Apparently, a Democratic get-out-the-vote mailer has sent some Georgia Republicans scurrying toward their fainting couches, calling for cold compresses to prevent them from lapsing into shock. Here it is:
The imagery is certainly powerful and provocative, but as a whole I see nothing at all inappropriate. For one thing, it isn't calling on people to riot, engage in any form of violence or even demonstrate. It is urging them to vote. It is urging them to participate in the system and to seek necessary changes through the system.
Most of those shocked by the flyer probably believe that it exaggerates the scale and scope of the changes that need to be made in American society. However, among those who are raising young black males and fear for their safety, who themselves have been stopped too often for "driving while black," or who have studied the disproportionate sentences often handed out in drug and other crimes, the message probably comes across very differently. If you believe injustice is still built into the system and culture, it doesn't seem inflammatory at all. It seems descriptive.
Furthermore, the use of Ferguson, Missouri is exactly on point, as the flyer itself points out. In Ferguson, the majority black population is governed by a largely white slate of politicians and policed by an almost exclusively white police force. Why? Because black voters haven't turned out in the off-year elections when municipal offices are filled. To the degree that the tragedy there can be linked to a law enforcement agency out of touch with its community, the community itself shares the blame for that. The black citizens of Ferguson have had the power to produce a more representative and responsive government, and they simply haven't used it. That's on them.
Here in Georgia, if black Georgians voted in larger numbers, they might not have a government that refuses Medicaid expansion for hundreds of thousands of lower-income working people; they might not have a governor who referred offhand to "ghetto grandmothers" who don't have birth certificates; they might not have a Legislature that recoils so instinctively from mass transit and other perceived "urban" amenities.
They also might have a Republican Party more willing to listen and reach out, and less willing to antagonize. As the latest voter registration numbers drive home with statistical clarity, this state is changing quickly. Between 2010 and 2014, the percentage of white voters in the electorate dropped by four percentage points, from 62 percent to 58 percent. More new black voters are registering than white voters. The writing is on the wall, and it doesn't take a Daniel to know what it means.
Certainly, Republican strategists get the message. Gov. Nathan Deal, for example, is trying to woo black support by publicizing his efforts to reform the criminal justice system. Among other things, Deal has pushed and signed into law legislation that keeps non-violent offenders out of prison if possible and makes it easier for those who have served their sentence to re-enter society. That is a legitimate accomplishment -- probably the most important of Deal's time in office -- and he has every right to brag about it. His support was essential to its passage. Because a conservative such as Deal proposed and championed the reforms, opponents had a harder time making the "soft-on-crime" argument that might have scuttled the changes had they been proposed by a Democrat. In fact, the main reason that Deal hasn't gotten more credit for the changes is that they passed so easily, without much controversy.
(It also didn't hurt that the proposals came at a time of great budget difficulty and will save taxpayers a lot of money in reduced prison costs.)
It would be great for the Republican Party, great for black Georgians and great for the state as a whole if the GOP can become truly competitive for votes regardless of demographic group. But again, the best way to accelerate that process is for people to turn out at the polls and make it known that they have a voice and intend to use it to see that their interests are represented. That's how you win the respect of politicians.
That's all the flyer above is saying, and I see no problem with it.
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