Statement by Rev. Dr. Wendell Anthony, President, Detroit Branch NAACP
We have now concluded one of the most divisive and contentious elections in the history of the nation. The very last step is to count every vote. The boisterous calls to stop the vote because it is not going the way the current President would prefer is irresponsible and extremely dangerous. President Trump has placed overwhelming stress upon the nation by his divisive rhetoric. He has indicated he would not accept the results of the election unless he wins. He has called upon his supporters to go to the polls as challengers and monitors. He has said the election is a fraud or is rigged if he is not the victor. He has distorted and demeaned the democratic process. This President has called into question the very democracy that he has sworn to defend and protect. He even called the election at 3:00 in the morning, declaring himself the winner while millions of ballots are still being tabulated in various states across the nation. This is the act of a two-bit dictator. Ballots are legally being tabulated according to state law and the constitutional guarantees of the voting rights of all Americans. Having protestors bam on doors, threaten poll workers and elections officials, demanding that they stop the vote is wrong and should not be tolerated. These folks are disturbing the peace, attempting to slow down the process and intimidate the vote counters. They are in fact obstructing the rights of the workers to do their job. Perhaps a lawsuit should be filed against them.
America should be better than this. This was the same tactic used in Florida in 2000, during the Al Gore and George W. Bush recount. It was used once again in Ohio in 2004 during the Bush vs. Kerry election. In 2020, it is now being used in the city of Detroit in the Trump vs. Biden contest. This terror technique will not work. The votes will be counted. If these individuals wanted a faster count, they should have been knocking and bamming on the doors of their state legislators to start the count earlier. There were requests made in a number of states, seeking permission to begin an earlier count of the mail-in ballots, as well as extend the count due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was rejected by Republican-dominated courts and legislators who refused to truly address this issue. The President wants to stop the count in states where he is losing. He wants to stop the count in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and hold a recount in Wisconsin. He wants to press forward with a vote count in Nevada, Arizona, and North Carolina, where he believes he has a slim chance of winning. We must not succumb to this political folly. It is characterized by circus tycoon P.T. Barnum who said, “there is a sucker born every minute.” We are not suckers and we will not fall victim to surrendering the most precious gift we have as citizens, which of course is our vote. We have worked too hard, suffered too much, and bled too much red. At this point in the political process, we will not be denied the right to have our votes counted.
Let us be clear, our vote is a very powerful tool. The post office could not stop it, even though they tried to slow it down. Federal Court Judge Emmet Sullivan ordered the U.S. Postal Service to conduct a sweep of processing facilities on election day (which they did not do). This was done to ensure ballots not yet delivered would be delivered on time to be counted. Over 300,000 ballots could not be accounted for. The places where they could not be located are Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Detroit, Colorado, Atlanta, Alabama, Houston, South Carolina, South Florida, and Arizona. These are notably brown and black communities missing ballots that should have been counted. It is very clear why Postmaster Louis DeJoy tried to prevent the mail from going through. It is even clearer why President Trump did not want to federally fund the U.S. Postal Service. But even they couldn’t stop the vote. Black votes do matter. Rogue politicians who gerrymandered congressional districts largely occupied by African Americans couldn’t stop it. Domestic terrorists threatening to patrol the polls with guns could not stop it. The Supreme Court which gutted the Voting Rights Act in 2013 couldn’t stop it. So no, we ain’t gonna let no lame duck president stop it. We must be patient and allow the process to work. Challenge if you will. Question if you must. But don’t get in the way of democracy having its day. As we see the disrupters at the TCF Center in Downtown Detroit, talking loud but doing nothing, it only stiffens our resolve to stand up and be counted. We will not turn back. We are determined to continue the fight for the very freedom achieved long ago in our nation. In the words of Fannie Lou Hamer, “we are sick and tired of being sick and tired.”
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