| WASHINGTON
- January 19 - Hundreds of Greens from Iowa,
Ohio, Maine, New York, and many other states will join
the D.C. Statehood Green Party in Washington, D.C. on
Saturday, January 20 for a day of protests and other
events in response to the inauguration of George W.
Bush after a national election subverted by election
irregularities.
The D.C. Statehood Greens issued a statement voter
disenfranchisement in Florida and elsewhere on
Thursday, December 7 (appended below), which was
revised and adopted a few weeks later as a national
statement by the Association of State Green Parties.
Implicit in Green participation in the
counter-inaugural events is a challenge to all
Americans distressed by the Florida election scandal.
The protests, say Greens, are not about Al Gore vs.
George W. Bush, or about Democrats versus Republicans,
but about the continuing American struggle to achieve
democracy and about support for all those in Florida
and across the U.S. whose votes were hindered or
discounted.
The Green Party (and other third parties and
dissenters of all stripes) recognized and suffered
assaults on democratic rights long before Florida --
prohibitive ballot access laws, exclusion of Ralph
Nader from the debates, corporate purchase and control
of major parties and candidates, brutal suppression of
protesters in Seattle and other demos,
disenfranchisement of people of color and the poor
(including exfelons and those who don't speak or read
English) -- for all of which Democrats as well as
Republicans are responsible.
Part of this struggle is the movement for D.C.
self-determination. The D.C. Statehood Green Party
rejects the call by Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton for
"virtual statehood," insisting that neither
Congressional representation nor limited autonomy in
themselves constitute genuine democracy.
The only acceptable resolution to our lack of
constitutional rights, say D.C. Statehood Greens with
the enthusiastic support of the Green Party
nationally, is full statehood. Green candidate Ralph
Nader held a Super Rally which drew 10,0000 people to
the MCI Arena in Washington, D.C. on November 5, with
D.C. statehood as the theme.
Counter-Inauguration Day
Greens will meet 10 a.m. at the Counter-Inaugural
rally, at Stanton Park in Northeast D.C., and at noon
march with counter-inaugural protesters organized by
Rev. Al Sharpton and the National Action Network to
the Supreme Court for the Counter-Inauguration
ceremony. Greens will participate in various other
protests as well.
Later in the afternoon, there will be a D.C. Statehood
Green Party reception and celebration for Charlie
Mason at the University of the District of Columbia
Auditorium from 2 - 5 pm, and many Greens will attend
the three counter-inaugural balls, organized by the
Justice Action Movement, on Saturday evening.
Charlie Mason was a co-founder of the D.C. Statehood
Party (merged with the D.C. Green Party since 1999)
and a long time supporter of the party, and is husband
of former D.C. Council member Hilda Mason. (For more
information about the reception, contact Gail Dixon,
202-529-6525).
MORE INFORMATION
The D.C. Statehood Green Party:
http://www.dcstatehoodgreen.org
The Association of State Green Parties
http://www.greenparties.org
The Justice Action Movement
http://www.justiceactionmovement.org
* * * * *
D.C. Statehood Green Party: Statement on Voter
Disenfranchisement in the 2000 Election
Passed by consensus, Thursday, December 7, 2000
"The D.C. Statehood Green Party calls for an
investigation of the alleged election irregularities
in Florida and other states, especially the alleged
disenfranchisement of many African Americans and other
people of color.
These include reports of intimidation and obstruction
by crowds and officials, lack of ballots and working
voting machines, refusal of assistance and foreign
language translation to voters, failure to process
registrations and ballots, and other errors and
omissions potentially affecting the rights of voters.
The presidential election stalemate in Florida reveals
that voter fraud, manipulation, and intimidation
against African Americans may not have ended with
passage of civil rights laws, and sheds light on some
of the same practices used against Latinos, American
Indians, immigrants, and poor whites in some states.
The D.C. Statehood Green Party condemns all such
assaults on the democratic rights of thousands of
voters.
The D.C. Statehood Green Party supports the demand of
the Congressional Black Caucus that the Justice
Department investigate these allegations as possible
violations of the constitutional rights of thousands
of Americans and as abuses of the 1965 Voting Rights
Act.
The D.C. Statehood Green Party calls for the
investigation of allegations of disenfranchisement of
voters in the armed forces.
The D.C. Statehood Green Party also condemns the
disenfranchisement of convicted felons, according to
the laws of certain states, which has resulted in the
ethnic engineering of elections. The disproportionate
incarceration of people of color and the War on Drugs,
under which hundreds of thousands of Americans have
been imprisoned for minor and nonviolent offenses, are
monstrous injustices which must cease.
The D.C. Statehood Green Party demands that all
Americans convicted of felonies or any other offenses,
whether currently in prison or having served their
sentences, have their full voting rights restored.
Already on record opposing the War on Drugs, which
addresses drug use and addiction as a legal and
military crisis instead of a health issue, the D.C.
Statehood Green Party asks all Americans to recognize
the War on Drugs as a cruel and unjust tactic to
deprive millions of Americans, especially people of
color and the poor, of their constitutional rights,
including the right to vote.
The D.C. Statehood Green Party continues to demand
equitable redistricting, enactment of Instant Run-off
Voting and other election reforms, and closer
monitoring of elections. The D.C. Statehood Green
Party takes no side in the current election stalemate
in Florida."
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