California Fired Up, Ready to Vote on November 6

November 2012
Volume 8, Issue 5
California Fired Up, Ready to Vote on November 6
On Tuesday, November 6 millions of Americans will show up to make their voices heard at the ballot box. President Barack Obama is virtually assured to win the state of California, where
all major polls show him with an overwhelming lead over his competitor. But voters here will also face two ballot initiatives with major implications for the future of California: Propositions
30 and 32. Read on to learn why these propositions are so pivotal for the future of education, public safety and the voice of hard-working families in our state.
Laphonza Butler, President of SEIU ULTCW
Jackie Lacey on the
Verge of History
Vote Yes on Proposition 30
P
roposition 30 is Governor Brown’s plan
to make sure that everyone pays their fair share
by requiring the wealthy to
pay a little more, and the
measure’s tough accountability standards require
annual audits to ensure that
these funds are spent on our
schools and for public safety.
If we don’t pass Proposition
30, schools will be forced to
shorten the school year, lay
off thousands more teachers
and increase class sizes by
another 20%. Schools will
be forced to stop buying text
books and community college, CSU and UC tuition
will increase even more
placing access to our system
of public higher education
out of reach for working and
middle class Californians.
The funds to save our
schools and local public
safety will come from the
state’s highest earners—individuals making more than
$250,000 and couples making more than $500,000—
who will be asked to temporary pay more in income
taxes. It also includes a tem-
porarily ¼ cent increase in the
state’s sales tax. The revenue
generated for schools will be
put into a special fund that the
legislature cannot touch. Independent audits will be conducted regularly to make sure
the money goes to our classrooms, not to administrative
costs.
Proposition 30 has been
endorsed by former President Bill Clinton, Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark
Ridley-Thomas, the League
of Women Voters, California Teachers Association,
the UC and CSU Student
Associations, the California
Democratic Party, American Federation of State and
Municipal Employees (AFSCME), the California State
Association of Counties, Service Employees International
Union (SEIU), the Los Angeles Times, the Sacramento
Bee and the African American
Voter REP Project.
VOTE
YES
ON
PROPOSITION 30 to save
our schools and protect our
neighborhoods.
Vote No on Proposition 32
P
roposition 32 is a
special-interest power
grab to silence working Californians’ voice in the
political process. It would
severely restrict union members in both the public and
private sector from having
a voice in our political process, while creating special
exemptions for corporate interests. As a result, teachers,
nurses, police and countless
other hard-working Californians would be unable to
make our collective voice
heard in the legislature and
at the ballot box.
Proposition 32 is backed
by corporate special interests who are proposing
phony reforms that actually
give corporations even more
power to write their own
rules.
Proposition 32 has a hidden partisan agenda as well.
It was written by lawyers
for the Republican Party,
the Republican Party has
endorsed it, and Bush strategist Karl Rove is raising
Defending the Right to Vote
Our nation is in the midst of a tidal wave of coordinated
attacks on the right to vote. In the last two years more states
have passed more laws blocking more people from the ballot
box than in any time since the dawn of Jim Crow. Despite
these attacks, we have weathered the storm and are turning the
tide to protect the voting rights of all Americans.
Since 2011, at least 180 restrictive bills have been intro-
money to pass it so he can get
more tax breaks for his corporate clients, while what is left
of California’s middle class
pays the price.
Government
watchdog
groups and community organizations like the League of
Women Voters, CaliforniaHawaii NAACP, the California Labor Federation, the Los
Angeles County Federation
of Labor, SEIU United Long
Term Care Workers and the
African American Voter REP
Project all oppose Proposition 32 because it’s not what
it seems.
VOTE
NO
ON
PROPOSITION
32
to
protect California’s middle
class from being silenced by
corporate special interests.
November 6, 2012
J
Jackie Lacey
Chief Deputy District Attorney of Los Angeles County
ackie Lacey is on the
verge of making history
by becoming the first
African-American and first
woman District Attorney of
Los Angeles County. Currently L.A.’s Chief Deputy
District Attorney, she beat a
crowded field of primary opponents earlier this year and is
expected to win in November
6’s general election.
Jackie was born and raised
in the Crenshaw District.
She is the oldest daughter of
the late Louis Phillips, who
cleaned vacant lots for the
city of Los Angeles, and Addie Phillips, a garment factory
worker who later took a job
with the Los Angeles Unified
School District as a cook.
Jackie’s parents encouraged her to become the
first in her family to attend
college and pursue a career
in public service. Jackie
graduated from Dorsey
High School and earned a
bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of California, Irvine.
She received her law degree from the University
of Southern California Law
School in 1982.
In 1986, Jackie joined
the Los Angeles County
District Attorney’s Office, working her way up
through the ranks from
(See Jackie Lacey on the Verge of History, Page 3)
duced in 41 states, including California. A total of sixteen states have passed restrictive voting laws and executive actions that could impact this year’s elections according to research
developed by the Brennan Center for American Justice.
In states like Wisconsin, Mississippi, Kansas, Tennessee, Alabama, South Carolina and
Pennsylvania, politicians erected barriers to the polls in the form of rigid photo ID requirements. In other states like Florida and Ohio, extremists made cuts to early voting opportunities and placed severe restrictions on third party voter registration efforts.
Ben Jealous
President & CEO, NAACP
Paid for by African American Voter Registration, Education and Participation Project
Studies abound prove that people of color, members of the working class, seniors, young
(See Defending the Right to Vote, Page 3)
For more info on AAVREP, www.africanamericanvoterrep.org
Democrats in Faith
NOVEMBER 2012
PAGE 2
AAVREP Celebrates 10 Years of Voter Engagement
F
ew other communities
have had a greater impact on American democracy than African Americans. In our push to make
this country “a more perfect
union,” the push for equality and justice has produced
a proud tradition of civic engagement and leaders over
generations who honor that
legacy:
Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, Mary
McLeod Bethune, A. Philip
Randolph, Martin Luther
King, Jr., Fannie Lou Hamer, Thurgood Marshall and
countless others. They fought
to empower us and, in that
struggle, won for this generation the right to protest, vote,
make our voice heard in the
political process, and govern.
With rights comes responsibility. Our generation has the
responsibility—indeed, the
privilege—to fulfill their legacy of civic engagement that
empowers our community by
seeing to it that everyone who
is able to participate fully in
the voting process does so.
It was in this spirit that I
founded the African American
Voter Registration, Education and Participation Project
(AAVREP) ten years ago in
January 2002. Over a decade
of dedicated work, AAVREP
has empowered tens of thousands of people to make their
way to the polls. Since 2002,
we have registered more than
150,000 voters, with 25,000
new voters registered in the
2012 election season alone.
We have become the largest organized effort targeting
African American and urban
voters in the state of California in more than 20 years.
AAVREP getting the vote out in our community
AAVREP has been able to
achieve this level of success
by meeting voters where they
are. As a result of our strong
partnerships with labor, faith
and civic leaders, we have
generated the resources to visit more than 200,000homes,
make over 200,000 calls from
our phone-banking center,
and deploy team members to
more than 1,000 targeted precincts. Our statewide email
database and social network
distribute Get-Out-The-Vote
messages to more than 80,000
people. Our series of Ecumenical Leadership meetings
has engaged church congregations of various faiths to
encourage greater participation in the civic and political
process.
Inspired by the slogan
“yes we can” and motivated
by a vision of change and
hope, African Americans voted at record levels in the 2008
election. Yes we did. Many
new voters went to the polls
for the first time and voted
FOR a presidential candidate,
instead of the lesser of two
evils. The African American
and minority vote was crucial
in that election. And that support will be just as critical in
this upcoming election at both
the national and state level.
We can make a critical differ-
ence in the outcome of this
election. When we show up,
our voice can neither be dismissed nor taken for granted.
In 2010, the most recent statewide-election year,
AAVREP played a major
role. We registered thousands
of voters. We organized GetOut-The-Vote efforts that
generated a groundswell of
enthusiasm for gubernatorial
candidate Jerry Brown and
for Kamala Harris, who went
on to make history by becoming California’s first African
American and first female Attorney General. We honored
legendary Congresswoman
Diane E. Watson by electing
Sharpton Electrifies Empowerment Congress
Anniversary at King Day Celebration
raise her two children…we act
like she broke the economy. She
didn’t break the economy. The
economy broke her!
safety nets like Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare, the
War on Poverty. All we have
to do is maintain it…
Everything Dr. King, A. Philip Randolph, Cesar Chavez and
Adam Powell put through is at
risk. The question is what are
we going to do about it? Do you
realize they fought to get us the
right to vote, and all we have to
do is fight to keep it!
Look at this election,
look at the whole fight in the
Congress, look at the social
policy discussion. Don’t be
confused. When you look at
people who are trying to take
Medicaid and Medicare from
the elderly and the infirm…
when you look them trying
to take voting rights from
They fought to give us the
Paid for by African American Voter Registration, Education and Participation Project
selves to the firm belief that
voter representation, education and participation are key
to true civic empowerment.
Los Angeles County
Supervisor Mark RidleyThomas is the founder of the
African American Voter REP
Project. For more information on AAVREP, visit
www.africanamericanvoterrep.org
First-Time Voter Excited to
Cast Her Ballot
With the presidential and statewide elections approaching,
young voters are eager to make their voices heard on issues
of importance. First-time voter Jaylyn “Sunny” Ransom describes her enthusiasm for the opportunity to make a difference.
I
On the eve of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Rev. Al Sharpton delivered the keynote address at the 20th Anniversary Empowerment
Congress Summit. Here is an excerpt of his searing remarks on our responsibility to honor Dr. King’s legacy by pushing back against
the assault on voting rights, on the working class and on the gains made during the civil rights movement:
…[Conservatives]
do it all in the name of,
‘we’re protecting the
country.’ Tax cuts to
the rich, while they call
poor people beggars.
We take billions of dollars and bail out billionaires…and banks…and
insurance companies,
but we act like some
woman in Compton that
needs some assistance
because her job was outsourced and she’s got to
Karen Bass, a New Generation leader in her mold, and
we organized for the election of several candidates,
including Curren Price for
State Senate, Steve Bradford
and Holly Mitchell for State
Assembly, all of whom now
serve proudly in the California Legislative Black Caucus.
As AAVREP celebrates 10
successful years of voter engagement, we recommit our-
people who are just in their
second generation of voting... when you look at them
trying to take Social Security
from our seniors who invested in it….This election is not
about Obama, it’s about your
mama…
It’s easy to take shots at
the president. It’s harder to
get back out here and organize. Do you realize Dr. Martin Luther King changed this
(See Sharpton, Page 3)
n 2008, during
President
Barack
Obama’s first presidential campaign,
I remember my
father emphasizing the importance
of the election and
the next election to
come. He was even
interviewed
by
Channel 4 News
while standing in
line at the voting
polls on Election
Day. As a fourteen-year-old
high school freshman, all I
knew about the campaign
was “Change,” but I was still
ecstatic that there was finally
an African-American soaring
towards the White House.
Now I am just as ecstatic
about this upcoming Election
Day as my father was four
years ago, during his interview with Channel 4 News.
I am excited that now I am
eighteen years old, a college
freshman majoring in Political Science, and eligible to
vote.
Sometimes we focus too
much on what young people
are not doing, and we overlook their civic work and
good deeds. Young people
are working to make sure
their peers are registered
to vote and educated on the
statewide propositions.
As a matter of fact, I encouraged at least 90% of my
peers who were not registered
to vote to get active immediately by registering. To date,
80% of that 90% are now registered to vote. My enthusiasm about this upcoming election has not stopped there. I
have begun distributing voter
registration forms to eligible
people in urban communities
who failed to register.
The importance of this
upcoming election is critical.
It will determine the direction
of our country and, more specifically, our economy. Overall, my generation, just like
all young Americans, must
(See First-Time Voter
Page 3)
For more info on AAVREP, www.africanamericanvoterrep.org
Democrats in Faith
NOVEMBER 2012
Sharpton Electrifies Empowerment Congress Anniversary at
King Day Celebration (continued from page 2)
country and he never had a
fax machine? Do you realize that Randolph and Mary
McLeod Bethune never knew
what email was?
Leave this [Empowerment] Congress determined
to do your part to make a dif-
ference in your time. Leave
this Congress being able to
say that I was part of those
that stopped them from trying to turn the clock back on
the gains that were made and
YEARS AGO
the progress going forward.
We’ve come too far to turn
back now!
And we are the ones who
are here to make sure the
It is the task of this
generation to maintain
what has been won for
us, so that history will
not record that they
turned the clock back
while we had charge of
the clock…
We had to fight for voting
rights. Now, we are
fighting to protect them.
Protect your rights: VOTE!
Jackie Lacey on the Verge of History (continued from page 1)
Jackie won national attention for her successful
prosecution of Los Angeles
County’s first race-motivated hate crime murder case.
She tried three Nazi Low
Riders who beat an older
African-American man to
death behind an Antelope
Valley convenience store
to earn their gang tattoos.
All three defendants were
sentenced to lengthy prison
terms.
Jackie has worked hard
to keep violent criminals
behind bars while also implementing cost-saving alternatives to incarceration
for nonviolent offenders.
She helped establish Los
Angeles County’s first alternative sentencing courts
for veterans, women and
those suffering from mental
illness.
Jackie, a lifelong Democrat, is the only candidate
in the race endorsed by the
Los Angeles County Democratic Party and the Los An-
(continued from page 1)
We are the children of
greatness that, without firing
one bullet and no weapons,
they changed this country.
And we will not let this country go backwards. Thank you,
and God bless you.”
50
front-line prosecutor to
second-in-command of the
nation’s largest local
prosecutorial office.
In her position as Chief
Deputy District Attorney, Jackie is the highestranking African-American
woman to ever serve in the
Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. If
elected, Jackie will become
the first African-American
and first woman District
Attorney of Los Angeles
County.
Defending the Right to Vote
clock doesn’t go back. In the
end, history will judge us by
what you do and record what
we do not do.
It is time to connect and
organize again. It is the task
of this generation to maintain
what has been won for us, so
that history will not record
that they turned the clock
back while we had charge of
the clock…
We must fight with all we
have. We cannot let the children of Jim Crow, that are
now a little more polished, a
little more educated, but it’s
the same philosophy. We’ve
gone from Jim Crow to James
Crow, Jr. Esquire…
PAGE 3
geles County Federation of Labor.
Her endorsements also include:
California Attorney General Kamala Harris, U.S.
Congresswomen
Maxine Waters and
Karen Bass, Los
Angeles
County
Supervisor Mark
Ridley-Thomas,
Los Angeles City
Councilmembers
Jan Perry, Herb
Wesson and Bernard Parks, Charisse
Bremond
Weaver,
Danny
Bakewell Jr. and
the late Willis Edwards.
adults, and women will have
a harder time casting their
ballot thanks to these laws.
Many in these communities
are less likely to have IDs
that conform to the strict new
rules, are more likely to use
early voting hours and register through third party registrars. Studies also prove that
these new laws do nothing
to ensure election integrity.
In fact, a recent report from
News21 demonstrated that of
the hundreds of millions of
votes cast since 2000, there
have been less than 10 cases
of in-person voter fraud.
State politicians have
also stripped the rights of
former offenders in states
like Florida and Iowa and
worked to eliminate sameday voter registration in
Maine and North Carolina.
In addition, certain states
have even launched targeted
purges eliminating numbers
of voting eligible African
Americans and Latinos from
voter rolls across the United
States.
Jackie Lacey, Chief Deputy District Attorney of Los
Angeles County and Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas
Recently, Jackie was the
keynote speaker at The Urban Issues Breakfast Forum.
She spoke at The Mesereau
Free Clinic at Morningside
Church in Inglewood and the
Community Coalition’s D.A.
Candidate Forum. She also
visited the Second Baptist
Church, West Angeles Church
of God in Christ, Trinity Baptist Church, Mount Sinai
Missionary Baptist Church,
Holman United Methodist
Church, Reseda Boulevard
Church of Christ and Transfiguration Catholic Church.
Jackie, a lifelong Democrat, is the only
Jackie grew up in Trinity Baptist Church. She sang
in the youth choir and was a
member of the Baptist Youth
Fellowship. She currently is
a member of Shepherd of the
Hills Church in Porter Ranch
for the past 15 years. She is a
In the primary, Jackie was
the front-runner in a six-candidate race, receiving 32% of
the vote.
However, Jackie
will need strong voter support
to make history in Los Angeles County. Please help Jackie
Lacey become Los Angeles
candidate in the race endorsed by the Los
Angeles County Democratic Party and the
Los Angeles County Federation of Labor.
life group leader.
Jackie is married to her
high school sweetheart, David
Lacey, a forensic accountant
with the Los Angeles County
District Attorney’s Office.
They have two adult children.
Paid for by African American Voter Registration, Education and Participation Project
County’s next District Attorney.
For more information, on
Jackie Lacey’s race for
Los Angeles County’s
District Attorney,
please visit
www.JackieLacey.com
Unfortunately for these
suppressive measures and
their proponents, the NAACP
and civil rights activists from
across the country have taken a stand and stopped many
of these restrictive laws from
impacting voters in 2012.
And under Obama Administration, we have found a
sympathetic U.S. Department of Justice willing to
use the power accorded the
Federal government under
the 1965 Voting Rights Act
Ben Jealous
President & CEO, NAACP
to side with the civil rights
community to ensure voter
access. From Florida and
Ohio where we helped restore early voting hours, to
South Carolina, Michigan,
and Pennsylvania where we
halted strict voter photo ID
measures for 2012, we are
turning the tide in the fight
for voting rights.
The NAACP will continue this fight after the election. Strict voter ID laws
in Pennsylvania and South
Carolina, and proof of citizenship laws in Kansas,
have only been postponed
until 2013; leaving room for
improper implementation
and discriminatory practices in future elections. The
NAACP has also launched
an intensive restoration of
rights campaign to restore
the rights of people with
felony convictions across
the United States, who are
disproportionately people
of color.
In order to continue this
push and win, however, all
citizens who are able to vote
must exercise their right to
vote. Your participation is
the only way to assert your
voice in the political arena
and secure the vote for future generations.
Benjamin Todd Jealous
is the 17th President and
CEO of the National Association for the Advancement
of Colored People.
First-Time Voter Excited to
Cast Her Ballot (continued from page 2)
realize we are the ones who
will be affected the most by
future decisions made during
the next presidential term. So
let’s get proactive!”
Editor’s Note:
Jaylyn’s efforts to encourage her friends and local neighborhoods to register
to vote are commendable. In
taking her lead, let us all do
our part to prepare ourselves,
family, friends, and neighbors for Nov. 6.
Jaylyn “Sunny” Ransom is native Angeleno from
the Leimert Park area. She
is currently a Political Science Major at UC Davis and
a member of the Black Los
Angeles Young Democrats
(BLAYD). You can learn
more about BLAYD at http://
blayd.weebly.com.
For more info on AAVREP, www.africanamericanvoterrep.org
PAGE 4
Democrats in Faith
NOVEMBER 2012
The California Legislative Black Caucus’s 2012 Achievements
Below are just some of the highlights from CLBC’s past year.
Annual Civil Rights Leadership Awards Breakfast
The California Legislative Black Caucus (CLBC) began 2012 with its annual Civil Rights Leadership Awards Breakfast, honoring the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In addition to celebrating the legacy of Dr. King, the
Caucus honored individuals who share Dr. King’s commitment to work for the betterment of African Americans and
others throughout California and the nation. The recently departed Mervyn Dymally, former Congressman, Lt. Governor and Assembly Member, received the Living Legend Award. A moving video tribute spanning Mr. Dymally’s six
decades of activism and public service was also unveiled for the first time.
African American Leaders for Tomorrow
State Senator Curren Price, Chair of the California
Legislative Black Caucus, represents
California’s 26th Senate District
D
The African American Leaders Tomorrow (AALT) is a weeklong summer leadership-training program for high achieving African American high school sophomores and juniors in California. This year, 55 students from public and private
institutions in Northern and Southern California participated. The overall goal of the program is to groom young black
leaders to address pressing issues of education, poverty, crime, chronic health problems and high mortality rates in disadvantaged communities.
uring the past year, the California Legislative
Black Caucus (CLBC) held numerous events up
and down the state to advocate for issues of concern to our community and to increase awareness of the
contributions of African Americans in California in the
past and present.
CLBC Scholarship Luncheon
As Chair of the CLBC, I was perhaps most proud of
the programs we have created to support our youth: African American Leaders for Tomorrow and our Scholarship
Program, both of which you can read more about below. I
also led our concentrated efforts to support the election of
Black politicians throughout the state, including one from
a non-traditional district in San Diego.
Given the recent death of Congress Member Mervyn
Dymally, I was proud to have honored him with the Caucus’ “Living Legend Award” earlier this year and presenting him with a video documentary covering his life and
accomplishments.
Tuskegee Airmen Art Exhibit Grand Opening and Reception
Paid for by:
African American Voter R.E.P. Project
2092 W. Jefferson Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90018
www.africanamericanvoterrep.org
The California Legislative Black Caucus Scholarship Program was established to assist deserving students by offering
financial assistance to help meet their educational expenses. Scholarship recipients must be full-time students in good
academic standing at an accredited college or university. The CLBC awarded tens of thousands of dollars in scholarships to 55 deserving students from throughout the state at this year’s annual Scholarship Luncheon.
More than 500 people packed into the California History Museum for the Grand Opening Reception of the historic
exhibit, “Tuskegee Airmen: Journey to Flight.” CLBC hosted the reception during which several Tuskegee Airmen and
their relatives were acknowledged and presented with certificates of honor. The exhibition developed by the California
African American Museum in association with The California Museum is a tribute to pioneering Black military pilots.
John Carlos Book Signing
CLBC hosted a book signing and reception for Olympic icon John Carlos at the California Museum. Mr. Carlos was
also presented with a Resolution from Caucus Members on the floor of the Senate. Carlos’ and Tommie Smith’s blackgloved raised fist salute on the 1968 Olympic podium was seen around the world and sparked a great deal of political
and public controversy. Their show of defiance remains one of the most iconic images of Olympic history and the
Black Power movement.
CLBC Healthy Lifestyles Initiative Town Hall Meetings
CLBC launched its Healthy Lifestyles Initiative in 2011 to address the increasing number of African Americans with
certain chronic diseases. The success of the initiative led to the Caucus continuing the program in 2012 to mark the 10year anniversary of the Institute of Medicine Report on Health Disparities. CLBC conducted six town halls across the
state to engage community members on this issue.
Homeowners Town Hall
More than 200 people came to hear Attorney General Kamala Harris speak about the state’s efforts to protect homeowners at a CLBC town hall in Los Angeles. The mortgage crisis has resulted in the largest loss of Black wealth in history
due to foreclosures and the loss of home values. The California Homeowner Bill of Rights is a legislative package
designed to bring fairness, accountability and transparency to the state’s mortgage and foreclosure process.
SAVE
THE
DATE
2013
21st Annual
“Voice - Vote- Empower” Empowerment Congress
Summit
Mayoral Forum
The mission of the Empowerment Congress is
to educate, engage and empower Los Angeles area
residents to take a more active role in the civic life of
their respective communities. Since its 1992 inception, the Empowerment Congress has effectively grown
its mission to educate constituents to make informed
decisions; to engage residents in efforts to enhance the
quality of life for Los Angeles County residents; and to
empower individuals to affect positive change in their
communities. Through participatory democracy and citizen activism, the Empowerment Congress has brought
together people of different ages, faiths, orientations,
and views to turn dialogue into social change.
www.empowermentcongress.org
Paid for by African American Voter Registration, Education and Participation Project
Saturday, January 19, 2013
at 8:30 a.m.
Bovard Auditorium
University of Southern California
For more info on AAVREP, www.africanamericanvoterrep.org