Midterm Elections - Introduction

Midterm electi ons for the United States House of Representatives, the Senate, and various Gubernatorial races will be held on Tuesday, November 7, 2006. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of going out and voting on Election Day. Most of the SNMA members are Black-Americans, and as such we should recognize the fact that previous generations (many of whom are still alive), fought, bled, and died for our right to vote. Some believe this does not apply to them because their families immigrated to this country after the "Civil Rights Movement" (a misnomer since persons of color have been continuously fighting for our rights in this country since the first European colonies were appeared). However, to those people, I would say that there are contemporary freedom fighters may not be related to you, but look just like you do, are still fighting to prevent the disenfranchisement of persons of color in this country.
See also Daily Kos, Voter Fraud and Disenfranchisement, Oct. 31, 2004, available at http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/10/31/192155/73 (last visited Oct. 30, 2006); Human Rights Watch, Current Impact of (Felony) Disenfranchisement Laws - Racial Impact, available at http://www.hrw.org/reports98/vote/usvot98o-01.htm#P101_2428 (noting that "[t]hirteen percent of all adult black men - 1.4M - are disenfranchised, representing one-third of the total disenfranchised population and reflecting a rate of disenfranchisement that is seven times the national average").

Over the course of the next week or so, I'm going to be posting information about various elections within SNMA Region 2. I will be starting with the more "contested" races first. I hope that everyone would take some time to at least read the information concerning your own district (reading about other districts yields nice-to-know information, but since you can't vote there anyway ....) Further, if you are from a highlighted district and would like to share some "inside" information, I implore you to post comments.

Picture Notes

The two pictures were taken on Sunday, March 7, 1965 during the first march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. This march, better known as "Bloody Sunday," was led by John Robert Lewis (currently representing Georgia's 5th Dist. in the US House) and Rev. Dr. Hosea Lorenzo Williams, who was a Purple Heart recipient in Gen. Patton's army during World War II.

The first is a famous picture taken across the Edmund Pettus Bridge. It is interesting to note that the bridge is named after a famous Confederate General who valiantly fought to keep people who look like me enslaved in animal-like conditions. The picture was taken just prior to the 600 marchers being attacked by 200 State Troopers, Sheriff Clark (and his deputies). Many of the so-called law enforcement personnel were mounted on horseback and all were armed with tear gas, night sticks, and bull-whips. See also US Dept. of Justice, Voting Rights, available at http://www.usdoj.gov/kidspage/crt/voting.htm; Veterans of the Civil Rights Movement, Images of the People's Movement, available at http://www.crmvet.org/images/imghome.htm (guaranteed to get blood boiling).

The second picture shows the brave policemen beating unarmed marchers for daring to register to vote.