<TriceEdneyWire.com> — War is a serious matter, not a joking one or an ‘I don’t care one.’ In recent weeks, we’ve witnessed men sitting around joking about war, a war in which hundreds of people have been killed. Many are denied the right to vote by coming up with unnecessary new rules to disqualify them. You might say we have a war on voting.
Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu got together and just started to bomb people who had nothing to do with their disagreements with Iran and nothing to do with Iran’s disagreements with other nations. I don’t listen to Netanyahu daily, but I do hear him sometime. He sounds as mean and racist as Trump. Every news channel in America carries something shocking that Trump has said or done daily. Just because you hear it, doesn’t make it true and it certainly doesn’t make it right.
House Republicans have passed the Trump-backed SAVE Act—one of the worst voter suppression bills in history, disguised as an ‘election integrity’ measure. If mailing in ballots is so bad (so untrustworthy) why did Trump mail in his recent ballot in Florida just a short time ago? The so-called SAVE Act refers to something Trump’s people threw out that makes it more difficult for certain (meaning Black, Brown or poor) people to vote. This bill isn’t about stopping non citizens from voting in federal elections. Non-citizens can’t and don’t. That’s not a problem. It’s about changing the rules of the game to make it more difficult for people who probably would be voting for Democrats. Republicans don’t believe they can win a majority of Americans over on their current policies, so they want to make it harder for some Americans to vote.
I was talking with a good friend in North Carolina a few days ago who has a son that we usually refer to as ‘Jr.’ That is how the son signs his name when carrying the same name as his father. The father is usually referred to as ‘Sr.’ and he writes ‘Sr.’ to distinguish his name from that of his son who has the same name as he has. That was perfectly okay before the MAGA Era, but since the era of Black people waking up, learning who is for or against them, and voting accordingly, that now presents a problem. The father moved, and went down to renew his voters’ card, only to find he could not use his drivers’ license as proof of who he is! They told him ‘Sr.’ is not on his birth certificate!
I mention this case because for any reason your registrar wants to stop you and decides to play dumb about ‘Sr.’ meaning the father, and ‘Jr.’ meaning the son. This is just one example of ways you can be stopped from registering in the Trump world. Their goal is to limit the number of Black people voting. We’ve suddenly become a threat to the process.
Don’t wait until the last day to register because God only knows what trick you will encounter. Find out what the requirements are in your area and give yourself enough time to comply with whatever documents you will need to register or to change your registration.
Learn early the days you may register, because it won’t surprise me that certain jurisdictions will put up new rules, will change your polling place, will change opening and closing times to vote and try anything to deny your vote. Some are attempting to discontinue ‘Souls to the Polls.’ That is to prevent your church from leaving service and taking you to the polls. Don’t wait until the last minute of the last day to register or to vote. Assume you might encounter a problem. Leave yourself time to seek advice if needed.
(Dr. E. Faye Williams is president of the Dick Gregory Society.)
