34 minute read
Honoring Veterans
Honoring America ’s Veterans
An Untold D-Day Story: A Personal Account
Brenda C. Siler WI Contributing Writer
As we approach Veterans Day 2020, I share this hero’s tale about my father, Floyd H. Siler, Sr. (June 28, 1922 – July 8, 2016), his military and post-military life.
My parents Floyd and Helen Siler family lived in Washington, D.C for 45 years. I am next to the oldest in a family of four children. First, we lived in Anacostia, then moved to Riggs Park. In the early 1990s, our parents moved back to North Carolina, their home state. Our mother died in 1998. Our dad died in 2016.
During our Dad’s retirement years in North Carolina, we learned about a significant part of our Dad’s military history. This was through the research and publication of the book “Forgotten: The Untold Story of D-Day’s Black Heroes, at Home and at War,” authored by Linda Hervieux and published in 2015. We knew our dad had served in the U.S. Army, but where and doing what, we had no clue.
We learned that our dad landed on Utah Beach in Normandy on D-Day. June 6, 1944 as a member of the 320th Balloon Barrage Battalion, an all-Black army unit. The 320th handled blimp-type balloons from the ground that kept enemy planes from attacking. We did not find out about our dad being in Normandy and the heroism of his unit until between 2009-2010. THE STORY UNFOLDS
We began learning about his vital role on D-Day when my sister, Ina Siler, was installed as a new member of the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) chapter in North Carolina. She and our dad were living in High Point, N.C. at that time.
Ina discovered our dad had been awarded two Bronze Stars. When she asked him about them, he just looked at her and smiled. We had no idea that our father was a war hero, with medals.
Hervieux’s research helped us learn more. She interviewed our Dad and learned about other survivors from the 320th with whom my Dad had kept in touch.
Now that we knew about this historic period in our Dad’s life, my sister attempted to pull more facts from him about D-Day. It was exceedingly difficult for him to discuss. “When we went ashore in small boats after leaving the ship soldiers were shot at,” he told my sister. “We were swimming in a sea of blood. So many soldiers died.”
The interviews with Hervieux were not only helpful for her research, but helpful for our dad. I think it was easier for him to tell a stranger about his D-Day experiences than to bring family into the war drama.
THE RAVAGES OF WAR
Peeling back the layers of our Dad’s heroic war story helped us figure out that for many years he had been experiencing depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This fully surfaced in late 2008. His behavior was so different to us. Also, toward the end of 2008, our Dad began to have other serious health problems. He kept falling and was in severe pain. Both knees were replaced. He would cry out, “I can’t walk, help me! Why don’t you put me in a nursing home? That’s where I want to go.” Examinations by his internist and a psychiatrist confirmed what we suspected.
Me and my siblings started putting “two and two together” about our dad’s health and his unspoken military life. • Dad had an occasional limp that he attributed to old service accident. What caused the accident, we did not know. • Sometimes after dinner, he would walk a few blocks to visit “an
4On July 24, 2019, at the Philip A. Hart Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C., Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) presented Brenda Siler with duplicate medals earned by her father Floyd H. Siler, Sr. Medals included those earned for service in Normandy on D-Day. (Photo courtesy of Brenda C. Siler)
old army buddy.” We now know that buddy was Willie Howard, Sr., also in the 320th who lived about four blocks from our home in Riggs Park. They were both from North Carolina. • When celebrating dad’s 80th birthday, he thanked everyone for coming by saying, “When I was in the war, I thought I was going to die.” That is all he said and then went back to his seat. • One of my brothers remembers how skittish our dad would become whenever there was a thunder and lightning storm. That was probably from explosions during combat from D-Day and beyond. • Why had we never seen photos of our dad in uniform?
The trauma from army life with the 320th was so harrowing, beginning with basic training at a racist, segregated military base through the allies’ attempt to halt Nazi Germany by invading Europe in an audacious assault by 156,000 men on five spots on the French coast, including Utah Beach, to continued action in the Pacific, to coming home. He never spoke about it. We believe he wanted to forget it all. Our dad suppressed his emotions. They were now surfacing.
5 After the war, Floyd H. Siler, Sr. trained as a tailor under the GI Bill but found it difficult to find a job. He retrained and spent his career as a fire alarm specialist for the U.S. Secretary of State’s Office under the General Services Administration in Washington, D.C. He retired from that position in 1982. (Photo courtesy of the Siler Family.) 5 The men of the 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion in action and the cover of “Forgotten: The Untold Story of D-Day’s Black Heroes, at Home and at War,” authored by Linda Hervieux and published in 2015. (Photo collage courtesy of Linda Hervieux.)
THE SAGA CONTINUES
The revelations about my dad’s military background has been eye-opening. The valor of the 320th was amazing and we are so happy that “Forgotten” has told this important story.
I met Mr. Howard, dad’s army buddy. He still lived a few blocks from our former Riggs Park house. He spoke about his friendship with our dad that started in training and lasted through the decades. Mr. Howard has now also passed.
Our family has always kept a love and respect for our dad. Learning about the 320th war experience has deepened those feelings and shown us he was even more special than we realized. Pieces of the puzzle are still coming together. I am reaching out to 320th family members in search of photos of our dad in uniform. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D) secured duplicates of our dad’s medals. They included those he earned in WWII and were presented to me in 2019. At the presentation of the medals, Sen. Van Hollen quoted my father from Hervieux’s book. “The beach was covered with dead soldiers and you were stepping over them to get to dry ground.”
Van Hollen also is leading the effort to secure the Medal of Honor posthumously for Cpl. Waverly Woodson, Jr., an army medic in the 320th. He is credited with saving hundreds of lives during the Normandy assault June 6, 1944. Cpl. Woodson was denied the medal due to his race.
Learn more about the 320th from the book trailer https://youtu.be/e73e26_ qcQ8. Read profiles of the men who were in the 320th featured in “Forgotten: The Untold Story of D-Day’s Black Heroes, at Home and at War” from author Linda Hervieux’s website http://www.lindahervieux.com. WI
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EDITORIAL
Voting is Over. What Now?
The District of Columbia and Maryland voted overwhelmingly Democratic with returns showing support for Joe Biden for President and Kamala Harris as the nation’s first female, African American and Asian Vice President. Democrat Ralph Northern retains his seat as governor in Virginia, a state that also reelected President Donald Trump. Locally, Nov. 3 was a great day for voters, but more importantly, it was a great night for democracy in America.
Millions of voters from across the U.S. voted early, and a substantial number went to the polls on Election Day, resulting in the highest voter turnout in U.S. history. Despite a pandemic, COVID-19 helped add a new chapter to the history of voting in America, and the huge turnout shows Americans will vote if the process is convenient. Yet, African Americans have demonstrated their determination to go to the polls despite inconvenience and threats on their lives. It means that much to them.
What now?
What will be the mandate voters deliver to the President-elect that should lead his agenda over the next four years? Is it the healing of America to bring both sides of the political divide together to address the country’s crises? Is it the reduction of infections and deaths related to the coronavirus? Is it the rebuilding of the economy and creating jobs and support for businesses – large and small? Is it the passage of a stimulus bill to reinvigorate the economy and help meet the needs of Americans on the brink? Or is it the redesign of Obamacare to ensure that all Americans have access to affordable healthcare and reducing the cost of prescription drugs? Will there be a new crime bill that addresses police reform and provides effective mental health services? And what will be America’s standing in the world; will we build bridges or build walls?
Americans have voted. Their voices have been heard.
What now? WI
Hats Off to D.C. Residents, Police as Elections Demonstrations Remain Mostly Peaceful
Speculation about rioting and predictions of public unrest failed to come to fruition during Election Day 2020 or into the evening as crowds waited with “bated breath” for election returns.
Downtown businesses, in preparation for the “worst,” had already boarded up windows and a “non-scalable” fence had been set up surrounding the White House. In addition, polling locations throughout the DMV were protected by law enforcement to keep voters safe.
But here in the District, we illustrated to the nation and to the world, that we can protest without the need to destroy property or cause injuries and death. And officers for the Metropolitan Police Department [MPD] wisely exercised restraint and prudence in maintaining the peace and engaging with zealous demonstrators.
Several hundred protestors gathered near the White House at Black Lives Matter Plaza in Northwest on Nov. 3 where they remained until several hours after midnight, anxiously awaiting who would be the next president of the U.S.
And while police said three people were arrested during two separate incidents, each for committing relatively minor infractions, it remained an uneventful night in downtown Washington, D.C.
However, early Wednesday morning, MPD reported that a woman and three men had been stabbed blocks from the White House following the election night demonstrations. The victims, allegedly members of a far-right group which supports President Donald Trump, the Proud Boys, claimed the assailants were part of Black Lives Matter protests – allegations that we could not confirmed as no arrests have been made.
Sure, a few smoke bombs were ignited, a couple of firecrackers were set off and some pushing and shoving occurred among the crowd during the night.
We can live with that.
WI
Nat Turner's Spirit Lives On
I truly appreciated seeing a quote from Nat Turner and the portrait of him as well. I'm not sure how realistic it is, but it was nice to put a name with a face and remember his legacy, especially with the current times we are in.
Ulanda Thames Washington, D.C.
TO THE EDITOR
Exercise Your 2nd Amendment Rights
I read James Wright's story "Black Interest in Gun Ownership Rises In Greater Washington Area" and I am glad more Black folks are coming around to owning guns. Some Black folks seem to be scared of their right to bear arms, but the other folks aren't! We need to focus on our protection, which we have every right to do.
Ronald Pendergrass Arlington, Va.
Readers' Mailbox
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OPINIONS/EDITORIALS
Guest Columnist
By Julianne Malveaux
COVID-19 Halts Women's Workplace Progress
Economic recovery will be a long time coming. The Federal Reserve Bank says our coronavirus recession will last into 2021, and perhaps even into 2022. If a vaccine is developed, a distribution plan still needs to be worked out, and there is still so much we don't know about COVID-19. We do know that our economy has slowed and is
As the leaders of two of the nation's largest and most active advocacy organizations, AARP and National Urban League, we share a common commitment to defending the right of every American — regardless of age or race — to equal economic opportunity, fair housing, quality health care and participation in our democMy much beloved friend Rev. C.T. Vivian was a leader in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), a confidant of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a role model for so many of us in the 1960s era of civil rights activism, and a mighty and indispensable long-haul moral warrior for justice. He was also a treasured personal friend known for being unonly inching toward normalcy.
We know that we are experiencing a second spike, with about a thousand people dying every day. We know that our leaders have been unwilling to provide relief for those who desperately need it. And we know that families at the bottom half of the income distribution are scrambling for food, to pay rent or mortgages, and to attempt to pay for other essentials. We know that the impact of COVID-19 is uneven and that Black folk are twice as likely to die racy and civic processes.
The most vital of these is the right to participate in democracy. As President Lyndon Johnson said when he called upon Congress to create the Voting Rights Act in 1965, "It is from the exercise of this right that all our other rights flow."
In this election year, the deadly failingly gracious, generous, warm and loving. I keep a photo in my home office of C.T. with my whole family taken when my husband Peter and I took our children and grandchildren on a civil rights tour through the South some years ago. His kindness radiated in his smile.
Rev. Vivian participated in his first sit-in at a Peoria, Illinois, lunch counter in 1947, an early example of the success nonviolent sitin protests could have. As a leader in the Nashville sit-in movement, one of the ministers who joined from COVID-19 as whites are. We know that the Latinx population is heavily hit. We know that cities and states are starving for resources.
Men are more likely to get COVID-19 and die from it than women, but women are more likely to be affected in the workplace because of COVID-19. From the last labor market data, 865,000 women left the labor force in September 2020, reducing the women's labor force participation rate from 56.1% to 55.6%. This decoronavirus pandemic is leading too many of our citizens to question whether they will be able to cast their votes safely. We believe it is imperative that voters do not face unnecessary barriers: No one should have to choose between risking their health and casting their vote.
But the 2020 election has seen perhaps the most litigated rules of any election in American history, with the path to the ballot box shifting direction seemingly evStudent Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) members on Freedom Rides into Mississippi, and as an SCLC leader bringing people to register to vote at Selma, Alabama's courthouse he faced violence repeatedly. Although beaten and jailed, he never wavered and, like Dr. King and Gandhi, believed hatred and violence always destroyed more than they created.
A violent episode in Selma exemplified his dignified courage before our nation. In February 1965, television cameras filmed cline in labor force participation sets women back by more than 20 years when the level of women's labor participation was also around 55%. The women who have dropped out of the labor force won't quickly return because of the structural factors that have pushed women out of the labor force.
Some women have stopped working or looking for work because COVID-19 had had a deleterious effect on our educational infrastructure. Many of our ery few days. The Stanford-MIT Healthy Elections Project has tracked more than 300 legal battles over voting, many involving issues related to the pandemic like expanded absentee ballots and assistance to voters.
National Urban League, AARP and the AARP Foundation have been party to some of these cases or filed briefs in support of fair and equal access to the ballot. We have advocated for policies such as same-day voter registration, him leading a voting rights protest at the courthouse where he was physically blocked at the door by rabid segregationist Sheriff Jim Clark. "This courthouse does not belong to you, Clark," C.T. told him. "This courthouse belongs to the people of Dallas County. … You can turn your back on me, but you cannot turn your back upon the idea of justice. You can turn your back now and you can keep the club in your hand, but you cannot beat down justice. And we will register to vote, because as schools have shifted to virtual learning because of COVID-19. Schools aren't only academic centers, but also, in some ways, child care centers. When schools are closed, someone in the family must stay home. Usually, it is the woman in a two-parent family.
In an egalitarian world, both men and women would be responsible for childcare and supervising education. We live in an unequal world, though, and
Guest Columnist
By Jo Ann Jenkins and Marc H. Morial
AARP, National Urban League: Making Sure Every Citizen's Voice is Heard
MALVEAUX Page 45 early voting, automatic voter registration and against onerous photo identification requirements that prevent citizens from voting. We have worked hard, also, to educate voters not only about how, where, and when to cast their ballots, but also about the issues at stake in the election. AARP's Voter Resources Guide and National Urban League's Reclaim Your Vote: Protest to Power
Guest Columnist
By Marian Wright Edelman
Honoring Rev. C.T. Vivian's Legacy
MORIAL Page 45 citizens of these United States we have the right to do it …" The cameras rolled as Sheriff Clark punched C.T. in the mouth and knocked him to the ground. C.T. got back up and kept speaking as he was dragged away bleeding to jail.
The resulting news broadcasts of his beating and arrest helped bring national attention to Selma's voting rights movement. That became a harsh spotlight
EDELMAN Page 45
Guest Columnist
By Careshia N. Moore
151 Years and Counting — The Right to Vote and Why Our Young People Recognize
the Power of Their Voice ant privilege and constitutional right a group of young adults with agen- ing a generation of intelligent voters — without knowing exactly what to cy and power who can continue to is paramount. do with it, the power they possess or move our country forward, shouldn't We cannot assume that every new the damage that can result if not used they know the power of their vote? voter will automatically understand
The topic of voting and politics almost like getting a driver's licenses responsibly. Shouldn't they understand democ- the power of their vote and their abilcan be divisive and, in some cases, mailed to your home at the age of 16 Aside from the compulsory histor- racy beyond rote facts like the min- ity to influence how elected officials incendiary. And, far too often, we with no preparation or knowledge of ical context of voting in history, gov- imum age of the president and the support the communities in which just vote along party lines — not re- the rules of the road. ernment and civics classes, I know number of senators and representa- they live. What goes into developing ally understanding the issues or even Not providing our youth with from experience as an educator and tives in Congress? I submit that we voters who know the power of their the long-term effect of a single act knowledge and education around parent there is not a lot of education do not look at voting as a perfunc- vote goes beyond historical context. of casting a vote. We just know that voting can be just as reckless as put- and empowerment that goes into tory event, but as a rite of passage for The education must include an inthe new privilege we enjoy at 18 is ting ill-equipped drivers on the road. educating our students on the real which we should adequately prepare depth understanding how political the ability to vote. Not much prepa- At the age of 18, our young people impact of voting. those who seek to gain entrance into ration comes along with that. It is automatically acquire a most import- If we are truly about developing their newfound status as voters. Rais- MOORE Page 46
Guest Columnist
The Squeaky Wheel
An old axiom says "the squeaky wheel gets the grease." In other words, no one knows, cares or does anything about your pain or discomfort unless you are courageous enough to identify it. Weekly, I'm privileged to share my discomfort and the added benefit of sharing how I propose to deal with certain challenges. I find that being straightforward is an opportunity that many neither have nor really want.
No matter what the outcome of the tumultuous 2020 presidential election, one milestone in Black politics will be surpassed: the ballot will prevail over the bullet, but to what effect?
In 1964 Brother Malcolm X delivered a provocative speech in Detroit at the invitation of Brother Imari Obadele, titled "The Ballot
Occasionally, I'm blessed with great appreciation for the character and generosity of others. Their behavior affords me the luxury of viewing my world through the lens of positivity for the betterment of humankind. They go beyond the call of duty to demonstrate selfless concerns and a spirit of hope with the endeavors they perform for the benefit of others.
For two WNBA seasons, Maya Moore of the Minnesota Lynx left basketball to concentrate her efforts on releasing Jonathan Irons, a Missouri man serving a 50-year sentence for burglary and assault. Introduced or the Bullet." It came at a time when Black "revolutionary" rhetoric was heating up in the face of vicious, armed White opposition to the civil rights movement, both from the paramilitary Ku Klux Klan, along with repressive police brutality, enforcing the racist Jim Crow legal system.
Clearly there was little "justice" for Black folks in those days. Then, as now, "law and order" was coded language that meant enforcement was directed at "just us."
By E. Faye Williams
to Irons through a prison ministry, Moore believed that Irons, as a 16-year-old, was wrongly convicted. Like many others, Irons was convicted without physical or DNA evidence. At 39, he was only 23 years through his 50-year sentence. "There are seasons of life when you run harder after certain things than others," Moore said. "And so, I felt like the season was coming for me where I needed to run harder after criminal justice reform."
She eventually helped get Irons' sentence overturned and, in a twist, married him upon his release from prison.
Years later, Brother Imari, an attorney, went on co-found the Republic of New Africa (RNA), a separatist movement which called for Black sovereignty over seven southern states in the South, which then held a majority of the U.S. Black population.
The challenge in Brother Malcolm's speech, when there were only about a half-dozen Black members of Congress, was that if the Black vote was realized, especially in those Southern states
Other members of major league sports have also begun to use their voices and platforms to advocate for social justice. Although it took the deaths or shootings of several African Americans (George Floyd in Minnesota, Breonna Taylor in Kentucky, Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia, Jacob Blake in Wisconsin — shot in the back in front of his three children — Rayshard Brooks in Georgia, Walter Wallace Jr. in Philadelphia — all just in 2020) to demonstrate violent, systemic racism, professional athletes have embraced the cause of justice in law enforcement.
I must mention basketball coach where White Congress members held power because their seniority was guaranteed by the segregated electoral system, if the power of the Black vote was realized and 10 percent of the Congress (roughly the percentage of the Black population) was held by Black representatives, especially in the South, it would break the back of the warmongering political system that could always fund "guns," but never fund "butter."
This year there are a record 125 Doc Rivers for his moving remarks supporting athletes: "It's amazing why we keep loving this country, and this country does not love us back." That statement encouraged many athletes to take action. I take great pride in the commitment of our athletes and their participation in reshaping a variety of our cultural norms and imperatives. I commend LeBron James who, without question, was the greatest catalyst for challenging so many athletes to leave their comfortable circumstances to realize they could have been any of
Askia-At-Large
By Askia Muhammad
Measuring the impact: The Ballot or the Bullet
WILLIAMS Page 46 Black candidates for federal offices, according to research by statistician David Bositis. The previous record, 91, was in 2018. Among those, there are a record 94 Black Democratic nominees for federal office — 89 in the House and five in the Senate.
All 50 Black incumbents, he writes (47 representatives, two delegates and one senator) are safe for reelection. Of the Black non-in-
ASKIA Page 46
LIFESTYLE
VOTE from Page 15
D.C. artist, playwright and activist, said he’s so disgusted with both major political parties, he’s voting for the Green Party candidate.
“We need to recognize that this is not a democracy. Waiting for hours in line in order to vote is voter suppression. I think we’re going to see more than Bush v Gore this election,” he said. “And regardless of the election outcome, Trump is not leaving the White House.”
“Coronavirus has put capitalism on trial. It has shown the cracks, fissures and problems of this system. They’d preserve the economy before they preserve life. I’m not voting for Biden or Trump. None has helped Black people. They don’t support Medicare for All, a universal basic income – which Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. supported – the Green New Deal, rebuilding the country’s infrastructure, providing well-paying jobs or taking care of the environment.”
Trump is accused by a range of critics of ignoring the devastation of the global pandemic on the American people and overseeing a botched federal response to COVID-19. The pandemic has brought the United States to its knees. So far, it has killed more than 230,000 Americans, sickened 9.2 million more and has been allowed to run unfettered as evidenced by the recent explosion of new cases and hospitalizations. In March, the pandemic forced the shutdown of businesses, schools, universities and her son, who’s in D.C. Jail fighting a charge she said MPD brought against him without any physical evidence.
Since protests erupted on Tuesday, MPD has reported property damage to the Fourth District station, including shattered windows. Subsequent Instagram and Facebook posts have also shown broken police cruiser windshields along Georgia Avenue in Northwest.
For much of this week, officers, covered in body armor and shields, lined up along the entrance of the other entities in about 80 percent of the country, triggering an economic meltdown and record unemployment that dwarfs the Great Recession.
Given these and other monumental challenges, Dr. Wilmer Leon, III said, it really doesn’t matter who wins in November.
“I think the virus is at such a point that in the next six months the numbers that we’re seeing over the past two weeks indicate that the s**t’s about to hit the fan,” he said. “I’ve been talking to three public health physicians who say the projection of deaths could be 410,000 by January. This is the one data point that determines where everything goes.
“If Biden and Harris win in November, whatever measures they implement to fight the pandemic “won’t be able to have an impact until April or May 2021.”
The new administration will also be confronted with widespread food insecurity exacerbated by COVID-19, which translates into 140 million people going to bed hungry every night; long food lines across the country; people seeking housing assistance, millions facing eviction; unemployed Americans looking to Congress for job support; and help for small businesses which are disappearing in the tidal wave of COVID-19, said Dr. Leon, a radio talk show host, author and political analyst.
Since Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell chose to shelve Democrats’ $2 trillion HEROES relief pack-
HYLTON from Page 23
age just before the election, Dr. Leon station, Nicholson Street, Missouri Avenue, and less than a mile north of the Fourth District Station as protesters, many of them wearing all black clothing and face coverings agitated for accountability. A nearby Walmart and other businesses also boarded up their windows.
These events followed MPD’s alleged unleashing of snake bombs and tear gas at a group of protesters that included the late Hylton’s parents, another situation that residents say has fanned the flames of distrust and anger along the Kennedy Street corridor and overall Brightwood community. said he anticipates a Biden-Harris administration – if Democrats take the Senate and hold onto the House of Representatives – pushing through a relief bill AND a stimulus package to help the millions of Americans whose lives have been upended by the pandemic.
Political consultant and activist Michele L. Watley said there’s a question she frequently asks those she knows and works with: “If Joe Biden wins, are we going to take our foot off the gas?”
“If Biden wins, the fight doesn’t end,” said Watley, founder and owner of The Griot Group, a consulting practice that focuses on strategic communications and advocacy for clients and partners. “We can’t be comforted by a Biden-Harris win. We cannot and should not be convinced that the battle will be won with a Biden/Harris win, nor should we become complacent. There is an uprising of racism that confronts us. It’s not in the past, nor is it an anomaly or one-off.”
“We have to hold Harris and Biden accountable and we must do the same for the Senate leader, the House of Representatives and state and local government.”
Since Trump walked down his hotel’s gilded escalator in 2015, Black people, Latinos, Native Americans and others have been under siege. Critics accuse him of pursuing a racist, white nationalist agenda, while dismantling government agencies, weakening environmental regulations, re(Courtesy photo)
In the aftermath of that development, some public figures such as Janeese Lewis George have used their platforms to demand accountability and collaboration in the wake of the tragedy. A COLLABORATIVE SOLUTION
With the help of Council member Trayon White (D-Ward 8) and members of Black Lives Matter DC, George, the Democratic candidate and likely winner of the Ward 4 D.C. Council seat in the November election, spent much of the week connecting Hylton’s versing or trying to erase Obama-era policies and programs, eviscerating labor and workforce protections and packing the courts with nominees who are arch-conservative and loyal to him, but mostly unqualified, activist jurists.
Of equal concern is the fact that his racist rhetoric has animated white domestic extremists and militia groups who have promised to stir up violence if Trump loses. FBI Director Christopher Wray and officials from the Department of Homeland Security have been warning that white domestic terrorists pose the greatest threat to the U.S. and U.S. national security, yet those concerns are yet to be acted on by the president or Attorney General William Barr.
Throughout much of the election season, Trump had sought to delegitimize the electoral process by saying the entire system is rigged. The only way he can lose, he has said, is if the presidency is stolen from him. Members of his administration and others in the Republican Party have been engaged in an unrelenting effort since 2010 to suppress and steal the Black vote.
Yet voters have defied convention wisdom so far with more almost 97 million early voters casting ballots.
Trump and his cohorts have filed more than 300 lawsuits around the country seeking to invalidate the 2020 elections and its eventual result. Republicans have at their disposal, an assorted palette of measures used by Republican-dominated state legislatures (Courtesy photo) family with resources and facilitating their viewing of the body camera footage from the night of the incident.
On Wednesday, she assisted Hylton’s grandmother in hosting a vigil on the corner of 7th and Kennedy streets that ran concurrently with the protest at MPD’s Fourth District Station. During that gathering, Hylton’s family members reflected on their loved one’s memory while a bevy of clergy from the surrounding communities offered condolences and led mourners in prayer.
George said she asked those clergy, which included the Rev. Joe Dansince 2010. These include strict ID requirements; eliminating same-day registration; prohibiting the counting of out-of-precinct provisional ballots; making it easier to challenge votes cast; and before this year, significantly shortening the early voting period.
Veteran journalist Greg Palast has been investigating voter suppression in the United States for the past 20 years. He told an Informer reporter that 17 million voters have been purged from voter rolls in the past two years, and in 2016, three million ballots were not counted. The voter suppression effort “is run by a rich, white minority.”
“It’s about money. Votes lost are overwhelmingly from people of color. It affects Blacks, Asians, other Democrats. Voter suppression is extremely nasty and it’s everywhere, particularly in Republican-controlled states,” said Palast, author of “How Trump Stole 2020.”
“We’re not talking about old-fashioned voter suppression. Elections officers don’t send ballots and Trump will have tens of thousands of people challenging signatures, extra marks, postage due and things like that. One in 10 ballots challenged won’t be counted.”
“I’ve been investigating voter trickery for 20 years and I hate it. I was reporting from the BBC and uncovered how George Bush won: thousands of votes were stolen by Jeb Bush. Because they got away with it, it continues. Every four years I pick up the story. We have to turn to ourselves if we ever
5 Kymone Tecumseh Freeman 5 Judy Leak Bowers (Courtesy photo) 5 Dr. Wilmer Leon III hope to fix this problem.” WI 5 Greg Palast
(Courtesy photo) iels, the Rev. Patti Fears and the Rev. Graylan Hagler, to pray not only for Hylton’s family but for an entire community in need of an end to a cycle of conflict that begets such incidents.
“I would like to see some acknowledgment of the buildup of the breakdown in community relations and trust,” George said. “We have to acknowledge the lack of accountability and collaboration that has occurred. I would like everyone to be willing to come to the table and carry their responsibility in where we’ve gotten as a community [so that we can] pledge to work to make that better.” WI
