NAACP to challenge state voting laws before U.N. panel in Geneva

[EFerrari]

By William Douglas | McClatchy Newspapers
Posted on Thursday, March 8, 2012

WASHINGTON — Taking a page from its past, the NAACP will go before a United Nations panel in Switzerland next week to argue that new voting laws approved by some U.S. states violate civil and human rights by suppressing the votes of minorities and others.

A delegation from the venerable civil rights organization will present its case in Geneva on Wednesday before the United Nations Human Rights Council, a body that normally addresses troubles in places such as Libya, Syria and the Ivory Coast.

The Geneva appearance is part of an NAACP strategy rooted in the 1940s and 1950s, when the group looked to the United Nations and the international community for support in its domestic battle for civil rights for blacks and against lynching.

"It was in 1947 that W.E.B. Dubois delivered his speech and appealed to the world at the U.N.," NAACP president Benjamin Todd Jealous said Thursday. "Now, like then, the principal concern is voting rights. The past year more states in this country have passed more laws pushing more voters out of the ballot box than any point since Jim Crow."

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/03/08/141250/naacp-to-challenge-state-voting.html#storylink=cpy

[babylonsister]

1. Good-shine that light. Recommend. nt

[ananda]

2. Yeah..

.. shine that light!

Still I wonder how much effect this will have on the regressive states
like Texas. It's as though our crazy Reep government is a law unto
itself.

[EFerrari]

4. Any pressure helps build to critical mass, imho.

This fight is never going away but it's good to see NAACP break with their corporate donors and do something.

[tk2kewl]

3. K&R

[Ter]

5. Can the UN do anything?

I mean, let's imagine the worst happens and Romney wins in November. Can't he tell them to go away?

[noiretextatique]

6. great...the more exposure, the better

republicons are doing every thing they can to steal the election.

[countryjake]

7. At least someone is doing something...

I still think that people don't realize how serious these types of legislation actually are or we'd be hearing much more outcry coming from the states affected...until they're standing, scratching their heads at the polls, wondering why they cannot vote, it's not gonna hit home. I wrote to AARP last year, right after Ohio passed their voter-ID law, and only received a condescending "thanks for your concern" letter back from them.

Aurora WW II vet angered by voter identification law
http://www.recordpub.com/news/article/5165402

Besides our minorities, soldiers, students, and working people with exceptionally long hours, these laws will drastically effect the elderly. I can give one personal instance, my own old mother back in Ohio, who has voted Democratic straight down the line throughout her entire life for 75 years...she was born in her mother's bed, has no birth certificate, no driver's license since 1977, nothing official, whatsoever, that shows that the government recognizes her as a citizen of this country. After living in the same county for almost 100 years, in the same house for more than 60 and voting at the same rinky-dink polling place all of that time, now the rethugs of Ohio think that they have the right to simply turn her away?

http://www.fairelectionsohio.com/


I'm really glad that the NAACP is taking this action, but I question whether it is too little, too late, for them to help anyone trying to place a vote this election season. At the least, it does focus much-needed attention on the despicable strategy that republicans are currently using to try and steal yet another election. They've already destroyed ACORN, but those dedicated workers are all still out there, quite aware of such tactics. It's the grassroots that have to get out and shout loud that these injustices have already occurred, stand up and actually help anyone who might find themselves disenfranchised at a voting booth this year, otherwise, voter suppression may just bring us one horrific surprise, come November.


Stop corporate-funded voter suppression
http://colorofchange.org/campaign/alec/


Voter IDs: The ‘Hanging Chads’ of 2012
http://newamericamedia.org/2012/02/voter-ids-the-hanging-chads-of-2012.php


Thank you for posting this article...it is good to hear!