Today was another rejection by the Appellate Division to keep me off of the ballot based on misrepresentations made by the Mayor’s lawyers. They are now contemplating filing yet another appeal to the New York State Court of Appeals in Albany. I thought about what it all means and asked myself a few questions.
Everyone seems to understand when voters accuse Donald Trump of “voter suppression,” especially in predominantly Black communities. They throw around words like discrimination, malicious intent, systemic racism, and on and on. Ultimately, voter suppression is designed to silence the voices of Black voters and deny them the right to participate in the democratic process. What if the voter suppression is coming from one of your own? What if a Black leader is attempting to take away your voice, to deny you the right to participate in a free and fair election? Would we use the same words? Or, call it something else? Many members of our community unfortunately, remember the days of Jim Crow. After all of the struggles to make sure our votes count, who would have known we’d still be talking about this in Mount Vernon today? The consequences of voter suppression, no matter who is doing it, undermine the democratic process and erode the trust of citizens in their government. By denying our citizens the opportunity to vote by silencing and robbing us of the chance to influence policies that directly impact our lives. Instead of putting forth plans to solve real problems, our elected leaders are taking their campaign contributions you’ve given them and wasting them on costly, unproductive, and damaging lawsuits designed to suppress and deny your opportunity to choose the next leader of Mount Vernon. If it were Donald Trump, we would all know the words to use. But, when it’s our Mayor, what do we say? I’ll tell you what to say. Tell her that a Black version of Jim Crow is no better than a White one. Stop wasting time and money on frivolous lawsuits. It’s the people’s choice. Let them choose! |
| https://andrewallace.com/ |
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