro at recognizing racism.

“I’ve never seen such fierce determination on the part of some people in this country to prevent his re-election,” Lowery said. “He’s done very well in spite of the fact that he’s had very little cooperation from Congress.”

Just in from a rally in the 68 percent Black city of Macon, Ga., Rev. Lowery recognizes that the Black voter enthusiasm from four years ago has somewhat waned in the face of high unemployment and other community needs. But he is hoping that in the few final days before the election, voters will get their druthers.

“They have to understand that it’s not Obama’s fault. He inherited this critical state of affairs when he came to office,” he said in a voice raising to a convincing pitch. “That’s a difficult sell to say, ‘Things would have been worse if I hadn’t done so and so.’ But, it’s the truth. And he saved us from a calamitous situation.”

Despite the determination of Lowery and other get-out-the-vote activists, polls show Romney leading comfortably in Georgia, a state not considered a must win for the President. Republican Sen. John McCain also won Georgia in 2008. Democrats haven’t won Georgia since Bill Clinton over President George H. W. Bush in 1992.

In final days of the campaign, Obama and Romney are focused largely on Ohio, Florida and Virginia in their quest for the 270 electoral votes needed to win the White House. Recent polls show the following: Obama leading Romney 51 percent to 47 percent in Virginia (Washington Post poll); Obama leading Romney in Ohio 50 percent to 46 percent (CNN) and the candidates appear to be tied in Florida, according to a CNN/ORC poll.

Despite national polls showing the candidates within five points of each other, Lowery is among those who doubt the race is as close as predicted. He speculated that Black voters, expected to turn out for Obama more than 90 percent, have probably not received the phone calls from polling agencies.

“I don’t believe it’s as close as they say it is,” he said, “They haven’t been counting us for years. That’s nothing new. I prayed and I believe a lot of voters who have not made up their minds, when they get ready to go in that booth, they will recognize that we need this and that Romney is not good for this country, the kind of financials that he’s talking about, he’s not good for this country.”

Oct. 28, 2012

Following Protests, Clear Channel Says It Will Remove 'Voter Fraud' Billboards

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from Target Market News

(TriceEdneyWire.com) Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings has said that it will remove ads from its billboards in Ohio and Wisconsin that carried a warning saying "Voter Fraud is a felony." The billboards drew the outrage of politicians and civil rights groups who said the message was part of a voter suppression effort designed to intimidate Black voters from going to the polls on Nov. 6th.

Clear Channel pasted the ad on 145 billboards in Cleveland, Columbus and Milwaukee starting in early October -- practically all in low-income minority neighborhoods. The Norton Outdoor advertising company also carried the same ads on its billboards and has agreed to take them down.

"The ads were meant to target and intimidate voters of color and to keep these communities from voting," said Robinson, axecutive director of ColorOfChange. "It was too much of a coincidence for these ads to just pop up in swing states, particularly in neighborhoods of color." Robinson's organization collected 130,000 signed petitions demanding the immediate removal of the billboards.

Clear Channel has refused to release information about who actually paid for the "Voter Fraud" campaign. It would say only that the sponsor was a "private family foundation." Protesters, however, pointed out that it was possible that the billboards were produced with Clear Channel as a willing partner. Clear Channel is owned by Bain Capital, the private equity firm which was co-founded by Republican Presidential candidate, Mitt Romney.

"Needless to say I'm happy they will be taken down," said Cleveland City Councilwoman Phyllis Cleveland, "but I want to know who was behind this in the first place."