Evangelist Alveda King, director of the now “Civil Rights for the Unborn (CRU), The African American [Anti-Abortion] Outreach for Priests for Life” had this to say about why “so few African-Americans and Catholics vote for pro-life candidates.”
King, the daughter and niece of 20th-century civil rights leaders Rev. A.D. King and his brother Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.—and a civil rights activist in her own right—says: “For decades we have often wondered why so many African Americans who are spiritually conservative and Catholics who are naturally pro-life by nature vote en masse for pro-abortion and anti-family values candidates. The answer is simple: The politics of closed election primaries in many states herd otherwise conservative voters onto the plantation into the Democrat stables. That’s where the donkeys abide.”
Pointing to a recent “Meet the Candidates” and “Know Your Voting Rights” voter info campaign as a tool, King believes that simple lessons in what she calls “Politics 101 for Value Votes” will empower more voters to cast the ballot according to “convictions rather than political correctness.”
King says that “the reports are coming in now about how many African-Americans are going to the polls and given ballots that have only two candidates from which to choose.” When they ask about the missing candidates, they are given party-specific ballots and not-so-gentle nudges and directives such as “This is our ballot in this state.” Or if you want to vote for another party, you have to sign a pledge that you are no longer a member of the party of your choice. Many people believe that it is disloyal if not downright illegal to vote for a person outside of the voter’s registered party. So out of fear of what they consider to be disrespect in some cases and coercion in all too many cases, people vote for their parties rather than convictions.
Case in point; in the 2016 Georgia primary, my son and I wanted to cast votes for candidates who were not on the ballot we were directed to. It took about 15 minutes to explain that we wanted to vote for someone on another ballot. There was an attempt to shame us into asking for the other ballot out loud. So finally I announced very loudly to the entire room: “I need a ballot with Dr. Ben Carson on it.” The new ballot was grudgingly produced. Why am I sharing this testimony?
This information is especially relevant during this election; so many people are coming forth with similar testimonies, about something close to coercion in the polls. This is all so important, because there is so much discussion about what matters. Black lives and Black life without abortion matters to many African-Americans. Sanctity of life matters to many Catholics. Prayerfully, Politics 101 will shine a light on the matter at hand.
“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge” (Hos. 4:6).
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