SHAKING UP CAPITOL HILL
Black officials speak out against vote theft
By Monica
Moorehead
A dozen members of the Congressional Black Caucus staged a
symbolic protest during the Jan. 6 joint session of Congress
that certified George W. Bush as the next president. The
delegation included Reps. Maxine Waters, Alcee Hastings,
Corrine Brown and Jesse Jackson Jr.
Al Gore won the popular vote but lost the Electoral
College vote to Bush, 271-268.
The protest again shined a national spotlight on the
racist conspiracy concocted by Bush, his brother, Florida
Gov. Jeb Bush, and the U.S. Supreme Court to capture the
presidency by politically disenfranchising thousands of
Florida voters, particularly in the African American
community.
Florida was only the tip of the iceberg. Reports from
around the country indicate that fraud and intimidation were
used to invalidate the votes of the African American and
other oppressed communities.
One by one the Black representatives took the podium in
front of both Democrats and Republicans to challenge the 25
electoral votes that the Bush forces stole in the Florida
election. They talked about how the theft of these electoral
votes was the result of another form of racial profiling:
"voting while Black."
That means African American voters were harassed or
discouraged from voting because Republicans knew that Black
voters would tend to vote for Gore, the "lesser evil"
candidate, due to heavy anti-Bush sentiment.
Jeb Bush, like his brother, is a racist who opposes
affirmative action. He is pro-death-penalty and
pro-police-brutality. Florida civil-rights groups and
students carried out a large voter registration drive in
preparation for the election.
The Democratic Party leadership did nothing of substance
to oppose the Republicans' gross violations of the 1965
Voting Rights Act. Their inaction reflects their staunch
loyalty to defending the capitalist class and its repressive
state apparatus.
Forced to use faulty voting machines
The Black representatives spoke about the experiences of
African Americans who were forced to use faulty, outmoded
voting machines that helped to invalidate tens of thousands
of votes.
These voters were also intimidated by a heavy police
presence at the voting precincts. Some were turned away from
the polls because their names were mysteriously missing from
registration lists or because they failed to show multiple
forms of identification.
Many Black voters were falsely accused of being convicted
felons.
Over 4 million convicted felons are permanently barred
from voting in the United States. As a result, over 200,000
African Americans were denied the right to vote in
Florida--the highest number of those disenfranchised in any
state.
Many Haitian voters were turned away because of a lack of
bilingual instructors to explain the voting process.
Waters, Hastings, Jackson, Brown and others once again
exposed the illegal intervention of the U.S. Supreme Court,
which halted the recount of disputed votes in West Palm Beach
and elsewhere in Florida and sealed Bush's fate. They
repeatedly referred to Bush as "president-select" rather than
president-elect.
Gore blesses Bush theft
Ironically, as each representative stated her or his
reasons for protesting, Vice President Al Gore ruled the
lawmaker out of order with a bang of his gavel. Gore is
president of the Senate and presided over the ratification
vote.
Congressional procedures state that an objection to the
electoral process is invalid unless at least one senator
joins in the protest. Of course, not one senator would sign
the objection.
When Waters said, "I don't care that it is not signed by a
senator," Gore replied, "The chair would advise that the
rules do care." His response was met with the approval of
Republicans, who clapped with unrestrained glee.
Gore closed the session with the words, "May God bless our
new president and new vice president and may God bless the
United States of America," ad nauseum.
CBC members left the session together in a sign of
unity.
After their protest, they held a news conference to
announce that demonstrations against the Florida election
outcome would take place at the Supreme Court in Washington
and Florida's state capitol in Tallahassee when Bush is sworn
in Jan. 20.
On that day the International Action Center and hundreds
of other groups will hold a protest along the inauguration
parade route. The IAC also stands in solidarity with the
other anti-racist actions.
Demands of the IAC-initiated protest include: Free the
Black vote; end the racist death penalty; free death-row
political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal; and jobs and schools, not
prisons.
Moorehead was Workers World Party's 2000 candidate for
U.S. president.
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email: ww@workers.org
Subscribe wwnews-subscribe@workersworld.net
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