Honorable John Lewis accepting the PILLAR of AMERICA Award from Vote By Mail America
The
charlatan titled Voter Information Verification Act
creates new barriers to voting that are intended to disenfranchise college
students, senior citizens and African Americans, particularly African Americans
who are Christian, of their tight to vote. Make no mistake about it, by
targeting Sunday early voting for elimination, Republicans who control the
North Carolina legislature are doing so specifically to make voting harder for Christians.
Consider this. On April 12th I sent an email to several N.C legislators
with the words, “Have you no decency” in the subject line. In the body of the
email I quoted from my most recent American Forum blog column:
“More cynical than crafting laws to kneecap the political
opposition is the GOP's indecorous and unbridled objective to keep Black
Christians from voting. Why eliminate Sunday voting specifically? Consider
this, it is widely known that African American Christians organize what is
referred to as “Souls to
the Polls” on the Sunday before an election.
Many church organizations have a time honored tradition of busing or car
pooling congregants to early voting polling sites that are open on Sunday. This
particular feature of the legislation, eliminating Sunday voting altogether,
makes it clear that the "God and Bible" Republicans are specifically
targeting African American Christians….
In 2012 I noted in this column, “It has taken
forty-eight years for the Republican Party of Lincoln to contort itself into
the Segregationist Party of Strom Thurmond. In 1964 U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond
of South Carolina joined the GOP. Since that time there has been an
unmistakable trajectory of the Republican Party away from the values and
principles of President Lincoln as the party morphed into and came to embody
the views and politics of the hateful, racist, segregationist Thurmond” At the
time, some thought my comments and analysis were hyperbole. The evidence,
however, begs to differ.” Full Article
_______________________________
Rep. Robert Brawley R-Mooresville
On
April 15th I received a surprising reply email from N.C. Republican
State Rep.
Robert Brawley. In his email to me Rep. Brawley seemed to question the
Christianity of certain voters and individuals for whom they voted. Here is
a sampling of what Rep. Brawley wrote to me: “Why do people who profess Christianity keep
voting for candidates who seem to have a disdain for Christianity ?”
_______________________________Though I found this reply/question from an elected member of the N.C. House of Representative surprising (did that man, Rep. Robert Brawley, really just call into question the Christianity of millions of his fellow Americans) perhaps I should not have been surprised. To be fair, I contacted him again by email on April 25 asking for clarification of earlier email. In that email I wrote:
"Thank you for your reply. I would
appreciate it if you would clarify your response.
What do you mean by "people who
profess Christianity"
Do you mean myself specifically?
Are you questioning the Christianity
of African Americans/Black people?
Do you mean Democrats?
Please explain.
Also, please advise, which
"candidates who seem to have a disdain for Christianity ? " are you discussing?"
_____________________________
On the same day, April 25th, I received an email reply
from Rep. Brawley that read in part:
“Simple –as it is stated , I do not attribute to any one
their religion , they make that choice as they do who they vote for... I did not and do not point to any one you
choose who you think fits that description,…”
I readily confess to being flummoxed by Mr. Brawley’s “clarification.”
______________________________
For the better part of the last three
years the Republican Party has conspired to manufacture the false narrative of
“voter fraud” which therefore required legislative action to dramatically transform
voting laws. In the face of credible research that in
person voter fraud (one individual impersonating another at the polls) is
virtually nonexistent, the Party of Thurmond continues uninterrupted in its unethical,
immoral and unholy attempts to hold back not only the organic shifts in American
demographics but also, the liberal progression of American political thought.
That they will fail on constitutional as well as political and ideological
grounds is imminently foreseeable. That they have not so much as lost but with
spite in their faces wantonly abandoned Christian values and, rejected the twin
American ideals of freedom and principles of fairness is evident in their
scheming and deeds. Future generations of Americans and perhaps an even greater
being, will forever condemn them.
Brent ScottExecutive Director
Vote By Mail America
