Sharpton's taking it to the streets: "This will be a summer of activism"

Photo by Donald Traill/Invision/AP

Civil rights leaders met with Biden and Kamala Harris in the White House Thursday to deliver a message on voting law reform. Al Sharpton and other leaders from the NAACP and the National Urban League spoke to reporters after the meeting. Sharpton says he told Biden that activists will be “getting back into the streets” this summer over voting rights.

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Those attending the meeting included Melanie Campbell of the National Coalition for Black Civic Participation, Marc Morial, President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Urban League, and Sherrilyn Ifill of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, plus Sharpton. The participants are angry at Senate Republicans because not one of them voted in favor of starting debate on the For the People Act, the major federal voting overhaul bill that passed in the House. The civil rights leaders went so far as to deliver a menacing statement that senators who voted against the bill “should not be able to just walk around like everything’s OK.” Welp. That sounds like a threat, perhaps incitement of violence toward the senators, doesn’t it? Remember when Trump was president and Republicans were harassed in public, like Ted Cruz and his wife in a restaurant who were essentially runoff by a loud crowd of protesters taking over the restaurant? This new threat sounds worse. It’s along the lines of Maxine Water’s proclamation that Trump administration people shouldn’t be able to do anything regular people do, like go to a gas station or shop in a store.

It is being reported that starting next week on Capitol Hill, activists will confront GOP senators. Voting rights events are planned through August. Democrats are desperate to lead with the narrative that Republicans are suppressing the voters, denying voters the opportunity to vote. This is all because the Republicans are able to see through the For the People Act. It is an attempt by Democrats to federalize elections and create a permanent Democrat majority. For once, Republicans united and said no. Let’s hope they remain firm in that opposition.

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‘This will be a summer of activism. A summer of getting back into the streets. A summer of saying to the Senate and the Congress you may be going home, but it’s going to be warmer politically than you think on the ground. We want that to be made clear,’ the Rev. Al Sharpton told reporters after a White Housemeeting with Biden and Harris Thursday that lasted about an hour and 40 minutes.

When the Senate returns next week, civil rights leaders said lawmakers should be prepared to face down activists, after all 50 Senate Republicans voted last month against opening debate on the For the People Act.

Others spoke of events to come – “non-violent” events, mind you. That’s how the BLM protests and marches were described – mostly peaceful. They are waiting for senators to return to Washington next week.

Melanie Campbell of the National Coalition for Black Civic Participation said starting on July 12th ‘we are going to have action on Capitol Hill,’ adding that it would be ‘non-violent.’

‘They come back next week,’ Campbell said. ‘The senators who would not allow for a vote to take place, to even discuss the election, should not be able to just walk around like everything’s OK, it’s not,’ she warned.

Leaders from the NAACP, the National Urban League and the National Action Network said they have plans all summer stretching to August 28, the anniversary of civil rights giant Martin Luther King Jr.’s March on Washington, a date they would gather to protest the GOP-led effort to change election laws in states around the country.

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Sharpton wouldn’t say what kind of promises they garnered from Biden or Harris, though Harris did say she would take to the streets with them. Kamala is supposed to be handling voting rights legislation for Joe and so far she’s had the same level of success with that task as she has with other big initiatives she’s been given – like the crisis on the southern border.

‘This was more him listening to us. And our telling him that we were not going to lay back anymore while they dealt with bipartisan talks,’ Sharpton said. ‘We were going to hit the streets.’

He added that the president ‘understood’ the leaders’ position.

Sharpton also divulged that Harris – who has been tasked by Biden to deal with voting rights – agreed to participate in some direct action.

‘We did ask the vice president if she would go on the road, she absolutely said she would do that,’ Sharpton told several journalists after the gaggle.

No doubt Biden pretended to be listening to their complaints and demands while looking at them with his usual blank stare. Biden is happy to bow to the demands of race-baiters and social justice warriors, even those well past their prime like these leaders are. After the Senate vote on the For the People Act, Biden said that Republicans were ushering in ‘a Jim Crow era in the 21st Century.’ The Unifier-in-Chief can’t help himself. Old people with diminishing mental capacity have no verbal filters anymore.

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Thursday was a busy day for Kamala’s divisive talk about voting rights. She delivered a speech at Howard University, her alma mater, where she introduced a $25M expansion of the DNC’s “I Will Vote” initiative. Democrats are bothered that Biden isn’t paying enough attention to calling Republicans racists and saying they are recreating Jim Crow laws or something. Democrats are also hoping to pressure Republican-controlled legislatures about their voting reform legislation. Many state legislatures are moving election reform legislation through and Republican governors are signing the bills into law.

“This campaign is grounded in the firm belief that everyone’s vote matters,” Harris said in a speech at Howard University, her alma mater, in Washington, D.C.

“Regardless of who you are, where you live, what party you belong to, your vote matters,” the vice president continued.

“Your vote is your power. And so I say, don’t let anybody ever take your power from you … especially the power of your voice. We will not let anyone take away our power, and that’s why we are all here together today. We’re not gonna let that happen.”

Democrats believe in perpetual victimization and encourage their voters to believe the Republicans are keeping them down. This isn’t true yet it is how Democrats keep voters motivated to get out and vote and remain beholden to the party. To state the obvious, the Republican Party was founded on abolishing slavery. The first Republican president, Abraham Lincoln, freed the slaves. Republicans in Congress delivered the votes necessary to pass the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act. To say otherwise is nonsensical. The same holds true today. Republicans want to ensure free and fair elections. Democrats view that as voter suppression. Go figure. One thing Kamala is good at, though. She announces the expenditure of millions of dollars like a pro.

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Stephen Moore 8:30 AM | December 15, 2024
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