Civil rights group ColorOfChange.org has launched a new video that provides a dramatic illustration of the ways in which African-American voters have stood up against voter-suppression efforts decade after decade and election after election.
Unfortunately, the video is not just a reminder of past struggles but a call to action to fight what Executive Director Rashad Robinson says are this year's "unprecedented and very well-coordinated attacks on the voting rights of black folks in the form of voter suppression and intimidation in local and national races, as well as changes in voting laws that specifically target members of our communities."
These things were as problematic as ever during Florida's early voting just this weekend, Robinson said. "[R]eports, many of them from Miami-Dade County, tell of people waiting up to nine hours to vote, some in long lines until after midnight -- and that's only those who got in line at polling sites before 7 p.m. Elsewhere, voters were turned away when a polling site was closed early because, it was claimed, too many people showed up. In far too many cases, would-be early voters are being turned away when trying to exercise their fundamental right as citizens," he explained, adding that, despite these reports, Gov. Rick Scott refused to extend early-voting hours or add resources to alleviate problems -- choices that Robinson says are "reprehensible and should not be allowed."
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