Selma, AL: This is Annie Lee Cooper’s voter registration application (from the movie, “Selma”) from the 1960s. After reciting the Preamble and correctly answering the question of the number of judges in the state of Alabama, the Registrar then asked her to name all 67 judges…quite a subjective determination. She couldn’t, so her application was stamped, “DENIED”.
Salinas, CA: This is the Janet Barnes recall petition*. We can register to vote, but how our vote is counted, or rather not counted, is the new way to disenfranchise. Monterey County Registrar, Claudio Valenzuela, has made subjective determinations in disqualifying signatures, to include disqualifying a military veteran’s signature. A veteran who has been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan and has served 20 years defending our Constitution, which includes the right the vote. Valenzuela says the veteran did not write his own address on the petition. The veteran has signed a declaration under penalty of perjury that he indeed wrote his own address and signed his own signature, yet Valenzuela refuses to honor the veteran’s declaration. Why? Thus, with subjective determinations like these, Valenzuela has disqualified enough signatures, so the petition could be stamped, “DENIED”. 
Billy clubs have been replaced by bureaucracy.
Back in the day, the powerless got beat with billy clubs for daring to vote. Some cursed in agreement with the billy clubs. Some even shook their heads in sympathy. So many just stood by and watched it all unfold. After all, it’s always been this way, how can this kind of change be accomplished? Wha’dya mean march to Birmingham? All the while, the powerfuled benefit from the people’s disenfranchisement.
Today, the powerless get beat with bureaucracy for daring to ask that every vote be counted. It’s the same old, tired story: Some curse in agreement with the injustice. Some even shake their complacency off for a moment to say, “God bless ’em for trying…”. But it’s the apathy that allows the powerful to wallow in their freedom from accountability. After all, what’s the big deal? We’re not getting beat with billy clubs in the street anymore! Wha’dya mean write a letter? Wha’dya mean go to a school board meeting or city council meeting? Wha’dya mean use my influence to effect this kind of change? Now, sit down, shut up, and be thankful for this new, sophisticated oppression. 
Right? You know, just like how back in the day they said sit down, shut up, and be thankful for this new, sophisticated oppression. After all, we’re not slaves getting whipped anymore!
It all depends on one’s standard. Yes, our America has come a long way, but that doesn’t mean we ever, “arrive”. Go ahead, pat yourself on the back because you claim to be color blind. Would you claim the same regarding character? Are you character blind?
Yesterday was color. Today it’s character. When are we going to judge by the content of one’s character? Oh, the irony!
Billy clubs have been replaced by bureaucracy. God bless America.
*Janet Barnes is the Area #4 Trustee for the Salinas City Elementary School District where only 27% of second-graders are reading at grade level (http://www.montereyherald.com/News/Local/ci_26755002/Charter-controversy-touches-on-national-education-issues). She is notoriously known for not returning phone calls or emails, not meeting with constituents or holding town hall meetings, ignoring California Public Records Act requests for contracts regarding questionable financial acts, being unaware of students not having textbooks, and demoting two principals for whom she worked for when she was a teacher.
While this does not directly affect the many readers of reelurbannews.com, this egregious act by a Registrar is indicative of how the powers that be maneuver the law to disregard the spirit of the law. As we celebrate Black History Month, it is only right to honor the spirit of the month which includes acknowledging the tremendous obstacles people have overcome. Right is right and wrong is wrong. It is natural to be enraged by how Annie Lee Cooper was treated by the Alabama Registrar, why shouldn’t our rage be all the more flamed by how our military veterans (and ALL registered voters) are treated by the Monterey County Registrar? No matter one’s stand on a particular issue, it is the due process for which we should fight…regardless of color, but keeping in precious mind of what transcending color truly means.
Cynthia Shaffer
Guest Political Blogger
ReelUrbanNews.com
