VIOLENCE MIGHT BE THE NORM, BUT VOTING IS STILL SAFE blocks adjacent to the Justice Center in Downtown Portland. Here, too, safety in numbers is an important response to attempted intimidation and the small, albeit violent, militias and far-right activist organizations are a vanishingly small minority that only has any real clout within the auspices of Trump supporters where they form a major constituency. Voters, particularly those who believe in voting, should recognize that these violent provocations are easily blunted by a mass turnout. Defense of marginalized communities against far-right provocateurs includes protecting their right to vote, should they choose to use it as much as it includes vocal solidarity with these communities. The historical precedent regarding voter safety being buoyed by turnout is clear when viewed in the frame of various efforts at voter protection and intimidation. In New Jersey in 1981, the Republican National Committee sent a team of 200 attorneys to predominantly Black voting precincts with armed security to challenge tens of thousands of votes, leading to a consent decree prohibiting the practice for 35 years. A year later, in 1982, Black voters in Greensboro, Alabama, were harassed at the polls and defended by Black activists led by Reverend John Nettles who were then subsequently blamed for the alleged intimidation by white public officials. In either case, the need to overcome this intimidation with sheer numbers was clear, and the outcome, a loss for
Democrats and liberal politicians in both, demonstrates the ugly necessity of voting in large numbers. There might not be similar risk to Democrats in Multnomah County, but the fears of intimidation have historical precedent. Black voters know all too well the risk of a violent, unchecked system of voter disenfranchisement through violence, but as demonstrated throughout the years, their dedication to showing up both to the voting booth and in protest of these impairing policies is a clear ratification of the need to be present where voters may be. Even if you don’t vote, marginalized communities still by and large do, and so a large turnout is beneficial to the voter and non-voter alike.
ACTIVE MEASURES
Intimidation is an unfortunate side effect of local tensions in many cases, and is almost certainly symptomatic of the desire of political elements to maintain social and racial dominance, if not electoral power. Protests and rallies by groups such as the Proud Boys and Patriot Prayer are not just displays of radical far-right chauvinism—they are meant to enforce a dynamic that benefits white supremacy that imagines wrongly that the ultimate outcome of these violent insurrections is beneficial to them. Rallies and protests by groups that want to cement a fictive western civilization
into society are not ultimately the friends of anyone that has a racial identity that is not some strain of white. The desired outcome of this intimidation is not just to cordon off political rights through violence—it is the suppression of the Black vote and non-conservative balloting. It is, therefore, incumbent upon society to identify and isolate these provocations by the far-right. Unfortunately, the devil works without rest, and support of these groups by the president and the emphatic allegations of modern mainstream journalism give cover to these organizations, if not an unchallenged platform. Your vote, however, is safer than you would guess from the violent posturing of the far-right. Secure ballot boxes are generally impervious with few, if any, examples of ballot destruction—daily retrieval ensures a constant clearing of ballots to that end, further protecting your physical vote. Still, if you would like to vote and feel unable to participate due to potential intimidation, take a friend or two or 20, put on your masks and go vote. Only through large numbers can people turn aside efforts to undermine your rights to freedom and only through large numbers can people urge action by their government, whether it’s at the ballot box or barricade. The strongest weapon society has when it comes to destroying oppression is participation in the process, be it voting or protesting, or both.
SAM GARCIA
PSU Vanguard • OCTOBER 27, 2020 • psuvanguard.com
OPINION
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