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Here is why this matters and is a proven, effective way to make a difference in the voices of people of color being heard in the election.  Historically, communities of color have a lower voter turnout than communities of whiteness.  There are systemic racist reasons for that, including the current voter suppression efforts in play to diminish turnout further for the election.

To illustrate this, I created a map of the results of the 2016 General Election for Florida.  Below are two maps from Hillsborough County. The first shows a largely black community.  I randomly chose to record the percentage of votes for the Democratic Candidate.  So the first line is the three letter abbreviation for the county followed by the precinct number.  The 2nd line is the % of votes (D) from that precinct that were for the Democratic candidate for President.  The 3rd line is the % of turnout (T) of registered voters for that precinct.  And finally the last line is the number of ballots cast (B) in that precinct.

This neighborhood is just South of Busch Gardens and North of Ybor City.  Notice the percentage turnout (T) in these precincts which is between 53 and 61%.  As the precincts become whiter, the percentage turnout increases.

Here is a map of an almost all white community in Hillsborough County:

This neighborhood is what is called South Tampa. That line going across the top of the map is Kennedy Blvd.  I grew up in Precinct 133.  Again, notice the percentage turnout (T) runs from the mid 70s to the mid 80s.

This racial inequity is a 20% difference in the voices of black people being “heard” in the election compared to the voices of white people.  There are lots of reasons for it.  Poverty makes getting things done (like voting) harder.  Mobility, which is higher in communities of color, means a higher percentage of people are focused on packing up or unpacking rather than voting.  And their former precinct is now far away.  When one doesn’t feel that your voice really matters, a why-bother attitude can creep in.  Tragically, there are also intentional efforts to suppress the vote in all kinds of ways, especially this year.

The scope of systemic racism and its effect on turnout is evident across our entire Conference and beyond.  This is why we are focused on reaching out to clergy of color throughout the Conference.  There are almost 110 United Methodist congregations  of color in the Florida Conference and we are reaching out to everyone of them.

This effort is a high-touch effort, meaning it is direct communication, by phone calls or text.  We are not using email except to follow up with sending resources.  This is not the only effort going on and I encourage you to look at how you can make a difference.

It is 41 days to the General Election!  How are you going to spend your time over the next seven weeks?

P.S.  If you want to see the entire state in an interactive map, go here:  http://bit.ly/Clarkes2016FloridaGeneralElectionResults.  If you want to see the precinct details, you have to zoom in on the part of the state you want to examine.

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Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama

In August of 2018, I was privileged to join a group from Asheville to visit the Legacy Project Museum and what is popularly called the Lynching Memorial in Alabama.  Thanks to University of North Carolina in Asheville and the Blue Ridge District, Western North Carolina Conference of the UMC for sponoring this trip. The Cabinet of the Florida Conference UMC, of which I am a member, wrote a statement of “Faith and Hope in a Time of Racial Injustice.  We pledged ourselves then to address the problem of mass incarceration of young black males in our society. (1) This paper looks at a current opportunity to do just that. This blog post is the 2nd in a series of looking at challenges to American Democracy. The first, Hijacking Elections by Dubious Means, may be found here.

We started our Alabama adventure with a walk across the Edmund Pettus bridge, from downtown Selma to the eastern foot of the bridge where there are a series of activist artworks on display.  This act was not, as one man from Selma exclaimed, “to make ourselves feel bad so we could feel good.” This act of solidarity was simply a way to enter into the history of which this bridge played a significant role.  In March of 1965, it was the march from Selma to Montgomery, 54 miles to the East, that many view as the culminating act of non-violence that led to passage of the Voting Rights act.  The first two times this march was started it was met with violence by local authorities and white vigilante groups.  The first attempt (March 7th) to begin the march was fought back with tear gas and violence.  The second (March 9th) was called off just as it was beginning because organizers did not have a good sense that the marchers would be safe.  The week following, President Lyndon Johnson introduced the Voting Rights Act.  On the third attempt (March 21st) the marchers began again with the protection of 1,900 National Guard. 

Five days later, on March 25th, more than 25,000 people marched to the capitol steps in Montgomery. Andrew Young was there among other dignitaries.  Young summed up the spirit of the non-violent movement when he told the crowd, “We have come to love the hell out of the state of Alabama.”  The Voting Rights Act was finally signed into law in August of that year. 

So now, fifty three years later, following our trip to Alabama, I thought I would dive into voter suppression in my home state of Florida as another form of denying the right to vote to people of color.  To set the stage I want to lay out the facts about incarceration rates for Florida. 

• Florida has a higher incarceration rate than any country in the world.  We incarcerate 833 people out of every 100,000 residents.  The US is the country which has the highest incarceration rate (698).  The nearest country is the UK (139). (2)
• When you break down Florida’s incarcerated population, 46% are African American (which make up only 16% of the state’s population).

With this as background, we turn to the issue of denying the right to vote to certain individuals.

Source:  The Sentencing Project:  https://www.sentencingproject.org/the-facts/#rankings?dataset-option=FDR . Note that the six highest rates are all in the Southeastern Jurisdiction of the United Methodist Church.

• Florida has the highest disenfranchisement rate of any state in the union (10.4%)  One out of every ten people who are eligible to vote cannot.(3)
• Not only are we the highest, but 27% of all disenfranchised individuals in the US live in Florida! (4)
• For African Americans in Florida, just under 500,000 people are disenfranchised or 21.35% of the African American Voting Age Population. (5)

There was an attempt to change this when Charlie Crist was then the the Republican governor of Florida.  Once you had served your term and any post-imprisonment probation, your rights to vote were restored. But his successor, Republican Rick Scott, upon assuming office, immediately changed it back.

Reversing Voter Suppression

As of 2018, Florida is only one of four states where convicted felons do not regain the right to vote following prison unless restored by a clemency board.  

Now there is a chance to change all that!  Voters in Florida have an oppotunity in this year’s General Election on November 6, 2018. A constitutional amendment on the ballot addresses this issue.  Floridans for Fair Democracy gathered more than 799,000 signatures to get this certified and before the people of the state.

From BallotPedia, here is the change if approved:

“The measure would amend Section 4 of Article IV of the Florida Constitution.  The following underlined text would be added:

Article VI, Section 4. Disqualifications.—

(a) No person convicted of a felony, or adjudicated in this or any other state to be mentally incompetent, shall be qualified to vote or hold office until restoration of civil rights or removal of disability. Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, any disqualification from voting arising from a felony conviction shall terminate and voting rights shall be restored upon completion of all terms of sentence including parole or probation.

(b) No person convicted of murder or a felony sexual offense shall be qualified to vote until restoration of civil rights.” (6)

To be clear, a “yes” vote supports this amendment to automatically restore the right to vote for people with prior felony convictions, except those convicted of murder or a felony sexual offense, upon completion of their sentences, including prison, parole, and probation.

To pass and be incorporated into the Florida Constitution, all constitutional amendments require 60% of the vote.

There are organizations throughout Florida working on passing this ballot initative, like Second Chances Florida, https://secondchancesfl.org and the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, https://floridarrc.com.

Jesus overturned the tables of the merchants in the Temple because the sacred values of that space had been corrupted (Mark 11:15-19).  So too the sacred values of our US democracy have been debased by voter suppression.  It is time to turn the tables on this corruption and regain the strong value of our democracy.

________________________________

(1) Florida Conference Cabinet Statement:  https://www.flumc.org/newsdetail/931413
(2) Prison Policy Initiative:  https://www.prisonpolicy.org/global/2018.html
(3) The Sentencing Project:  https://www.sentencingproject.org/the-facts/#rankings?dataset-option=FDR
(4) The Atlantic magazine: https://www.theatlantic.com/amp/article/552269/
(5) The Sentincing Project:   https://www.sentencingproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/6-Million-Lost-Voters.pdf#page=17
(6) a full description of the amendment, the language, the implications and those who support and oppose may be found at BallotPedia:  https://ballotpedia.org/Florida_Amendment_4,_Voting_Rights_Restoration_for_Felons_Initiative_(2018)

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We got to meet Jeff and Deb who now have a shop on the main square in town.  We got to see the way they created community and belonging with Aymaran Native Americans, Bolivians and Expats.  With tender love and care for those around them, they bear witness to the redeeming love of Christ. This “fresh expression,” as Florida now calls these “meeting people where they are” ministries, is a powerful example of making God’s love tangible to people who may not darken the door of a church.

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When coming from Peru to Bolivia, we crossed the border just outside Copacabana.  One car let us off where they stop cars.  We went through immigration on the Peru side of the border and walked the 150 yards through the border gate and then headed to the Bolivian immigration office for our entry stamp.  Since my last visit to Bolivia many years ago, Bolivia now requires a visa for US citizens. I had presumed my prior knowledge would be good enough but learned that there were new requirements. Not to worry, they told us, we could satisfy all of them right there at the border.  While making the needed photocopies and printing out email travel verification receipts, I got curious about the tourist visa rules for Bolivia.

There are three categories for tourists to enter the country.  Take a look where the US falls.

Category 1 includes all countries that don’t need a visa like all South American countries, Canada, Europe, Mexico, Australia, Russia, some parts of the former Soviet Union and a couple of others, like Turkey.  The US used to be here.

Category 2 includes those that must apply for a visa before arriving and may also secure a visa at the border.  This includes a lot of African, Asian and some of the countries that were formerly a part of the Soviet Union.

A little background:  The US moved from Category 1 to Category 2 when Evo Morales was elected Bolivia’s president and he advocated a more independent Bolivia.  The US stepped up its attacks against Morales, cutting off trade benefits that left textile and other industries lacking a significant economic partner.  Ambassadors from both countries were deported and diplomatic relationships were strained.  The number of Bolivians allowed to vacation in the US dropped dramatically.  The US increased visa charges for Bolivians to $160, so the Bolivia instituted what they called a “reciprocity fee” and now charges US Citizens the same $160 to secure a ten year visa.  But the US is no longer in Category 2.  Look whose company we joined.

Category 3 includes the countries above.  Now who is the new kid on the block added a year and a half ago?  The United States!  What merited this demotion?

Ironically, even though both Morales and Trump are big Russia-supporters, Trumps’ attacks against indigenous people and his disdain for Mexicans, Haitians and Muslims, led the Bolivian government to move the US down a notch.

Category 3 countries’ citizens must go to a Bolivian consulate to apply for a visa and must wait 3 to 5 weeks (and at times months) to get individually approved or denied for a visa.  There is an asterisk next to the US (though not seen in the screenshot above) highlighting a caveat: US citizens who do not have to visit a consulate and may apply at whatever port of entry.  In essence this caveat negates the requirements of Category 3 but achieves its symbolic disgrace nevertheless.

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The welcome sign at the Peru/Boliva border

Our goal was to make it to the lakeside town of Copacabana, Bolivia by nightfall.  We awoke in Cusco at Eva’s Airbnb and after a delicious breakfast took a taxi to the airport for the flight to Juliaca, Peru, the largest airport near Lake Titicaca.  We had planned to take a bus the rest of the way.  But alas the Bolivian 16 and under national girls volleyball team who are gearing up for the 2018 South American championship tournament was on the flight with us and one of the girls said, “Hey, you guys ought to come with us in our bus!” since they were headed back to La Paz.  The manager agreed and off we went across the Altiplano towards the Lake.  We realized about half way there that the road they were taking did not go through Copacabana but they could leave us off on a highway 30 km from our destination.

As we near Puno, this is our view of mountains across the Lake.

So at the crossroad a car offers to drive us to the border with Boliva for 30 sols (the Peruvian currency). It was a little more than we wanted to pay but dusk was upon us. Twenty-two kilometers later we are at the border.  The driver insists he meant 30 sols for each of us which is exorbitant by normal standards.  We had a rather heated stand-off with lots of hand gestures (no not those hand gestures) that was beginning to attract the guards at the border.  He finally relented.  We walk through immigration leaving Peru, a long walk through the border gate, and then through immigration arriving in Bolivia.  We encountered a small snafu when we learned that Bolivia now requires a visa to enter the country (which they didn’t when I visited in the past).  This delayed us about an hour to get it resolved.  Another 150 yards we had to walk to a few waiting micros (small buses), one of which carries us to our hotel in town.

The day was long and full of different emotions.  It felt a little bit like Steve Martin in Planes, Trains and Automobiles where he bumbles his way home to a Thanksgiving with his family.  But after dinner, and a short walk back to the hotel, we crashed in our beds for a night of sleep.

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Abby and Clarke

Abby in the foreground of the ancient ruins.

Machu Picchu, a royal Incan estate

The terraces of the main agricultural portion of the city.

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Abby in the Limo Restaurant overlooking the Plaza de Armas in the center of Cusco. You can see the Cathedral on the plaza out the window.

We had a leisurely morning in the heart of Miraflores before catching a ride to the airport for our flight to Cusco.  We settled in to the Airbnb and our host Eva oriented us to the city.  The elevation is quite high, 11,000 feet, and so she prepared us the local natural remedy, Mate de Coca. After a short nap, we went on a slow walk (what one is forced to do in acclimating to the altitude) into town for dinner.  We ate at a Japanese/Peruvian restaurant called El Limo overlooking the Plaza de Armas. The sushi was the best we’ve ever eaten.

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So Abby and I are headed back there for the next couple of weeks.  Abby, who teaches third grade, is moving to a new school with a higher percentage of Hispanic students, so she is hoping to improve her Spanish.  We’ll be visiting some friends of mine from my seminary days, climbing Machu Picchu, and spending a couple of days in the lakeside Bolivian village, Copacabana part of the altiplano on the shore of Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable lake in the world.  We’ll finish our trip back in Lima.

I am excited about getting this time with my daughter and seeing a part of South America I had missed in earlier trips!

+ Clarke

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A Florida mud salamander from outside Tallahassee

For the last couple of years, I have used this blog to play around with random onscreen references to places I have lived, Tallahassee and Union Theological Seminary in New York City. I did it just for fun and as a way to have a resource when I gathered with friends to show them this phenomena. My favorite of these was the one I published most recently, from a trip Sally and I took to NYC a year ago when we got to visit the place where we met.

Today, I am turning a corner to talk about things more serious. Following the election of Donald Trump in November of 2016, I began to reflect on our democracy and the ways we choose to govern ourselves. The current news is full of the battle between a man who likely suffers from narcissistic personality disorder and who became our president and those who fear that he is seriously putting our democracy at risk. But, at least for the time-being, I want to focus not on the “news” but on the deeper disturbing issues that create a political oligarchy in our own country.

The fictional on-screen drama of shows like Scandal and House of Cards, have their truth-is-stranger-than-fiction counterpart in some of our current political landscape. There are many things I could talk about but today, but I want to turn to the rigging of elections through the faux-legal process of gerrymandering. The term is a portmanteau of two words, one the name of an early 19th century Massachusetts Governor Elbridge Gerry and a mythological salamander derived from the story of the governor trying to rig the election of a state senator for his (get this!) Republican-Democratic Party. The shape of that district was so bizarre that it was depicted in the press as a slimy salamander with wings.

Here is an image from Wikipedia that depicts how a minority party in a state could win a majority of seats if the districts are designed correctly.

Here in Florida, even though the Democrats held a 4% margin in voter registrations in the state in the 2014 general election (39% to 35%), the Republicans won 60% of the seats that were up for reelection keeping their 65% majority in the state Senate after it was over.

Part of the backstory to how Republicans came to control the state legislature rests with work they have done every ten years following the publication of the census. In some states their work has been more heinous than in others. After the release of the 2010 census, the Republican controlled state legislature in Florida redesigned the district maps for congressional elections.

I know a little of the backstory because of a couple who joined the church I was serving in Tallahassee. They arrived because of his new job in the Legislature’s cartography office, brought on board to serve the redistricting plan they were going to design. This particular effort was fraught with how brazen they should be in enhancing the Republican majorities in the state legislature and in the US House of representatives.

The most bizarre result of that work was the drawing of a redesigned 5th District US House seat that started in the outskirts of Jacksonville and wound its way heading west to pick up parts of Gainesville, then back east to catch a corridor of additional African American voters, and ending in the outskirts of Orlando. There was even a stretch of this district that was as wide as an interstate! The purpose of the map was to create a minority-majority District with voters who more often vote Democratic. The result was to leave other districts with robust Republican majorities. Here is the map they produced for this seat:

The Washington Post ran an expose on gerrymandering and gave this district the prize for being the worst of them all. Their story begins with a quote that lures you into this interesting behind the scenes tale:

Welcome to Florida, where the tentacles of gerrymandering are as tightly coiled around the statehouse as an invasive Burmese python.

The article quickly gets to the good news that this trend in state legislature is meeting strong opposition. In 2010 voters in Florida passed two constitutional amendments to require the district be drawn along more cohesive and less partisan lines which led the state Supreme Court to throw out the maps including the one above and gave them 100 days to try again.

The political rancor in our country has some of its origins in the anti-democratic efforts of state legislatures to create districts that make certain one party will win. They create enough margins so that candidates tend to be more extreme.

The larger issue in our country is gaining some traction and the Brennan Center for Justice is a leading player in resourcing organizing efforts across the country. They just released a 31 page Report by the Brennan Center called “Extreme Maps” that looks at bias in redistricting efforts. They note the Florida Supreme Court’s intervention made a difference in the 2016 elections in both the Florida legislature and the US House of Representatives.

Common Cause continues to be the leading organizer across the country on this issue. They were instrumental in helping to organize across Florida leading up to the 2010 votes on the Constitutional amendments. And that work led to a slight change in the results in the 2016 election. The state Senate no longer has a super majority of Republicans.

More work is needed in Florida and across the battleground states to rebuild democratic principles into the fair election of those who represent the people in our decision-making bodies.

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