Is Black Voting Being Suppressed?

John Kerry in a recent speech for the NAACP said, "that a million disenfranchised African-Americans and the most tainted election in American history is the best we can do?"

How did Kerry come up with one million? The number came from a natural extrapolation of the 57,000 Floridians who according to the August 2001 report of the Commission on Civil Rights (which used some statistical extrapolation, hypothetical scenarios, and so on)--were denied the right to vote. The commission didn't repeat that number in their final April 2003 report, instead conceding that "it is impossible to determine the extent of the disenfranchisement." In fact out of the six-month investigation by the U.S. Commission of Civil Rights and also an investigation by the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Dept. They found there was absolutely no truth to any of those allegations, not one person who was intimidated or had their vote stolen. There was no disenfranchisement, no truth to any of those allegations. You didn't know that??? Well that's exactly what the democrats wanted. Better for them to spread dishonest rumors than to be happy that no suppression was found. (Source: Peter Kirsanow, an attorney and black Republican who sits on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.)

I went searching for examples of this "disenfranchisement" because after growing up in the middle of the civil rights movement, if I thought for one second that black voters were really being disenfranchised, I would be the first one protesting and demanding fairness. Here are the examples I found:

From The Guardian: A former employee of a company hired by the Republican party to register voters in Nevada said that he was told to throw Democrats' registration forms away.

If true, absolutely wrong. But it did say "democrat" registration, not "black." So now blacks are automatically considered democrat? Sorry, some are actually Republican. But if you don't think organizations like MoveOn.org, Rock the Vote, and Vote or Die and many other left leaning voter registration drives don't toss the forms that denote Republican, your living in a fantasy world.

Florida Gov.Jeb Bush introduced a rule that registration forms should be rejected if a citizenship check box is not complete.
Ohio's Republican Sec. of State attempted to enforce a rule by which only registration cards printed on heavy, 80lb paper stock would be accepted. (Claiming that lighter cards might be shredded by postal equipment)
The CEO of Diebold, which makes many of the voting machines, said he was "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes" to Bush.

How do the first 2 examples suppress black voting? I have no idea. Unless one thinks blacks are completely stupid. (I'll get back to who might think that in a minute). Since when is it suppression of any kind to require that forms are filled out correctly? And what the heck does the paper weight have to do with anything? And finally, Just because you are a CEO of a company that makes voting machines you can't come out for a candidate? And since when is being for Bush automatically means suppressing black votes?? I would think it would be about getting MORE black votes for Bush so that he can win the state. Can you believe this so far?? Stick with me.

John Pappageorge, Michigan's Republican state legislator, told a Republican meeting: "If we do not suppress the Detroit vote, we are going to have a tough time in this election cycle."

I read this quote over and over in my search. Detroit is 83% black, so the the word Detroit=Black, right? Anyone stop to think that Detroit=Democrat???? Yeah. Now should he have said "suppress?" for a any voting bloc? No. But again, if you don't think democrats talk about suppressing the evangelical vote ( as in "mention Cheney's lesbian daughter") then once again, your living in a fantasy world.

According to the Washington Post, in 2000, 42% of ballots rejected by Duval county in Florida came from mainly black areas.

Someone correct me if I am wrong, but there is NO WAY to tell on a ballot if someone is black or not, am I right? The ballots were not filled out properly. Which happens all the time all over the country by all kinds of people. What is an election board suppose to do? Ballots MUST be filled out correctly. To insinuate that black people can't seem to do that is such an insult to them. But more about that later.

The next two are the doozies--

In Ohio the election board was set to rule that anyone who turned up at the wrong polling station would not be able to cast a provisional ballot (to be verified later). The democrats sued successfully saying that the ruling would disadvantage minority and poor voters who move more often.

So the democrats think that black people are so stupid they can't figure out which polling place to go to when they move. It seems obvious to me that this is a consistent theme of the democrats and very insulting to blacks.

The Washington Post reports that depriving prisoners and those on parole the right to vote has become a key issue.". An estimated 5 million Americans are affected by felony voting restrictions. Black males account for about 8% of the U.S. population and 40% of the prison population."

I have touched on this before. So we are "suppressing" the black vote by not allowing those who commit crimes such as rape and murder to vote?? When someone commits a felony they lose certain rights. Anyone who argues this is just sad. These are horrible crimes against society and NO they should not be allowed to vote- Black, White, Asian, or Hispanic. My God, how many times will they insult the black community and feed the fire of racism by implying that in order for black men to vote we have to open it up to the prison population?????? Do they not realize how this sounds?? What message it sends??

Bush has put blacks in his most trusted positions in his administration. Laura Bush's best friend is a black woman. Does Kerry have some personal connections to the black community other than spreading these lies in the black churches by standing at the pulpit and preaching at those who he hopes will vote for him? I don't see any.

Finally, this is what black people went through in the 60's in order to vote. To throw out silly allegations with no merit diminishes the memory of those who truly had something to protest against and what they did in order to be able to vote. Shame on the democrats for this and shame on Republicans for not reaching out to the black community with the truth.
Lets hope this is the October surprise.