Steve Flowers: Negative ads work and always have
Over the years, many of you have lamented to me and said, “I am so tired of seeing all negative ads with candidates lambasting each other in political campaigns. Why don’t candidates say what they are going to do when they are elected rather than bashing their opponent mercilessly?” People also suggest that campaigns are more negative today than in bygone years. Allow me to answer the question in the reverse order. Criticizing and slandering your opponent is not new. It was actually more vicious and incendiary in earlier American political life and much more personal. First of all, there were no television cameras or hidden studios where third-party political ad gurus brewed disingenuous ads. Folks in the old days would have to meet their opponents face-to-face at political forums, rallies, and debates. They would trade barbs and insults right in the face of each other. In early American political history, there were instances of fisticuffs and even a duel where opponents were shot. Nothing was off limits, not even peoples’ wives and children. What they did to Andrew Jackson’s wife Rachel was so bad that it eventually caused the poor lady to withdraw and die from depression. At least today, it seems inappropriate and out of bounds to attack people’s family members. Also, in the old days, it seemed you could say things about your opponent without there being any semblance of truth to the accusations. Today, there are laws requiring that any attack on the opposition must have a semblance or scintilla of truth. Therefore, it was worse in past decades than today, if you can believe that. The main point asked why do these campaign media gurus use negative ads. It is a simple answer: they work. If they did not work, they would not use them. Polling reveals that negative ads change the trajectory and standing of candidates dramatically and instantaneously. There is a direct correlation to a candidate’s polling numbers before and after being hit by a negative ad. Much more so than a soft, pretty ad advocating that you vote for someone because they are a competent person who would be the ideal elected public servant. These gurus know this fact because today’s polling is very accurate, and they can read the polls, and they react and design ads based on polling. In Alabama political history the most brilliant and unquestionably accomplished politician was George C. Wallace. In Wallace’s early years of “politiken” for his first terms as governor, polling was in its infancy and was not as scientifically accurate. However, George Wallace was born to be a political genius and a political animal. He had a God-given ability to remember names and he knew what people wanted to hear. He inherently could read the political tea leaves. He did not need polling. I would visit often with Wallace in his last term. I was a freshman legislator and actually represented his home county of Barbour. He would call me down from the House floor to visit with him in the Governor’s office. He would reminisce about past political forays and governor’s races. He would tell me a lot of inside stories that I will probably never share. However, allow me to share this sage political admonition he imparted to me one day. He looked me squarely in the eyes and told me that more people vote against someone than for someone. He further elaborated, “You have got to find a boogeyman to run against.” He lived and breathed this belief and strategy. He ran on the race issue and segregation for decades. He rode that horse as long as he could. However, when Black Alabamians were given the right to vote in 1965 and soon after constituted 25% of the Democratic Primary electorate, Wallace instantly changed his stripes and went down Dexter Avenue to Martin Luther King Jr.’s church and had a conversion experience and begged forgiveness for exploiting the race issue. The Black voters forgave Wallace and elected him governor that last term in 1982. I never said Wallace was a statesman. He was a true, natural politician, and, yes, a demagogue. Whatever it took to get elected was Wallace’s modus operandi. These political gurus of today know the George Wallace adage of finding a boogeyman to run against remains true. In this upcoming election year, that is why you will see countless negative ads on television because they work. See you next week. Steve Flowers is Alabama’s leading political columnist. His weekly column appears in over 60 Alabama newspapers. He served 16 years in the state legislature. Steve may be reached at: www.steveflowers.us.
Thousands converge on National Mall to mark the March on Washington’s 60th anniversary
Thousands converged Saturday on the National Mall for the 60th anniversary of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s March on Washington, saying a country that remains riven by racial inequality has yet to fulfill his dream. “We have made progress, over the last 60 years, since Dr. King led the March on Washington,” said Alphonso David, president and CEO of the Global Black Economic Forum. “Have we reached the mountaintop? Not by a long shot.” The event was convened by the Kings’ Drum Major Institute and the Rev. Al Sharpton‘s National Action Network. A host of Black civil rights leaders and a multiracial, interfaith coalition of allies rallied attendees on the same spot where as many as 250,000 gathered in 1963 for what is still considered one of the greatest and most consequential racial justice and equality demonstrations in U.S. history. Inevitably, Saturday’s event was shot through with contrasts to the initial, historic demonstration. Speakers and banners talked about the importance of LGBTQ and Asian American rights. Many who addressed the crowd were women, after only one was given the microphone in 1963. Pamela Mays McDonald of Philadelphia attended the initial march as a child. “I was 8 years old at the original March, and only one woman was allowed to speak — she was from Arkansas where I’m from — now look at how many women are on the podium today,” she said. For some, the contrasts between the size of the original demonstration and the more modest turnout Saturday were bittersweet. “I often look back and look over to the reflection pool and the Washington Monument, and I see a quarter of a million people 60 years ago and just a trickling now,” said Marsha Dean Phelts of Amelia Island, Florida. “It was more fired up then. But the things we were asking for and needing, we still need them today.” As speakers delivered messages, they were overshadowed by the sounds of passenger planes taking off from Ronald Reagan National Airport. Rugby games were underway along the Mall in close proximity to the Lincoln Memorial while joggers and bikers went about their routines. Yolanda King, the 15-year-old granddaughter of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., roused marchers with remarks delivered from the same spot her grandfather gave the “I Have A Dream” speech sixty years ago. “If I could speak to my grandfather today, I would say I’m sorry we still have to be here to rededicate ourselves to finishing your work and ultimately realizing your dream,” she said. “Today, racism is still with us. Poverty is still with us. And now, gun violence has come for places of worship, our schools, and our shopping centers.” From the podium, Sharpton promised more demonstrations to push back against injustices, new and old. “Sixty years ago, Martin Luther King talked about a dream. Sixty years later, we’re the dreamers. The problem is we’re facing the schemers,” Sharpton said. “The dreamers are fighting for voting rights. The schemers are changing voter regulations in states. The dreamers are standing up for women’s right to choose. The schemers are arguing whether they are going to make you stop at six weeks or 15 weeks.” After the speeches, the crowd marched to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. Several leaders from groups organizing the march met Friday with Attorney General Merrick Garland and Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the civil rights division, to discuss a range of issues, including voting rights, policing and redlining. Saturday’s gathering was a precursor to the actual anniversary of the Aug. 28, 1963 March on Washington. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will observe the march anniversary on Monday by meeting with organizers of the 1963 gathering. All of King’s children have been invited to meet with Biden, White House officials said. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Washington remarks have resounded through decades of push and pull toward progress in civil and human rights. But dark moments followed his speech, too. Two weeks later, in 1963, four Black girls were killed in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama, followed by the kidnapping and murder of three civil rights workers in Neshoba County, Mississippi, the following year. The tragedies spurred passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The voting rights marches from Montgomery to Selma, Alabama, in which marchers were brutally beaten while crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge in what became known as “Bloody Sunday,” forced Congress to adopt the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Speakers warned that King’s unfinished dream was in danger of being further whittled away. “I’m very concerned about the direction our country is going in,” Martin Luther King III said. “And it is because instead of moving forward, it feels as if we’re moving back. The question is, what are we going to do?” Rosetta Manns-Baugh knew the answer: Keep fighting. “I think we have accomplished a lot, but I also think we lost.” said Manns-Baugh, who was a Trailways bus counter worker in 1963 when she left her seven children and husband at home in Virginia to come to D.C. Now she’s so disillusioned she’s stopped singing “We Shall Overcome,” the anthem of the civil rights movement. But even at age 92, she returned to Washington for the 60th anniversary, bringing three generations of her family, all the way down to her 18-month-old grandchild. “I think that’s why we all are here because we do expect the world to get better,” Manns-Baugh said. “We can’t stop working at it that’s for sure.” Republished with the permission of The Associated Press.
Alabama and Mississippi mark Confederate Memorial Day
Alabama and Mississippi closed most government offices Monday for Confederate Memorial Day as efforts have stalled to abolish state holidays that honor the old Confederacy. Legislation has been introduced in the ongoing Alabama legislative session to remove, alter or rename Confederate-related holidays, but the effort has so far gained little traction. Camille Bennett, the founder of Project Say Something, an organization that has worked for the removal of Confederate monuments in Alabama, said the determination to keep Confederate holidays comes at the same time Alabama lawmakers push legislation banning so called “divisive concepts” from being taught in state classrooms and diversity training for state workers. “On one side, you have white conservative men defining what divisive is and what it means. … At the same time, you are honoring the Confederacy, which in itself is a divisive concept. It’s really hypocritical, quite tone deaf,” Bennett said. An Alabama Senate committee last week rejected a proposal to separate the joint state holiday celebrating Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee and slain civil rights leader the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on the same day. “We’re trying to separate the holidays of two men whose ideologies were totally separate, from one end of the totem pole to the other. One believed in justice and fairness for all, and another believed in slavery,” state Sen. Vivian Davis Figures said. Figures’ bill would have kept Lee’s holiday but moved it to Columbus Day in October. “Whoever wants to honor either man will have their own day,” she said. The vote split along racial lines, Figures said at the end of the meeting, with white Republicans voting against it and Black Democrats voting for it. Several Southern states have ended or renamed Confederate holidays. Louisiana, in 2022, removed Robert E. Lee Day and Confederate Memorial Day from the list of state holidays. Georgia, in 2015, renamed Confederate Memorial Day to “State Holiday.” Arkansas, in 2017, ended the practice of commemorating Lee and King on the same day. Mississippi Public Broadcasting on Monday had historians read Mississippi’s secession declaration, which makes clear that slavery was the central issue. Mary Jane Meadows, a member of the North Mississippi chapter of the Indivisible advocacy group, told Mississippi Public Broadcasting that the group protested Confederate Memorial Day last year and planned to do the same for 2023. “That means that 25,000 or more state employees have a day off with pay courtesy of the Mississippi taxpayers, 39% of whom are Black persons who are voters and taxpayers,” Meadows said. Some government offices in Mississippi remained open Monday, including courts in majority-Black Hinds County. Bennett said she believes the continued recognition of Confederate holidays “speaks to the blatant disregard of the humanity of Black Alabamians.” “We experienced a Holocaust, right. We experienced our families being ripped apart, and there is a celebration saying, ‘We wish things could have stayed the same,’ ” Bennett said. Republished with the permission of The Associated Press.
Birmingham’s 1963 Palm Sunday civil rights march commemorated with poetry, music
Sixty years ago, on Palm Sunday, three Black pastors led a march from Birmingham’s St. Paul United Methodist Church toward City Hall to protest the Jim Crow segregation laws and support racial equality and human rights. Police arrested 26 people and used police dogs to disperse Black onlookers. On April 1, an interracial group of citizens gathered at St. Paul to recreate the historic march, which was part of the organized campaign in 1963 to dismantle Birmingham’s unjust system of racial separation. Last Saturday’s event included “Poetry in the Park,” starting from the Three Kneeling Ministers sculpture in Kelly Ingram Park, where some of the most violent clashes with police took place during the 1963 campaign. The sculpture commemorates when the local ministers leading the march, John Thomas Porter, Nelson H. Smith Jr., and A.D. King, brother of Martin Luther King Jr., knelt to pray on the sidewalk in front of segregationist Public Safety Commissioner Eugene “Bull” Connor. More than 1,000 people marched that day. The recent event drew about 100 people, as marchers heard from poets at the sculpture and at other locations around the Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument site. Ashley M. Jones, Alabama’s Poet Laureate, joined the events that included a program at St. Paul, as well as music, children’s activities, and food trucks. Supporters of the event included St. Paul United Methodist Church, the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, the Methodist Foundation of North Alabama, Greater Birmingham Ministries, Magic City Poetry Festival, Scrollworks Music School, and the Alabama Cooperative Extension System. “Protests in April and May 1963, such as the Palm Sunday March, which departed from St. Paul United Methodist Church, elevated civil rights from a Southern issue to a pressing national issue,” said Kathryn Gardiner, park ranger at the Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument. “It was an honor to commemorate the elders and ancestors who took a stand, alongside our many community partners.” Rev. Richard Lane Stryker III, pastor at St. Paul, said the event was a great success, combining a commemoration of important civil rights history with inspirational messages, poetry, and music. “Hopefully, through the poetry and the program, we can inspire a new generation of changemakers,” Stryker said. Learn more about the three kneeling ministers and the sculpture at Kelly Ingram Park here. Republished with the permission of The Alabama NewsCenter.
372 bills have been filed in Alabama legislative session
Only four legislative days have passed in the 2023 Alabama Regular Legislative Session, but already 372 bills have been filed by legislators. Alabama Today has worked on writing about as many of these as possible so that our readers stay informed on issues before the Alabama Legislature. Two hundred bills were filed in the last week alone. Below is a short recap of 15 of these. Senate Bill 143 (SB143) by State Senator Will Barfoot targets youth gangs. The legislation seeks to identify members of criminal gangs. SB143 would enhance penalties for any criminal activity that benefits, promotes, or furthers the interest of a gang. The bill would establish mandatory consecutive penalties for any individual who knowingly possesses, uses, or carries a firearm during the commission of any act intended to benefit, promote, or further the interest of a gang. This bill would require any juvenile 16 or older to be tried as an adult for any gang-related criminal activity. State Representative Allen Treadaway has introduced similar legislation in the House – HB191. House Bill 217 (HB217) is sponsored by State Rep. Anthony Daniels. It would exempt overtime from state income taxes and a substantial tax cut for many hardworking hourly workers. Under existing law, gross income is defined for state income tax. Also, the existing law exempts certain amounts from the calculation of gross income. This bill would exclude work performed in excess of 40 hours in any week from being included in the gross income calculation. Daniels, the House Minority Leader, has some powerful cosponsors on this legislation, which has just dropped, including Speaker of the House Nathaniel Ledbetter and education fund budget Chairman Danny Garrett. Sen. Sam Givhan has introduced similar legislation in the Senate – SB137. House Bill 115 (HB115) by Rep. Danny Garrett would lower the top state income tax rate. Under existing law, Alabama levies an individual income tax at rates ranging from two percent on taxable income to a top rate of five percent on taxable income. This bill would phase in a reduction in the top tax rate from five percent to four and ninety-five hundredths percent. House Bill 181 (HB181) by Rep. Mack Butler would prohibit financial institutions from disclosing certain customer financial records of firearms transactions. HB181 would allow the Department of Finance to disqualify a financial institution from any selection process for state contracts for violation of this prohibition and to provide civil penalties and criminal penalties for violation of the act. Butler told Alabama Today that he did not believe that credit card companies need to be tracking customers’ gun and ammunition purchases. “That’s too much information for the credit card companies or the government to have,” said Butler. “The Sons of liberty would have had a big problem with that.” Senate Bill 144 (SB144) by Barfoot would address the shortage of judges by creating three additional circuit judgeships and two additional district judgeships to be funded out of the State General Fund in Fiscal Year 2024. House Bill 209 (HB209) by Rep. Jamie Kiel would effectively outlaw ballot harvesting in Alabama. This bill would prohibit any person from distributing, ordering, requesting, collecting, completing, obtaining, or delivering an absentee ballot application or absentee ballot of another person in certain circumstances and would provide for exceptions. This bill would prohibit any person from receiving a payment or providing payment to another person for distributing, ordering, requesting, collecting, completing, obtaining, or delivering an absentee ballot application or absentee ballot of another person in certain circumstances. This bill would also establish criminal penalties for violations. HB209 already has 42 House cosponsors. Senate Bill 141 (SB141) by Sen. Linda Coleman-Madison lowers the crime of chemical endangerment of a child to a misdemeanor under some circumstances. Under existing law, a person commits the crime of chemical endangerment of a child if the child is exposed to a controlled substance, chemical substance, or drug paraphernalia. A violation is a Class C felony. This bill would provide that chemical endangerment of a child where the child is exposed to marijuana or drug paraphernalia is a Class A misdemeanor. This bill would also provide that a confirmatory positive drug test must be obtained before an agency or law enforcement initiates any action for a violation. Senate Bill 127 (SB127), sponsored by Sen. Merika Coleman, would expand the statute of limitations on civil suits for alleged sexual misconduct, and it would be retroactive. Under existing law, a civil action for an injury to an individual that involves certain sex offenses must be brought within six years. This bill would expand the statute of limitations for certain sex offenses. Senate Bill 130 (SB130), sponsored by Sen. Vivian Figures, would move the official state celebration of Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s birthday as a state holiday observed on the third Monday in January to the second Monday in October. Currently, the state celebrates Robert E. Lee’s birthday on the same day as Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday. SB130 would move Robert E. Lee’s birthday to Columbus Day, so Robert E Lee Day would remain a state holiday but would not add a new state holiday. House Bill 187 (HB187), sponsored by Rep. Chip Brown, would require parental or guardian’s consent for a minor to get a vaccine. Under existing law, a minor 14 years of age or older may give consent for medical, dental, and mental health services for themselves without parental consent. HB187 would require consent of a parent or a legal guardian for any minor to receive a vaccination. This became an issue during the recent COVID-19 global pandemic. House Bill 186 (HB186), also by Brown, would allow a parent to opt their child out of any school policy requiring students to wear a face covering at school, at a school function, a school bus, or at a school bus stop. Many parents were upset that their schools required face masks during the pandemic. House Bill 182 (HB182), sponsored by Rep. Traci Estes, would expand the definition of a dependent to include an unborn child. Under current law, taxpayers are allowed a dependent exemption for a son or daughter for
In Selma, Joe Biden says right to vote remains under assault
President Joe Biden used the searing memories of Selma’s “Bloody Sunday” to recommit to a cornerstone of democracy, lionizing a seminal moment from the civil rights movement at a time when he has been unable to push enhanced voting protections through Congress, and a conservative Supreme Court has undermined a landmark voting law. “Selma is a reckoning. The right to vote … to have your vote counted is the threshold of democracy and liberty. With it anything’s possible,” Biden told a crowd of several thousand people seated on one side of the historic Edmund Pettus Bridge, named for a reputed Ku Klux Klan leader. “This fundamental right remains under assault. The conservative Supreme Court has gutted the Voting Rights Act over the years. Since the 2020 election, a wave of states and dozens and dozens of anti-voting laws fueled by the ‘Big Lie’ and the election deniers now elected to office,” he said. As a candidate in 2020, Biden promised to pursue sweeping legislation to bolster protection of voting rights. Two years ago, his 2021 legislation, named after civil rights leader John Lewis, the late Georgia congressman, included provisions to restrict partisan gerrymandering of congressional districts, strike down hurdles to voting and bring transparency to a campaign finance system that allows wealthy donors to bankroll political causes anonymously. It passed the then-Democratic-controlled House, but it failed to draw the 60 votes needed to advance in a Senate under control by Biden’s party. With Republicans now running the House, passage of such legislation is highly unlikely. “We know we must get the votes in Congress,” Biden said, but there seems no viable path right now. The visit to Selma was a chance for Biden to speak directly to the current generation of civil rights activists. Many feel let down because of the lack of progress on voting rights, and they are eager to see his administration keep the issue in the spotlight. Few moments have had as lasting importance to the civil rights movement as what happened on March 7, 1965, in Selma and in the weeks that followed. Some 600 peaceful demonstrators led by Lewis and fellow activist Hosea Williams had gathered that day, just weeks after the fatal shooting of a young Black man, Jimmie Lee Jackson, by an Alabama trooper. Lewis and the others were brutally beaten by Alabama troopers and sheriff’s deputies as they tried to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge at the start of what was supposed to be a 54-mile walk to the state Capitol in Montgomery as part of a larger effort to register Black voters in the South. “On this bridge, blood was given to help redeem the soul of America,” Biden said. The images of the police violence sparked outrage across the country. Days later, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. led what became known as the “Turnaround Tuesday” march, in which marchers approached a wall of police at the bridge and prayed before turning back. President Lyndon B. Johnson introduced the Voting Rights Act of 1965 eight days after “Bloody Sunday,” calling Selma one of those rare moments in American history where “history and fate meet at a single time.” On March 21, King began a third march, under federal protection, that grew by thousands by the time they arrived at the state Capitol. Five months later, Johnson signed the bill into law. This year’s commemoration came as the historic city of roughly 18,000 was still digging out from the aftermath of a January EF-2 tornado that destroyed or damaged thousands of properties in and around Selma. The scars of that storm were still evident Sunday. Blocks from the stage where Biden spoke, houses sat crumbled or without roofs. Orange spray paint marked buildings beyond salvage with instructions to “tear down.” “We remain Selma strong,” Mayor James Perkins said, adding that “we will build back better.” He thanked Biden for approving a disaster declaration that helped the small city with the cost of debris cleanup and removal. ADVERTISEMENT Before Biden’s visit, the Rev. William Barber II, a co-chair of Poor People’s Campaign, and six other activists wrote Biden and members of Congress to express their frustration with the lack of progress on voting rights legislation. They urged Washington politicians visiting Selma not to sully the memories of Lewis and Williams and other civil rights activists with empty platitudes. “We’re saying to President Biden, let’s frame this to America as a moral issue, and let’s show how it effects everybody,” Barber said in an interview. Among those sharing the stage with Biden before the march across the bridge were Barber, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Martin Luther King III, and the Rev. Al Sharpton. On the bridge crossing, marchers sang “This Little Light of Mine” and “We Shall Overcome,” and, following tradition, once they reached the point where Lewis and others were told in 1958 that they were on an unlawful march, they stopped and prayed. Water bottles were passed out to some who had gathered to hear Biden, and at least one person was taken away on a stretcher because of the upper-70s heat. Some had waited hours in the sun before relief came from shadows cast by nearby buildings. Delores Gresham, 65, a retired healthcare worker from Birmingham, arrived four hours early, grabbing a front-row spot so her grandchildren could hear the president and see the commemoration. “I want them to know what happened here,” she said. In his remarks, Biden said, “Everyone should know the truth of Selma.” And the president took a veiled dig at a high-profile Republican, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, when he said: “We should learn everything. The good, the bad, the truth, who we are as a nation.” DeSantis’ administration has blocked a new Advanced Placement course on African American studies from being taught in high schools, saying it violates state law and is historically inaccurate. Last year, he signed legislation that restricts certain race-based conversations and analysis in schools and businesses. More recently, his budget office called on state colleges to submit spending information on programs related to diversity, equity and inclusion, and critical
Georgia runoff: Early voting for Warnock-Walker round 2
In-person early voting for the last U.S. Senate seat is underway statewide in Georgia’s runoff, with Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock working to get the jump on Republican challenger Herschel Walker, who is putting less emphasis on advance balloting. After winning a state lawsuit to allow Saturday voting after Thanksgiving, Warnock spent the weekend urging his supporters not to wait until the December 6 runoff. Trying to leverage his role as pastor of Martin Luther King Jr.’s church and Georgia’s first Black U.S. senator, Warnock concentrated his efforts Sunday among Black communities in metro Atlanta. “What we are doing right now is soul work,” Warnock said at Liberty International Church southwest of downtown, where he rallied supporters before leading a march to a nearby early voting site where he cast his ballot. “We are engaged in a political exercise,” Warnock continued, “but this is moral and spiritual work, and for us, that has always been based on the foundation of the church.” Walker, in contrast, did not hold public events over the long Thanksgiving weekend, and he has not emphasized early voting in his runoff campaign appearances, even as the Republican Party and its aligned PACs attempt to drive voter turnout after Walker underperformed other Georgia Republicans in the general election. Walker finished the first round with about 200,000 fewer votes than Gov. Brian Kemp, who easily won a second term. Walker resumes his campaign Monday with stops in small-town Toccoa and suburban Cumming. Early in-person voting continues through Friday. Runoff Election Day is Tuesday of next week. Warnock led Walker by about 37,000 votes out of about 4 million cast in the general election but fell short of the majority required under Georgia law, triggering a four-week runoff blitz. Warnock first won the seat as part of concurrent Senate runoffs on January 5, 2021, when he and Sen. Jon Ossoff prevailed over Republican incumbents to give Democrats narrow control of the Senate for the start of President Joe Biden’s tenure. Warnock won a special election and now is seeking a full six-year term. This time, Senate control is not in play, with Democrats already having secured 50 seats to go with Vice President Kamala Harris’s tiebreaking vote. That puts pressure on both Warnock and Walker to convince Georgia voters that it’s worth their time to cast a second ballot, even if the national stakes aren’t as high. As of late Sunday, almost 200,000 ballots had been cast in the relative handful of counties that opted to have weekend voting. That total was built on long lines in several heavily Democratic counties of metro Atlanta, enough to give Democrats confidence that their core supporters remain excited to vote for Warnock. But the total remains a small fraction of the nearly 2.3 million early in-person voters ahead of the November 8 general election. And Democrats remain cautious given that the early voting window is much shorter than two years ago when the second round spanned two months between the general election and runoff. Voting on Saturday was allowed only because Warnock and Democrats sued amid a dispute with the Republican secretary of state over whether Saturday voting could occur on a holiday weekend. The senator followed up with a parade of Black leaders for weekend rallies and a march reminiscent of voting rights demonstrations during the civil rights movement. “We have one vote here that can change the world,” Andrew Young, a former Atlanta mayor and onetime aide to King, implored Black voters on Sunday. Rising from his wheelchair to speak, the 90-year-old former congressman and U.N. ambassador reminded the assembly of the congressional compromise that ended post-Civil War Reconstruction and paved the way for Jim Crow segregation across the South. “One vote at the end of the Civil War pulled all of the Union troops out of the South and lost us the rights we had fought for in the war and that people had fought for us,” he said, starting “a struggle that we have been in ever since.” Warnock was shifting to a suburban focus late Monday with an evening concert headlined by the Dave Matthews Band. Walker, for his part, has drawn enthusiastic crowds in the early weeks of the runoff, as well, and his campaign aides remain confident that he has no problem among core Republicans. His challenge comes with the middle of the Georgia electorate, a gap highlighted by his shortfall compared to Kemp. “I feel Herschel Walker benefited by having Brian Kemp in the original election on Nov. 8, and I think Kemp not being there will hurt the Republicans a little bit,” said Alpharetta resident Marcelo Salvatierra, who voted for Republican Kemp and Democrat Warnock and still supports the senator in the runoff. Salvatierra said he backed Kemp’s re-election “because it seems to me Georgia has done well.” But Republicans at the federal level, he said, never offered a serious counter to Democratic control of Washington, while Walker also comes with considerable personal baggage. “Character matters, and I sense he doesn’t have character,” Salvatierra said. Warnock has encouraged that sentiment among core Democrats, independents, and moderate Republicans. For months, he’s said Walker, a former football star making his first bid for public office, was “not ready” for the Senate. In recent weeks, he’s ratcheted up the attack to say Walker is “not fit,” highlighting the challenger’s falsehoods about his accomplishments in the private sector, along with allegations of violence against women and accusations by two women that Walker encouraged and paid for their abortions. Walker, who backs a national ban on abortions without exceptions, denies that he ever paid for any abortions. Republished with the permission of The Associated Press.
Alabama’s capital removes Confederate names from 2 schools
Two high schools in Alabama’s capital, a hub of the civil rights movement, will no longer bear the names of Confederate leaders. The Montgomery County Board of Education on Thursday voted for new names for Jefferson Davis High School and Robert E. Lee High School, news outlets reported. Lee will become Dr. Percy Julian High School. Davis will become JAG High School, representing three figures of the civil rights movement: Judge Frank Johnson, the Rev. Ralph Abernathy, and the Rev. Robert Graetz. The schools opened in the 1950s and 1960s as all or mostly white but now serve student populations that are more than 85% African American. “Our job is to make our spaces comfortable for our kids. Bottom line is we’re going to make decisions based on what our kids’ needs may be, not necessarily on sentiment around whatever nostalgia may exist,” Superintendent Melvin Brown said, as reported by WSFA-TV. Julian was a chemist and teacher who was born in Montgomery. Johnson was a federal judge whose rulings helped end segregation and enforce voting rights. Abernathy was a pastor and leader in the civil rights movement. Graetz was the only white pastor who openly supported the Montgomery bus boycott and became the target of scorn and bombings for doing so. The new school names were given two years after education officials vowed to strip the Confederate namesakes. A debate over the school names began amid protests over racial inequality following the police killing of George Floyd in Minnesota. Someone ripped down a statue of Lee outside his namesake school during the demonstrations. Like many other Confederate-named schools, Lee — named for the Confederate Army general — opened as an all-white school in 1955 as the South was actively fighting integration. Davis, named for the Confederate president, opened in 1968. But white flight after integration orders and shifting demographics meant the schools became heavily African American. The Montgomery City Council last year voted to rename Jeff Davis Avenue for attorney Fred D. Gray. Gray grew up on the street during the Jim Crow era and went on to represent clients, including Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks. After the street name change, the Alabama attorney general’s office told city officials to pay a $25,000 fine or face a lawsuit for violating a state law protecting Confederate monuments and other longstanding memorials. The city paid the fine in order to remove the Confederate reference. Republished with the permission of The Associated Press.
Wes Allen wins GOP nomination for Secretary of State, Dem gubernatorial nominations set
Voters selected the Republican nominee for Alabama’s top election official in the runoff Tuesday, and the general election race for governor was set as Democratic voters picked their gubernatorial nominee. Three other statewide races plus a U.S. House nomination also were on the ballot. Here is a look at the races: SECRETARY OF STATE State Rep. Wes Allen won the Republican nomination for secretary of state on Tuesday in contest that featured both candidates promoting the need to tighten election security in harmony with former President Donald Trump’s false claims that he lost the 2020 presidential race because of fraud. Allen defeated outgoing State Auditor Jim Zeigler and will face Democrat Pamela J. Laffitte, an Air Force veteran and corrections supervisor in Mobile County, in the general election to become Alabama’s top election official. Zeigler received the most votes among four candidates in the primary election in May, but Allen overcame the deficit. Allen, from Troy, previously served as probate judge in Pike County. Citing the potential for fraud, he opposed early voting and no-excuse absentee balloting and sponsored a law that barred “curbside” voting meant in part to make it easier for people with disabilities to cast a ballot. During the campaign, Zeigler dubbed himself a “watchman” against ballot fraud, so-called “ballot harvesting” and voting by mail. Trump has blamed all those and more for his loss to Democratic President Joe Biden, and many GOP voters believe him despite a lack of evidence. The current secretary of state, Republican John Merrill, couldn’t run again because of term limits, and the GOP nominee will be a heavy favorite to win in November. GOVERNOR Yolanda Rochelle Flowers defeated state Sen. Malika Sanders Fortier in the Democratic race for governor to become the first Black person to win a major party’s gubernatorial nomination in Alabama. Flowers, a career educator from Birmingham, narrowly led a six-person field in the May primary. In what will be the state’s first all-female gubernatorial race, she will be a decided underdog against Gov. Kay Ivey, who vanquished eight challengers to win the GOP primary without a runoff. Almost four times as many people voted in the Republican primary as the Democratic primary in May, and Republicans hold every statewide office. Flowers ran on a platform of “reconstructing” Alabama by rebuilding its economy and systems for education, health care, and criminal justice. Among other things, she advocated for a state lottery and a state minimum wage of $15. Fortier, a state lawmaker from Selma, campaigned on the theme of building the biblical “beloved community” promoted by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. by improving the state’s economy, schools, and health care. She is the daughter of former state Sen. Hank Sanders and attorney Faya Rose Toure. STATE AUDITOR Andrew Sorrell claimed the GOP nomination for state auditor by defeating Stan Cooke, a win that was tantamount to election since there’s no Democratic contender for the office. Sorrell, a state representative from Colbert County who led balloting in the May primary, tried to make election security a prime issue, saying a strong auditor is needed to appoint county registrars who will keep voter rolls clean. Cooke, a pastor from the Jefferson County town of Kimberly, claimed Alabama is at a crossroads where it could remain a conservative state or come under the control of liberal Democrats. Echoing Trump’s false claims of election theft, he highlighted the auditor’s role in appointing county election officials who can prevent Democrats from stealing elections. The current auditor, Republican Jim Zeigler, was barred from seeking another term. U.S. HOUSE Madison County Commission chair Dale Strong won the only runoff among the state’s seven U.S. House seats, claiming the Republican nomination for an open position in north Alabama’s 5th District. Strong defeated Casey Wardynski, a former Huntsville school superintendent. Strong handily led a six-candidate field with about 45% of the primary vote in May but couldn’t avoid a runoff. Strong will face Democrat Kathy Warner-Stanton of Decatur in the mostly Republican Tennessee Valley district in November. The seat was given up by U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks, who lost a runoff race with former business lobby leader Katie Britt for the seat being vacated by U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby. ALABAMA PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION Two Republican incumbents on the Alabama Public Service Commission faced challenges to keep their jobs on the utility-regulating board, and at least one won. Chip Beeker, a former Greene County commissioner first elected to the PSC in 2014, defeated Robert L. McCollum to win the GOP nomination for Place 2. Beeker portrayed himself as an opponent of Democratic environmental policies, while McCollum, a small business owner from Tallapoosa County, argued the commission is too close to Alabama Power Co. Jeremy Oden, a former state legislator from Cullman seeking his third term on the three-member commission, cast himself as a conservative bulwark against liberal environmental policies. He received the most votes in May in a four-way race for the Place 1 seat that saw attorney Brent Woodall, a PSC staffer, and Republican activist, come in second. No Democrat qualified for either position, making a victory in the Republican runoff tantamount to election. Republished with the permission of The Associated Press.
A look at nominations for five statewide offices
The party nominations for five statewide offices, including secretary of state on the Republican side and governor on the Democratic ticket are on the ballot in Tuesday’s primary runoff election in Alabama. The GOP nomination for a lone congressional seat also will be decided. Here is a look at the races: SECRETARY OF STATE With many Republican voters embracing former President Donald Trump’s false claims that fraud cost him the 2020 presidential election, the two remaining GOP candidates to become Alabama’s top elections official, secretary of state, campaigned on themes of tightening election security. Jim Zeigler, who was barred from seeking another four years as state auditor because of term limits, dubbed himself a “watchman” against ballot fraud, so-called “ballot harvesting,” and voting by mail. Trump has blamed all those and more for his loss to Democratic President Joe Biden, and many GOP voters believe him despite a lack of evidence. Rep. Wes Allen is a state representative from Troy who previously served as probate judge in Pike County. Citing the potential for fraud, he opposes early voting and no-excuse absentee balloting and sponsored a law that barred “curbside” voting meant in part to make it easier for people with disabilities to cast a ballot. The Republican nominee will face Democrat Pamela J. Laffitte, an Air Force veteran and corrections supervisor in Mobile County, in November. The current secretary of state, Republican John Merrill, couldn’t run again because of term limits. GOVERNOR Either Yolanda Rochelle Flowers or state Sen. Malika Sanders Fortier will become the first Black person to win a major party’s gubernatorial nomination in Alabama in the Democratic runoff for governor. Flowers, a career educator from Birmingham, narrowly led a six-person field in the May primary. She ran on a platform of “reconstructing” Alabama by rebuilding its economy and systems for education, health care, and criminal justice. Among other things, she has advocated for a state lottery and a state minimum wage of $15. Fortier, a state lawmaker from Selma, campaigned on the theme of building the biblical “beloved community” promoted by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. by improving the state’s economy, schools, and health care. She is the daughter of former state Sen. Hank Sanders and attorney Faya Rose Toure. The eventual winner face Gov. Kay Ivey, who vanquished eight challengers to win the GOP primary without a runoff. Nearly four times as many people voted in the Republican primary as the Democratic primary in May, and Republicans hold every statewide office. STATE AUDITOR Stan Cooke and Andrew Sorrell are vying for the Republican nomination to succeed Zeigler as state auditor. Cooke, a pastor from the Jefferson County town of Kimberly, claims Alabama is at a crossroads where it could remain a conservative state or come under the control of liberal Democrats. Echoing former President Donald Trump’s false claims of election theft, he is highlighting the auditor’s role in appointing county election officials who can prevent Democrats from stealing elections. Sorrell, a state representative from Colbert County who led balloting in the May primary, also tried to make election security a prime issue, saying a strong auditor is needed to appoint county registrars who will keep voter rolls clean. The eventual nominee will not have a Democratic opponent in the fall. U.S. HOUSE North Alabama’s 5th District features the only runoff for one of the state’s seven U.S. House seats. In the Tennessee Valley region, Madison County Commission chair Dale Strong and Casey Wardynski, a former Huntsville school superintendent, advanced to a runoff from a field of six candidates in May. Strong led easily with about 45% of the vote but couldn’t avoid a runoff. The winner will face Democrat Kathy Warner-Stanton of Decatur. The 5th District seat is being given up by U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks, who is in a runoff with former business lobby leader Katie Britt for the seat being vacated by U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby. ALABAMA PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION Two Republican incumbents on the Alabama Public Service Commission face runoff challenges to keep their jobs on the utility-regulating board. Jeremy Oden, a former state legislator from Cullman seeking his third term on the three-member commission, cast himself as a conservative bulwark against liberal environmental policies. He received the most votes in May in a four-way race for the Place 1 seat that saw attorney Brent Woodall, a PSC staffer, and Republican activist, come in second. First elected to the PSC in 2014, former Greene County Commissioner Chip Beeker also portrayed himself as an opponent of Democratic environmental policies in his campaign to retain the Place 2 seat. Beeker, who led the primary vote, is opposed by Robert L. McCollum, a small business owner from Tallapoosa County who contends the commission is too close to Alabama Power Co. No Democrat qualified for either position, making a victory in the Republican runoff tantamount to election.
Despite push, states slow to make Juneteenth a paid holiday
Recognition of Juneteenth, the effective end of slavery in the U.S., gained traction after the police killing of George Floyd in 2020. But after an initial burst of action, the movement to have it recognized as an official holiday in the states has largely stalled. Although almost every state recognizes Juneteenth in some fashion, many have been slow to do more than issue a proclamation or resolution, even as some continue to commemorate the Confederacy. Lawmakers in Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee, and other states failed to advance proposals this year that would have closed state offices and given most of their public employees paid time off for the June 19 holiday. That trend infuriates Black leaders and community organizers who view making Juneteenth a paid holiday the bare minimum state officials can do to help honor an often overlooked and ignored piece of American history. “Juneteenth marks the date of major significance in American history. It represents the ways in which freedom for Black people have been delayed,” said Democratic Rep. Anthony Nolan, who is Black, while arguing in favor of making Juneteenth a paid holiday in Connecticut on the House floor. “And if we delay this, it’s a smack in the face to Black folks.” Juneteenth commemorates when Union soldiers brought the news of freedom to enslaved Black people in Galveston, Texas, in 1865, two months after the Confederacy had surrendered in the Civil War and about 2 1/2 years after the Emancipation Proclamation freed slaves in Southern states. Last year, Congress and President Joe Biden moved swiftly to make Juneteenth a national holiday. It was the first time the federal government had designated a new national holiday since approving Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 1983. Yet the move didn’t result in an automatic adoption from most states. In Alabama, Republican Gov. Kay Ivey issued another proclamation marking Juneteenth a state holiday earlier this week after state lawmakers refused to take action on a bill during their legislative session even after she voiced strong support for making it a permanent holiday back in 2021. The state closes down for Confederate Memorial Days in April. Similarly, Wyoming’s Republican Gov. Mark Gordon issued a statement last June saying he would work with lawmakers to make it a state holiday, but no legislation was filed during the 2022 session. In Tennessee, Republican Gov. Bill Lee quietly tucked enough funding — roughly $700,000 — to make Juneteenth a state-paid holiday in his initial spending plan for the upcoming year. Despite the bill gaining traction in the state Senate, GOP legislative leaders maintained there wasn’t enough support for the idea even as Tennessee law currently designates special observances for Robert E. Lee Day, Confederate Decoration Day, and Nathan Bedford Forrest Day. “I asked many people in my district over the last few days, well over 100 people, if they knew what Juneteenth was, and only two of them knew,” said Republican Sen. Joey Hensley, who is white and voted against the proposal. “I just think we’re putting the cart before the horse making a holiday that people don’t know about.” In South Carolina, instead of working to approve Juneteenth as a holiday, Senate lawmakers unanimously advanced a bill that would allow state employees to choose any day they want to take off instead of the Confederate Memorial Day, currently enshrined as a paid holiday in state law. However, the House sent the bill to a committee, where it died without a hearing when the Legislature adjourned for the session. At the same time, many of these Republican-led areas have advanced bills limiting what can be taught about systematic racism in classrooms while also spiking proposals aimed at expanding voting rights and police reform. This year, nearly 20 states are expected to close state offices and give most of their public employees time off. At least six states officially adopted the holiday over the past few months, including Connecticut, Colorado, Georgia, Maryland, South Dakota, Utah, and Washington. A bill introduced in California passed the Assembly and moved to the Senate this month, and individual cities such as Los Angeles have already signed proclamations making Juneteenth official. “Becoming a state holiday will not merely give employees a day off; it will also give residents a day to think about the future that we want, while remembering the inequities of the past,” said Democratic Del. Andrea Harrison, who sponsored the Juneteenth legislation in Maryland this year. “It will help us to reflect how far we’ve come as a nation, how much more we need to do as humankind.” Attempts to give Juneteenth the same deference as Memorial Day or July Fourth didn’t begin to gain traction until 2020 when protests sparked a nationwide push to address race after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis and the deaths of other Black people by police officers. “George Floyd protests against police brutality brought awareness to Juneteenth because there were people of all races learning about its significance for the first time following a public push to self-educate and learn more about Black history, culture and injustices,” said Tremaine Jasper, a resident and business owner in Phoenix who has attended Juneteenth celebrations across Arizona with his family. Some cities in Arizona, including Phoenix, have declared Juneteenth an official holiday, paying city employees and closing municipal buildings. However, lawmakers are not currently considering statewide recognition. “There are so many other important issues that we need to tackle — education, political issues, reparations — before we prioritize making Juneteenth a statewide holiday,” Jasper said, noting that those looking to celebrate know where to go. Jasper, who was born and raised in Arizona, said it is going to be an “uphill battle” to get the state to recognize Juneteenth because there is not a large enough Black population outside of its largest cities to make the push. Arizona was also slow in recognizing Martin Luther King Jr. Day, not doing so until 1992. It was one of the last states to officially recognize the civil rights leader. Republished with the permission of The
Alabama law awarding honorary degree to civil rights lawyer Fred Gray
A civil rights lawyer who once fought to desegregate the University of Alabama is now receiving an honorary degree from the school. Attorney Fred Gray of Tuskegee will be awarded an honorary doctor of laws degree during the law school’s graduation ceremony on Sunday afternoon, the university said in a statement. The commencement marks the 50th anniversary since three students became the first Black people to graduate from the law school. Gray, 91, once helped represent Vivian Malone Jones and James Hood in their attempt to desegregate the university, where they enrolled as the first Black students in 1963 after then-Gov. George C. Wallace staged his “stand in the schoolhouse door” against integration. Gray also represented Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Black seamstress Rosa Parks, whose arrest for refusing to give up her seat on a bus to a white man prompted the Montgomery bus boycott. Later, he represented Black men who filed suit after the government let their illness go untreated in the infamous Tuskegee syphilis study. Currently, Gray is involved in a lawsuit seeking to remove a Confederate monument from a square at the center of mostly black Tuskegee. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
