@theungamer The DOJ's lawsuit will end up in the Supreme Court where it is probably doomed. The Supreme Court is extremely right wing, with three Trump appointees among the right wing judges. I have no doubt that some of them believe that people of color should not have the right to vote at all. And unfortunately Merrick Garland is no Bobby Kennedy. Kennedy, at just 38 years old, sent troops to Alabama to force them to integrate their schools. Garland is a good man, but he doesn't feel forceful enough in my opinion.
It's going to take a lot of grass roots manual labor to get disenfranchised people to the polls. Progressives will have to write hundreds of thousands of postcards to individual voters to help them get registered after they were deleted from the voter registration rolls, and then to help them navigate the voting process that has been designed to prevent them from voting. There are some clever social media mavens who have also been instrumental in helping people vote.
It can and will be done. And the light will prevail. And perhaps the rising up of the people is how it needs to be done spiritually rather than to let a tiny few do it for us.
I thought the new law prohibits anyone from handing food or water to people waiting in line
It does. I think civil disobedience is Laura's point.
I'm not pessimistic or optimistic about what will happen in the courts. I'm just observing, since there are going to be lots of surprises this decade as the collective undergoes tectonic shifts; we'll be even less likely to deduce outcomes ahead of time - the developments underfoot are fundamentally nonlinear.
I'm not pessimistic or optimistic about what will happen in the courts. I'm just observing, since there are going to be lots of surprises this decade as the collective undergoes tectonic shifts; we'll be even less likely to deduce outcomes ahead of time - the developments underfoot are fundamentally nonlinear.
I like your approach. Also I have meditated and am optimistic about the midterms.
@laura-f I thought the new law prohibits anyone from handing food or water to people waiting in line. Haven't read the law, though.
this is why i think activists should hand out peaches to the voters in Georgia. The visuals of folks being arrested for giving peaches there would make international news, and the peach would become the symbol of the fight against voter suppression. Which would be great, since every car in Georgia has peaches on the license plate, and every street is named Peach-this, and Peach-that.
@jeanne-mayell This resonates with born n bred Georgia Peach - it will take all of us. Many of whom are not resting on our laurels but still actively working to make the changes grassroots on up.
@jeanne-mayell @unk-p @theungamer @coyote
My friend is black and lives in Birmingham AL, they own a restaurant and catering biz there. When he mentioned online recently that he intended to perform this awesome act of civil disobedience, several of us jumped on board. Because I am also a chef, we decided to hand out barbecue sandwiches (they're well set up for that on a mobile basis), cold waters, and we'll come up with a vegan option too (maybe peach pie?).
I am prepared to be arrested if need be.
I don't know if I mentioned this already, if so, skip now, but I have a close friend who is indigenous. She just got back from the Pipeline 3 protests in MN/ND. She was one of the people defending the people who chained themselves to the construction equipment. They all got arrested and spent about 36 hours in jail. She plans to head back over the summer. Her story was very inspiring, and also very informational, as she explained to me the specifics of how the protests are organized and carried out.
All this is GOOD TROUBLE, as John Lewis would say.
Ever since the details of the Georgia voting restrictions became known, I've seen images in my mind of lines of activists approaching crowded polling place, arms outstretched with food and bottled water. And yes, these acts and the disproportionate law enforcement response will make international news.
Georgia has a proud history of civil disobedience, so organizers are probably already drawing up plans for how to pull this off.
@coyote @jeanne-mayell. @Laura-f
I would seriously consider going to Georgia to do this act of civil disobedience. Both the pipeline and voting rights are very just causes. It would be an honor to participate in either if I could figure out how to do it.