Black voters ordered off bus; Georgia county defends action - Politics Forum.org | PoFo

Wandering the information superhighway, he came upon the last refuge of civilization, PoFo, the only forum on the internet ...

Talk about what you've seen in the news today.

Moderator: PoFo Today's News Mods

#14955289
http://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/black-v ... s-action-1

LOUISVILLE, Ga. (AP) - A group that encourages African-Americans to vote says about 40 black residents of a senior living center in Georgia were told to get off a bus taking them to vote.

Officials with Jefferson County, which operates the senior center, say the county considered Monday's event "political activity," which isn't allowed during county-sponsored events.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports Monday was the first day of in-person early voting in Georgia. Democrat Stacey Abrams and Republican Brian Kemp are running for governor.

LaTosha Brown, a co-founder of Black Voters Matter, says the center director asked the senior residents to get off the bus. She said the ordeal was "an intimidation tactic."

County Administrator Adam Brett said officials felt uncomfortable allowing senior center patrons to leave in a bus with "an unknown third party."
#14955290
More info:

LOUISVILLE, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT)-- The city of Louisville sits with a population of just over two-thousand people but the spotlight is on about 40 of them. Seniors at the Jefferson County Leisure Center were told to get off a Black Voters Matter bus on it's way to the polls.

Black Voters Matter is a group that tours southern rural areas, encouraging minorities to vote. This is an independent organization, meaning non-partisan. The group focuses on simply casting a ballot. To the leaders, the fight isn't Republican vs. Democrat, it's about fighting ignorance with the power of knowledge.

"Because when I was coming up, I didn't know what voting was," said Bernice Hunley.

She's a 70-year-old born and raised in Louisville. She's been around longer than she's gotten to even use her voting rights. While she loves home, home hasn't always been good to her or people who look
like her.

"There's been some issues." She laughed, "But I ain't finna get in no trouble."

She's in no trouble, it's the Board of Commissioners facing backlash. The board is in the hot seat after dozens of senior citizens were told they had to get off a bus on Monday.

"Oh it's a big ‘ole black bus, it's a beautiful bus."

On either side of it reads “Black Voters Matter” and “The South is Rising.” As Hunley and many others who go to the Leisure Center called it, it's a big ‘ole charter.

"That's how we felt when we first had to get off--that's how we felt like, why we can't vote," she asked.

The center is owned and run by Jefferson County. It's a place for activities, not long-term or even short-term living. Visitors come and go as they please. So when they asked the Black Voters group to take them to the voting precinct, which is just around the corner, they did not expect push back.

"These are grown people. We're not talking about children." LaTosha Brown continued, "These are grown adults, they have the right--they come to the center as a patron of the center. They're not a resident of the center, nobody has control or authority over them."

It was news to many, if not all of the seniors, that the county had say-so on them getting onto the bus.

"I didn't see no harm in riding the bus over here to vote," Hunley explained as she sat across the street from the precinct parking
lot. Hunely was one of the people who still went to vote after they were told by the center director to de-board. She drove her own car over to early vote.

And while she didn't see harm being on the bus, apparently Jefferson County did. In a statement to News 12, County Administrator Adam Brett wrote:

"These senior citizens are under the complete care and supervision of Jefferson County while they are at the Senior Center. Jefferson County Administration felt uncomfortable with allowing Senior Center patrons to leave the facility in a bus with an unknown third party."

But the statement also went on to say the center has a long standing practice of not doing political events during hours of operation. Adding, it was led by the President of the Jefferson County Democratic Party and as such was considered a political event.

Black Voters Matter maintains there is no political affiliation to Democratic party, that Monday's discussion was not run by the Democratic party.

We reached out to the District Attorney's Office for clarity. The office has no hand in this situation but they did give us possible answers. The DA says it's reasonably within the county's reach because they assume liability.

If a third party comes onto county property then leaves with people, regardless of their age, if something were to happen to them, the county could be held responsible. So there's essentially a technicality because once the seniors are on the property, from that point they're under the city's liability. Here's a scenario where the county would have little to no say-so:

The seniors who wanted to take the bus ride would've had to completely leave the property first, on their own free will, before the bus could pick them up. At that point, liability is unlikely to be on the county.

But Black Voters Matters say it just does not add up because many of the seniors were already on their way out, planning to vote.

"Is the county saying they're responsible for them when they're not at the center," Brown asked. "Cause if so, I'm sure there's a whole bunch of things the seniors would love their help on."

UPDATE

Wednesday, October 17, 2018

JEFFERSON COUNTY, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) -- Jefferson County officials have released a statement in response to an incident involving a group of African American senior citizens who were apparently taken off a bus headed to vote Monday.

The statement reads:
Jefferson County operates a Senior Center that provides meals and entertainment to senior citizens in Jefferson County three days per week. The Jefferson County Board of Commissioners has a long standing practice of not allowing political activities during normal business hours or at County sponsored activities. These senior citizens are under the complete care and supervision of Jefferson County while they are at the Senior Center. Jefferson County Administration felt uncomfortable with allowing Senior Center patrons to leave the facility in a bus with an unknown third party. Additionally, the event in question that took place at the Jefferson County Senior Center was led by the President of the Jefferson County Democratic Party and as such was considered a political event. No seniors at the Jefferson County Senior Center were denied their right to vote. In fact, Senior Center staff routinely arrange Jefferson County Public Transit to transport senior citizens to vote. Jefferson County invites and encourages all registered voters to vote from October 15-November 2 from 8 AM to 5 PM, October 27 from 9 AM to 4 PM and on election day November 6 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Tuesday, October 16, 2018

JEFFERSON COUNTY, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) -- A group of African American voters was apparently taken off a bus headed to vote Monday.

The group Black Voters Matter posted on their Facebook page they had "a whole busload of beautiful black elders ready to go vote when the county commissioner shut us down and made our elders get off the bus without having the chance to vote."

News 12 reached out to Jefferson County's emergency management director, who told us he couldn't comment on the allegations. He told us to get a hold of commissioners.

Monday was the first day of early voting in Georgia for November 6th elections, which includes a gubernatorial vote.
#14955301
LaTosha Brown, a co-founder of Black Voters Matter, says the center director asked the senior residents to get off the bus. She said the ordeal was "an intimidation tactic."

County Administrator Adam Brett said officials felt uncomfortable allowing senior center patrons to leave in a bus with "an unknown third party."


The bus was run by the nonprofit Black Voters Matter and a senior center's director ordered the passengers off the vehicle. Probably these black senior voters were not fully aware of what they were getting involved and they might have been fooled into voting for particular candidates by the nonprofit group, if they had been taken to the polling place.
#14955308
This was a huge issue many years ago. I thought it had been settled that partisan groups could not transport voters. It is indisputably intimidation for the same reason you can’t campaign at voting precincts. They should be charged with voter intimidation.
#14955323
@ThirdTerm

So when they asked the Black Voters group to take them to the voting precinct, which is just around the corner, they did not expect push back.


They asked them to.

@One Degree

This was a huge issue many years ago. I thought it had been settled that partisan groups could not transport voters. It is indisputably intimidation for the same reason you can’t campaign at voting precincts. They should be charged with voter intimidation.


1. This news is recent. :)

2. They're a non-partisan group and are registered as such. They only want to motivate blacks to vote and I don't see how you can see this as partisan. Encouraging citizens of all races to vote irrespective of their political beliefs is not a partisan institution.

3. The people charged with intimidation were the officials who forced them off the bus.
#14955329
Oxymandias wrote:@ThirdTerm



They asked them to.

@One Degree



1. This news is recent. :)

2. They're a non-partisan group and are registered as such. They only want to motivate blacks to vote and I don't see how you can see this as partisan. Encouraging citizens of all races to vote irrespective of their political beliefs is not a partisan institution.

3. The people charged with intimidation were the officials who forced them off the bus.


I don’t recall seeing anyone arrested. I could have missed it, but are you sure?
#14955347
Oxymandias wrote:@One Degree

I'm not sure it is. To charge someone is to make a legal accusation towards someone, not to arrest them.


You are correct. They do have actual different meanings but are often used interchangeably because one normally leads to the other.
‘Arrested’ is the police taking you into custody. So you are normally arrested before you are charged.
‘Being charged’ is when the legal authorities file formal charges.
Some person making an accusation can technically be called a ‘charge’ but is not a ‘legal charge’ so we don’t normally use that word in that scenario.
#14955382
ThirdTerm wrote:The bus was run by the nonprofit Black Voters Matter and a senior center's director ordered the passengers off the vehicle. Probably these black senior voters were not fully aware of what they were getting involved and they might have been fooled into voting for particular candidates by the nonprofit group, if they had been taken to the polling place.

That is correct. Black Voters Matter is a Democrat partisan group that would have tricked them into voting for all Democrat candidates. They believe all Black's should vote Democrat regardless of their views or how extreme they are, especially if the Democrat candidate is also Black.
#14955385
Hindsite wrote:That is correct. Black Voters Matter is a Democrat partisan group that would have tricked them into voting for all Democrat candidates. They believe all Black's should vote Democrat regardless of their views or how extreme they are, especially if the Democrat candidate is also Black.


Yes, how dare they not vote for my white president. It's either republican or repealing the voting act.
#14955391
Hindsite, you are one of the most partisan people I've ever met, but I'd still drive you to the election center.

Don't pretend that "Democrat partisan group" means anything. Most organizations are partisan groups. The doesn't mean you can repress them.
#14955394
Zagadka wrote:Hindsite, you are one of the most partisan people I've ever met, but I'd still drive you to the election center.

Don't pretend that "Democrat partisan group" means anything. Most organizations are partisan groups. The doesn't mean you can repress them.

Yes, I am definitely a Republican partisan. That is because I have gotten tired of the lies from the Democrats. And besides that, you can't seem to find any conservative Democrats anymore.
#14955405
Seems it is ok for blacks to vote just so long as they vote Democrat.



https://timeline.com/white-politicians-coercing-black-voters-6f1b835fe102


White politicians were coercing African Americans to vote long before civil rights

They weren’t doing for the sake of a multiracial democracy


By Richard Johnson
Lancaster University

During a recent campaign rally in Tennessee, Donald Trump claimed that most African Americans have been voting for the Democratic Party for over a century. He told supporters, “African Americans vote for Democrats, for the most part. Vast majority. They’ve been doing it for over a hundred years.”
A number of commentators have pointed out that Trump’s comment is historically inaccurate because most African-Americans in the south could not vote until the Voting Rights Act was passed in 1965. Additionally, many African Americans who could vote before the 1960s — located mostly in the north — were supporters of the Republican Party, the party of Lincoln and emancipation. This was especially true before Franklin Roosevelt introduced the New Deal during the Great Depression, but well into the 1960s moderate-to-liberal Republican candidates still won sizeable shares of the black vote.
Yet while Trump’s statement was clearly ignorant, he did accidentally stumble into an overlooked part of American history. In Tennessee, where he made his comments, African-Americans have indeed been voting — and voting Democratic — for more than a century. But this isn’t a grand tradition of multiracial democracy; it’s part of a history of machine politics.
White political bosses exploited black Tennesseans in the early 20th century to secure their own power. In fact, paradoxically, bosses used the institutions of the segregationist Jim Crow regime designed to deny African Americans’ access to the ballot as a means of coercing them to vote for Democratic candidates.
This played out on a grand scale in Tennessee’s largest city, Memphis, which to this day has the state’s greatest share of black residents. In the first half of the 20th century, Memphis politics were dominated by local Democratic Party leader E.H. “Boss” Crump, who was described by Time magazine as “the most absolute political boss in the US.” Crump personally selected nearly every Memphis mayor and municipal leader, as well as many statewide politicians, from roughly 1909 until 1948.
In order to do this, Crump allowed African-Americans to vote.
Crump paid black residents’ poll taxes and coerced them into supporting his candidates as a bloc in exchange for protection from physical violence. The Colored Democrats Club of Memphis was described as “the African-American wing of the Crump organisation.”
This protection was of vital importance for black Memphians who had been terrorised by the city’s white population for decades. While guaranteeing security from physical violence is a basic function of the modern state, many parts of the U.S. existed in a condition of little less than racialised anarchy until well after World War II. Public officials refused to protect citizens from physical harm on the basis of race.
And so it went in Memphis. In reaction to the presence of black federal soldiers in the city in 1866, a white riot erupted: the mob murdered 46 black residents, raped five black women, and burned all 12 of Memphis’s black schools, four black churches, and 91 homes.

E.H. Crump in 1945 (Wikimedia Commons)
Crump suppressed the Klan and prevented lynchings so long as African-Americans voted for his Democratic candidates, but he remained personally committed to white supremacy, abandoning Harry Truman in the 1948 election in protest at Truman’s support for civil rights.
He was also prepared to permit violence against black citizens who did not follow his political imperatives. When Reverend George Long invited union leader A. Phillip Randolph to speak to his black congregation about trade unionism in 1944, ignoring Crump’s instructions, he was badly beaten by white thugs. Crump turned a blind eye.
Because of its relatively high proportion of black voter registration, Tennessee was one of only three states in the former Confederacy not to receive any coverage under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, which placed areas with historically low African-American electoral participation under heightened federal surveillance of changes to electoral law. In 1960, the average proportion of African-Americans registered to vote in the south was 30 percent, but in Tennessee it was as high as 60 percent. African Americans in Memphis probably voted at higher rates than anywhere else in the pre-Voting Rights Act south.
This should not be mistaken for evidence that a multiracial democracy predated the Civil Rights era. Like many African-Americans in the north, black southern voters were dependent on the forbearance of violent and corrupt white-dominated political machines. These organisations made only minor concessions but otherwise fundamentally preserved the segregation and discrimination that African Americans were forced to endure.
Until the mid-20th century, many essential features of a democracy — free and fair elections, multiparty competition, universal franchise, free assembly and speech — were withheld from millions of US citizens. For that reason, it is impossible to describe the U.S. as having been a full democracy for any more than five decades. This fact should be basic to every American’s understanding of their country’s development — but many (white) Americans prefer to imagine their country as one of the world’s oldest democracies. In fact, it only joined the club relatively recently.’’
#14955406
Who cares how they get there, if they are going to vote? There is no guarantee that they're going to vote one way or the other, as your vote is known only to you. Preventing voters from voting should get the highest penalty.
#14955407
Libertarian353 wrote:Blacks have the right to vote democrat, you do not speak for them. In fact you vote they have no rights if it kept trump in....

Whites have a right to vote Republican too. Black Voters Matter don't speak for me.
Trump being in office does not take rights away from Blacks or any group as long as they are citizens.
Illegal immigrants should have no rights in our government. If they want rights, they should obey our laws. Why should the taxpayer have to pay for their medical and schooling?
#14955411
Godstud wrote:Who cares how they get there, if they are going to vote? There is no guarantee that they're going to vote one way or the other, as your vote is known only to you. Preventing voters from voting should get the highest penalty.


You got to understand, Blacks have low IQ due to welfare policies and thug culture. They're too institutionalize to vote anything else. So in a way, the police has know to have good relations with the blacks since majority of them are republican has save them from democratic plantation.

Isn't that right? @Hindsite

But yet we all seem to inherently know what race[…]

Russia-Ukraine War 2022

Gen. Ben Hodges (@General_Ben) warns that Pootin i[…]

When those kids grow up, they will sprint to be r[…]

Hmm, are you a Holocaust denier? Yes or no? You[…]