Watch this documentary film: Vigilantes, Inc. by Greg Palast
Voter suppression isn’t new, but this film not only exposes the extent and devastating effectiveness of its roots and its outrageous ongoing methods, but the heartbreaking injury, insult and discouragement of our fellow citizens to hold onto their faith in democracy and participate in our right to vote.
There is a lot of agreement about the value of inviting people with differing ideologies and political affiliations to meet with one another, talk, listen and discover our shared values and commonalities. Talk does work.
There is much to be gained by reaching for each other’s humanity and communicating; respectful connection and humility can disrupt and weaken the impacts of unconscious bias, stereotypes and racial separation. However, when it comes to voter suppression, there is nothing unconscious or unintended at work. It is deliberate, nefarious violation of our civil and political rights and corruption of the very systems that were created to encourage, safeguard and defend our rights to participate in free and fair elections. Suppression and denial of voting rights are the intended impacts.
Voter suppression is undoing democracy by denying citizens the right and ability to exercise our choices in building a government of, by and for the people.
We are flooded with examples of how the power of information and knowledge can be thwarted, and the poison of misinformation and lies intended to alienate us, sow fear and hate, and ignite conflicts. Ignorance is functional. But we can see that the crucial weapons of control are whitewashing, brainwashing through dog-whistles and the open repetition of lies, suppression and distortion, and outright erasure of American history, all in order to take and hold onto control and wealth, by perpetuating the belief in a hierarchy of human value. Keeping people in ignorance by attempting to expunge the record of all the undemocratic principles in operation, and then muzzling free speech and the right of dissent; irony of so many states outlawing education about the repulsive aspects of American history: land theft, ethnic cleansing, indentured servitude, slavery, Jim Crow laws, and now, banning books, re-instituting systemic and structural racism designed to keep us second-class citizens, or exclude us from the human family.