Angus King: Democracy is In Danger

Senator Angus King (Ind., Maine) addressed the U.S. Senate last Tuesday on behalf of the Freedom to Vote Act. Republicans later blocked consideration of the bill, but his words (above) deserve a hearing.

Excerpts:

“It’s important to remember that most failures of democracy started with legitimate elections, but once in office, the leader manipulated the electoral process to consolidate their hold on power, just as was attempted here last winter. And once power is seized, the control and reach of the modern surveillance state is truly terrifying. Ask the Uighurs in China, or members of the opposition in Russia, if you can find any alive.”

“Russia, Turkey, Venezuela, and Hungary are examples of the slide into authoritarianism just in our lifetimes; those countries still have elections, but they don’t mean much.

And what if the current wave of voter suppression legislation succeeds and keeps tens of thousands of people from voting, or what if in 2024 a partisan legislature in a swing state votes to override the election results and send its own set of electors to Congress? Then it won’t just be Republicans who distrust elections, and we will be left with a downward spiral toward a hollow shell of democracy, where only raw power prevails and its peaceful transfer becomes a distant memory.”

Read the full transcript here.

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Georgia’s New Jim Crow

Republican Governor Brian Kemp, elected in 2018 after suppressing Georgia’s Black vote, has signed a new voter suppression bill into law. Georgia’s S.B. 202 bans mobile voting, limits secure drop boxes, and prohibits volunteers from giving water to Georgia voters waiting in the long voting lines typical of the state’s black neighborhoods. It cuts the time window when voters can request a mail-in ballot by half, and absentee ballots will now be mailed out three weeks later than before. S.B. 202 also allows the State Board of Elections to overide county election boards and replace them with state-appointed administrators.

The NAACP and ACLU, understandably, have challenged the new law in court as a violation of the First, Second, and Fifteenth Amendments, and the Voting Rights Act. Who else is against the law? Georgia’s biggest employers, including Coca Cola, Home Depot, AFLAC, Delta Airlines and Tyler Perry Studios.

More:

“’Jim Crow In a Suit and Tie’: Georgia Passes Massive Voter Suppression Bill,” Eric Lutz, Vanity Fair

“72 Black executives call on corporate America to fight voting restrictions,” Shawna Chen, Axios

“Georgia-based companies face boycott calls over voting bill,” Chris Isidore, CNN Business

“MLBPA open to discussing moving 2021 MLB All-Star Game from Atlanta after new voting laws pass in the state,” R.J. Anderson, CBS Sports

“Black voter says a painting at Georgia governor’s voter bill signing shows the plantation where her family worked for generations,” Natasha Chen and Theresa Waldrop, CNN

Updates:

“MLB will move its All-Star Game out of Atlanta as backlash to Georgia voting law continues,” Chelsea Janes, Washington Post

“What Georgia’s Voting Law Really Does,” Nick Corasaniti and Reid J. Epstein, New York Times

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Civil Rights Cases To Be Scaled Back Under Betsy DeVos

“The Education Department wants to narrow the scope of civil rights investigations at schools, focusing on individual complaints rather than systemic problems, according to a document obtained by The Associated Press.

Under the Obama administration, when a student complained of discrimination in a particular class or school, the education agency would examine the case but also look at whether the incident was part of a broader, systemic problem that needs to be fixed.

Proposed revisions to the department’s civil rights procedures, distributed last week among civil rights officials at the department, remove the word ‘systemic’ from the guidelines.”

— Education Department considers narrowing civil rights work, Maria Danilova, AP

As you may recall, Candice E. Jackson, appointed by Secretary DeVos to run Education’s Civil Rights office, first gained notoriety as a Stanford student when she complained that she had suffered discrimination because she is white. Who better to reverse Civil Rights progress than someone who claimed “reverse discrimination?”

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Civil Rights Cases To Be Scaled Back Under Betsy DeVos

“The Department of Education is scaling back investigations into civil rights violations at the nation’s public schools and universities, easing off mandates imposed by the Obama administration that the new leadership says have bogged down the agency.

According to an internal memo issued by Candice E. Jackson, the acting head of the department’s office for civil rights, requirements that investigators broaden their inquiries to identify systemic issues and whole classes of victims will be scaled back. Also, regional offices will no longer be required to alert department officials in Washington of all highly sensitive complaints on issues such as the disproportionate disciplining of minority students and the mishandling of sexual assaults on college campuses.

The new directives are the first steps taken under Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to reshape her agency’s approach to civil rights enforcement, which was bolstered while President Barack Obama was in office. The efforts during Mr. Obama’s administration resulted in far-reaching investigations and resolutions that required schools and colleges to overhaul policies addressing a number of civil rights concerns.”

— “Education Dept. Says It Will Scale Back Civil Rights Investigations,” Eric L. Green, New York Times

Candice E. Jackson, appointed by Secretary DeVos to run Education’s Civil Rights office, first gained notoriety as a Stanford student when she complained that she had suffered discrimination because she is white. Who better to reverse Civil Rights progress than someone who claimed “reverse discrimination?”

Updates:

“Government Watchdog Will Investigate Trump Administration on Civil Rights,” Elena Gooray, Pacific Standard

“Betsy DeVos Faces Pushback After Scaling Back Investigations of Civil Rights complaints,” Annie Waldman, Pacific Standard

Related:

“Trump official apologizes for saying most campus sexual assault accusations come after drunken sex, breakups,” Katie Mettler, Washington Post

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Betsy DeVos Taps ‘Reverse Discrimination’ Whiner for Civil Rights Post

Civil Rights Office Renamed

Secretary of Education Betsy Devos has named attorney Candice Jackson as acting head of her agency’s Office for Civil Rights. Ms. Jackson seems to share Ms. Devo’s belief that public education programs should be eliminated, has condemned feminism and, while a student at Stanford University, complained that she suffered discrimination because she is white.

Candice Jackson had an underprivileged childhood. Her father labors as a humble family medical practitioner and had to take a second job as a singer of Christian Country Music. She survived Stanford and Pepperdine Law School, had a fellowship at the paleolibertarian Ludwig von Mises Institute (where she wrote a book report), litigated for right-wing legal pest Judicial Watch, wrote for Reason and The Federalist, and penned a book slamming the Clintons, published by conspiracy peddler WND.

North Carolina Kinda Sorta Repeals the ‘Bathroom Bill’

After an Associated Press analysis projected that North Carolina’s HB2 “bathroom bill” limiting LGBT protections will cost the state more than $3.76 billion in lost business, the state’s Republican legislature voted to repeal HB2 but puts state legislators in charge of public restrooms. The new measure, HB142, forbids local governments from passing nondiscrimination ordinances covering sexual orientation and gender identity until the end of 2020. “It’s not a perfect deal, but it repeals House Bill 2 and begins to repair our reputation,” said Governor Roy Cooper, who signed the bill on Thursday.

Why the rush to yesterday’s sloppy compromise? The NCAA set a Thursday deadline for HB2 repeal; without that, the state would lose hosting rights at all NCAA tournaments through 2022.​ The ultimatum is convincing, since North Carolina lost the league’s March Madness tournament games this year due to the discriminatory law. NCAA is reviewing the new law to see if it passes muster.

HB 142 apparently doesn’t repeal HB2’s other repressive elements, which bar Tarheel State cities and counties from adopting minimum wages above the $7.25 level, except for government employees (must be a lot of cousins on those county payrolls). The law also limits how people pursue claims of discrimination in state courts, forcing these matters into the federal court system. There’s a lot of things in the new bathroom bill that still doesn’t smell right.

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American Terrorism

“Terror Lynching in America” a short video by the Equal Justice Initiative. Narrated by Bryan Stevenson, illustrated by Molly Crabapple. Directed and produced by Jim Batt and Kim Boekbinder.

h/t: Colorlines

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‘March Madness’ Leaves North Carolina Over Bathroom Bill

North Carolina’s “Bathroom Bill” has cost it two rounds of 2017’s “March Madness” Division I men’s college basketball tournament games. The National Collegiate Athletic Association has relocated those games and six other championship events out of the state due to the North Carolina state law known as HB2, which requires people to use public bathrooms based on their sex as designated on their birth certificates. The law, which also nullifies local laws protecting the civil rights of LGBT citizens, had already lost Charlotte the NBA All Star Game and millions of tourist dollars. The NCAA decision is arguably a bigger blow to the Tarheel State, where college basketball has deep roots and a wide following, and Duke and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are legendary contenders. This won’t help North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory’s reelection bid, either.

Here are the NCAA championships North Carolina is losing to bigotry:

• 2016 Division I Women’s Soccer Championship, College Cup (Cary), Dec. 2 and 4.
• 2016 Division III Men’s and Women’s Soccer Championships (Greensboro), Dec. 2 and 3.
• 2017 Division I Men’s Basketball Championship, first/second rounds (Greensboro), March 17 and 19.
• 2017 Division I Women’s Golf Championships, regional (Greenville), May 8-10.
• 2017 Division III Men’s and Women’s Tennis Championships (Cary), May 22-27.
• 2017 Division I Women’s Lacrosse Championship (Cary), May 26 and 28.
• 2017 Division II Baseball Championship (Cary), May 27-June 3.

More:

“NCAA  Moves Championship Events From North Carolina, Citing Anti-Gay-Rights Law,” Marc Tracy and Alan Blinder, New York Times

“NCAA had enough of NC inaction on HB2,” Luke DeCock, Charlotte Observer

Related:

“North Carolina’s HB2 Is Not Just a ‘Bathroom Bill,'” NotionsCapital

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Baltimore

“Baltimore,” written and played by Prince, with vocals by Eryn Allen Kane. Released in advance of Prince’s 2015 Rally 4 Peace in memory of Freddie Gray. Video by Ralston Smith.

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Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around

“Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around,” a song of the Civil Rights Movement, performed by The Roots, from the 2009 film Soundtrack for a Revolution.

The Roots website

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