Activism

OPINION: We Must Go to the Polls and Vote

Thanks to Gay and Paul Cobb, the owners of the Post News Group (who once marched with Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to reinstate our constitutional voting rights that led to the 1965 Voting Rights Bill signed by President Lyndon Johnson), I am able to use this media to remind us that we are living in such terrible times and that our choices are crucial to our very existence in every manner conceivable.

Published

2 years ago

October 22, 2022

Oakland Post

We must be accountable, if not for the present, then for the future that our families will inherit.

By Richard Johnson

The need to exercise the right to vote was and still is a long battle that has cost precious lives at every turn throughout the struggles. Personally, I get it with those who don’t see the need to go and vote, however I came to the realization that when I and other formerly incarcerated persons refuse to utilize the power of the ballot, we basically surrender our rights, which then allows the powers that be to dictate the terms of our existence without hearing our voices.

If we don’t voice our wishes through exercising our right to vote, then how can we complain? Granted, too often our choices aren’t the winners. Nonetheless, by voting, it is made clear that we’re paying attention and our votes will count at some point.

Between the time of the publishing of this column and Election Day on Nov. 8, The Formerly Incarcerated Giving Back organization will be out in full force registering people to vote, because we do recognize the need for everyone to have a say in matters that concern our very lives.

It can become quite discouraging to watch all the national moves that are being made and the games that are being played to suppress the votes of minorities and to scare the re-entry populations from going to the polls.

This can be quite discouraging, especially when we have very little hope, faith and trust in the process from the start. But we can’t be deterred and surrender to the forces that be; instead, we must marshal the tools that are at our disposal in hopes of making changes toward our interests.

I ask all of you to take a look at the violence that happens routinely, look at the homelessness, look at those who appear to be mentally challenged who are forced to get by without the help needed, look at the children being bounced around due to unregulated school policies — not to mention those of us living from paycheck to paycheck.

When you count up the costs of cleaning up and addressing the miseries you see around us, you will agree that a stand must be taken, and it starts at the polls. Voting allows us to put in office those who we deem as truly qualified to address the most pressing issues confronting Oakland and the surrounding communities.

The process of change isn’t always as automatic and swift as an ATM transaction. Rather, change can only happen by doing everything that is necessary to make it happen, and voting is a necessity for change.

By doing nothing, stagnation remains. FIGB will work diligently for everyone regardless of district, race, culture, religion, and any beliefs.

It will take a concerted effort by all to get people to register, then to the polls, particularly in the more depressed sectors of city. I pray that we get off the sidelines and get into the fray to make a difference.

We must be accountable, if not for the present, then for the future that our families will inherit.

Not long ago in Florida about 20 formerly incarcerated individuals were arrested and locked up for allegedly voting illegally prior to the passage of a law allowing them to vote. Authorities waited more than five years to charge them with a crime.

This clearly proves the power of permitting the formerly incarcerated vote. There’s real power in the voting process especially if and when the formerly incarcerated and their families exercise their right to vote.

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Activism

‘Respect Our Vote’ Mass Meeting Rejects Oakland, Alameda County Recalls

The mass meeting, attended mostly by members of local Asian American communities, was held in a large banquet room in a Chinese restaurant in Alameda. The Respect Our Vote (ROV) coalition, consisting of concerned community members and groups, is organizing meetings in Oakland and around Alameda County leading up to the November election.

Published

1 week ago

September 28, 2024

Oakland Post

Some of the leaders who spoke at the Respect Our Vote – No Recalls!” mass meeting were (left to right): Elaine Peng, Mariano Contreras, Pastor Servant B.K. Woodson, and Stewart Chen. Photo by Ken Epstein.

By Ken Epstein

A recently organized coalition, “Respect Our Vote – No Recalls!,” held a standing-room only mass meeting on Sept. 14, urging residents to vote ‘No’ on the two East Bay recalls funded by conservative billionaires and millionaires with the help of corporate media and instead to support the campaign to protect residents’ democratic right to choose their representatives.

The mass meeting, attended mostly by members of local Asian American communities, was held in a large banquet room in a Chinese restaurant in Alameda.

The Respect Our Vote (ROV) coalition, consisting of concerned community members and groups, is organizing meetings in Oakland and around Alameda County leading up to the November election.

Speaking at the meeting, prominent East Bay leader Stewart Chen said that local leaders, like Alameda County D.A. Pamela Price and Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, worked hard to get elected, and our system says they get four years to carry out their policies and campaign promises. But rich people have “broken” that system.

Within two months after they took office, they were facing recalls paid for by billionaires, he said. “(Billionaires’) candidate did not get elected, so they want to change the system.”

“(Our elected leaders) were elected through the process, and the people spoke,” said Chen. “It’s the entire system that the billionaires are trying to (overturn).”

“If a candidate does something wrong or enacts a policy that we do not like, we let it play out, and in four years, we do not have to vote for them.

“The democratic system that we have had in place for a couple of hundred years, it needs our help,” said Chen.

Pastor Servant B.K. Woodson, a leader of the coalition, emphasized the diversity and solidarity needed to defend democracy. “We need each other’s wisdom to make our nation great, to make it safe. We are deliberately African American, English-speaking, Latino American, Spanish-speaking, and all the wonderful dialects in the Asian communities. We want to be together, grow together, and have a good world together.”

Mariano Contreras of the Latino Task Force said that people need to understand what is at stake now.

The recall leaders are connected to conservative forces that will undermine public education, and bilingual education, he said. “The people behind (the recalls) are being used by outside dark money,” he said. The spokespeople of these recalls are themselves conservatives “who are wearing a mask that says they are progressives.”

In 2017, Oakland passed an ordinance that gave teeth to its “Sanctuary City” policy, which was brought to the City Council and passed because it was supported by progressive members on the council.

“That would not be possible anymore if the progressive alliance – Sheng Thao, Nikki Fortunato Bas, and Carroll Fife – if they are pushed out,” he said.

Elaine Peng, president of Asian Americans for Progressive America, said, “I strongly oppose the recalls of Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao and Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price.”

Citing statistics, she said Alameda County’s murder rate was higher when Alameda County D.A. Nancy O’Malley was in office, before Pamela Price was elected to that position.

“The recall campaign has been misleading the public,” said Peng.

She said Oakland is making progress under Thao. “Crime rates are falling in Oakland,” and the City is building more affordable housing than ever before and is creating more jobs.

Attorney Victor Ochoa said, this recall is “not by accident in Oakland – it is a political strategy.”

“There is a strategy that has been launched nationwide. What we’re seeing is oligarchs, (such as Phillip Dreyfuss from Piedmont), right wingers, conservatives, who can write a check for $400,000 like some of us can write a check for $10.”

“They aligned themselves with so-called moderate forces, but they’re not moderates. They align themselves with the money, and that’s what we have seen in Oakland.”

Ochoa continued, “You got to put up signs, you’ve got to talk to your neighbors, volunteer whatever hours you can, have a house meeting. That’s the way progressives win.”

Pecolia Manigo of Oakland Rising Action spoke about what it will take to defeat the recalls. “This is the time when you are not only deputized to go out and do outreach, we need to make sure that people actually vote.

“We need everyone to vote not just for the president, but all the way down the ballot to where these questions will be. Remind people to fill out their ballot, and mail it back.”

Former Oakland Mayor Jean Quan, who had herself faced a recall attempt, said, “In this recall, they used a lot of money, had paid signature gatherers, and they moved very fast. I talked to many of the people gathering signatures. They didn’t know what was going on. Many of them didn’t live in Oakland. It was just money for them.”

“Sam Singer, the guy who is their spokesperson, is a paid PR guy. He has media ties, so they’ve swamped the media against Sheng,” Quan said.

‘Oakland is… a city that implemented some of the first rent control protections in the country. So, developers and big apartment owners would love to get rid of rent control,” said Quan.

“We also established ranked-choice voting, which allows people with less money to coalesce and win elections,” she said. “That’s too democratic for people with big money. They would rather have elections the way they were.”